Bradga Short Stories

Winter Things

Bradley and I were ice skating, the place was pretty crowded around this time and I wasn't the best at skating to be fair. Screw that, I sucked at it.

I slipped and fell for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening and groaned, looking up at Bradley who confidently skated my way, stopping in front of me with a laugh. I glared at him and threw my head back in frustration. "Help me up, you asshole!" I complained and he held his hand out to me, with that stupid grin on his face.

I took it and tried to get up, but before I could he just let go, breaking out into another fit of laughter. I whined like a little kid and pouted. "Bradley?!" I tried to kick him with the ice skates but could barely even lift my heavy foot. "Please help me up! It's freezing!" I said and he finally did, swinging my body up into a standing position as if I weighed nothing.

He smiled and then looked down at my red hands.

"I knew I should've brought gloves." I sighed and rubbed my hands together, to get them warm. Without warning Bradley grabbed both of my hands between his own and blew some of his hot, minty breath onto them. I watched him do this for a few minutes before he stopped, smiling at me. "Better?" He asked, sweetly.

I nodded. "Thanks." I said, still watching him. He was my best friend, I didn't even remember the times when I didn't know him but lately we've been even closer than usual. Every time he'd come over I'd get this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach and I'd blush and stutter around him. This was so unlike me, since I was pretty confident usually. Especially around my goofy best friend Bradley Charles.

"You okay?" He asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and I nodded.

"Uh, yeah. We should head home though, it's starting to snow again and I don't want to catch a cold." I said, pointing towards the exit of the ice skating rink.

Bradley smiled and nodded, holding out his arm for me to take. "We don't want you to fall on your ass again, do we?" He teased and I insulted him, like I usually did but linked my arm with his anyway. He was right, I was glad I didn't break a leg that night.

We brought our shoes back to where we borrowed them from and walked home. The walk to my house was quiet and we both listened to the night sounds and the windy snow storm that was approaching.

When it was my stop I turned to stand in front of Bradley. I smiled up at him since he was a good head taller than me and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him goodbye. Bradley bent his head a bit lower and pressed his cheek against mine, like he always did. Only this time it felt different. He didn't pull away, instead he stayed close to my face and next thing I knew, he was kissing me.

His hands came up to my face to cup both of my cheeks in his glove covered palms and I got on my tip toes to be able to reach him better. The kiss was slow and lasted for what seemed like forever when it was only seconds. When he pulled away he stayed close to my face and we both looked at each other, not sure what to say. I could see our breaths in the cold wind mixing and then pressed my lips against his again, just to be sure that this had just happened. This time it was only a short peck before I pulled away.

"I don't want to lose you as a friend." I suddenly said and Bradley nodded.

"Me too. I can't hide the fact that I like you though." He said. "Something changed between us. I know you've felt it too." He added.

I nodded and sighed, running a hand through my curls. "Obviously. We hit puberty. Something was bound to change." I said, matter of factly.

"So, you think it's just our hormones?" He asked, in disbelief.

I shook my head. "No! I don't know! We've known each other our whole lives, B. I feel like we were meant to fall for each other at one point."

"You fell for me?" He asked.

I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it. I then nodded. "Yeah." I simply said. There was no reason to hide it anymore. It was already too obvious and I couldn't get myself to lie to him. Honesty was important to me.

Bradley stared at me for a moment before quickly pulling me towards his body and kissing me again. This time a bit more eager. He pulled away, staying close to me though. "I fell for you too." He said, still holding my hips.

I swallowed hard. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Go with it, Stef. And if it doesn't work out then screw it! We're young and we'll stay friends forever, no matter what happens. I promise." He said, shrugging. He made it sound so easy.

And even though we didn't stay together until the end and got married to different people, we kept our promise and stayed friends until the day we died.

Do you want to get married?