Girlfriend's Best Friend

Chapter 11

            That’s the way it was for a few months. Kelli told me what to do, what I could do, and what I had to do. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved my girlfriend, but only when we were alone. The second we were around other people, she became clingy. I knew it was just because she really loved me though, and didn’t want to lose me.

            I understood that completely. Being friends with Brooke for so many years never gave her a chance to show who she really was because of how much Brooke outshined her, and when she was with me, she finally got the chance to be herself.

            But when she went away for a week to Florida, I can’t say I was upset. I’d been letting her be her for so long, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to be me. Now was my chance to just relax with my friends like how we used to.

            We invited Brooke to hang out with us in the park the first day Kelli was gone. At first when I started dating Kelli, I had to try to act completely uninterested in Brooke, because otherwise Kelli would have noticed and broke up with me. And eventually, after not hanging out with Brooke and only focusing on Kelli, I got over her.

            “Hey guys,” Brooke smiled brightly as she walked up to us in the park. She wore a plain, light blue t-shirt and jean shorts with converse, but not gonna lie, she was still looking pretty hot. Her curly hair reached down towards the arch of her back, and her makeup was done perfectly. Not that I care, though.

            I watched Brooke hug all the guys after hugging me, and how she flirted with all of them. She didn’t say anything that made it obvious that she was flirting with them, but her actions made it clear that she was a natural flirt. She was that kind of girl that could get anyone to love her, and she clearly knew it. She was the female version of me.

            Except something separated us—I flirted around with no intentions of falling in love because being single was so much fun for me. She actually needed someone. She wasn’t actually happy like how she used to be, and it was something I’d started to notice. Her bright blue eyes were dull, even when she smiled. She doesn’t talk as much as she used to, and there was something in her voice that made it seem like she was holding something back. Her laugh doesn’t come naturally—it’s forced and comes a second after everyone else starts laughing. She acts flirty to seem like she has everything she could possibly want. She acts careless, but really she wants to be cared for.

            And just like that, I find myself wishing that I could have been that person for her.

          Kelli texted me as soon as she got to her cousin’s house where she was staying. I had missed whatever my friends were talking about because I hadn’t been paying attention to anything other than my phone. I stopped answering her though when I told her I was with Brooke and she started flipping out on me. My attention was brought back when Carter said my girlfriend’s name.

            “She said you’re really selfish with attention,” he told Brooke.

            “That’s not true!” Brooke said.

            “Calm down, it’s just gotta suck for her being the ugly friend,” he laughed. I got up from where I was sitting, about to hit him for calling my girlfriend ugly but Jace put his arm out in front of me to stop me.

            “Kelli’s gorgeous, don’t say that!” Brooke defended her.

            “I know. I just mean, compared to you, she’s probably getting tired of being second best. Did you really think Cody and I were calling her over when we first met you? No, we wanted you but obviously she was going to come too. And Cody won’t admit it but we all know he wanted you but gave up when he saw that all of us did too so he went for Kel,” Carter said. Now I really wanted to hit him.

            Brooke looked at me, shocked. “That’s not true. I’m not going to lie, Brooke did catch my attention first but I liked Kelli right from when I met her. I love her smile and how her eyes light up when she does and her long hair and cute laugh and most of all I just love being with her,” I said so that hopefully Brooke would realize what kind of love she could have experienced if she had just noticed me from the beginning.

            “Gay,” Graham laughed at me.

            “Well I’m glad you both found each other,” Brooke smiled, not caring at all.