Love Over Friendship

Chapter 8

My breath gets caught in my throat and I freeze. Did I just hear correctly? I stare into his deep blue eyes, “What?”

“Dani I’ve liked you since Primary School.”

OMG, “Tyler…”

“Dani, I know you probably think this is weird since we’ve been friends for so long, but please just think about it.”

Before I can answer, screams from the oval catch our attention. I look down to see the coach and the other footballers waving their arms and calling Tyler’s name. “Looks like they found you,” I smirk looking back at Tyler.

He chuckles before answering, “Yeah, I better go. I’ll see around Danielle.” He kisses my cheek – causing me to blush – before standing up and walking down the steps towards the oval. I watch him as he returns to the group and the coach starts yelling at him.

I take my chips out of my bag once again and open them.  I take a chip and bite into it, deep in thought. He liked me all this time but he never even said anything? Why’d he let us drift apart then? I know he apologised for it but why wouldn’t he tell me if he’s liked me for so long? And I thought this whole time that it was a one-sided love. No wonder he’s never had a girlfriend in high school. I was the ‘someone’ he liked.

I look down onto the oval as all the football players run around the field. Tyler looks so cool when he’s playing. I can’t stop staring at him. Something on the other side of the oval catches my eye as I turn my attention from Tyler to the mysterious figure. It’s Asher and he’s staring straight at me. He’s in a footy uniform as well. I watch him as he makes his way towards me, walking up the stairs. If he’s part of the football team, how come I didn’t know him?

“Hey,” he flashes me a smile and sits down next to me.

“Hi,” I say looking at him, “I have no idea how I didn’t know you, if you are on the football team.”

“Ha ha, yeah, that’s okay. By the way, don’t worry about what my friends said this morning.”

“Um, they said something?” I ask confused, “When?”

“When I ran past you this morning when you were with your boyfriend.”

I blush, “No, he’s not my boyfriend. And I didn’t hear anything from your friends except ‘What happened’, and ‘Are you close?’ but I don’t know what that means…”

“Yeah don’t worry my friends are kind of… weird around people like you… they saw me run away after I saw you with Tyler and assumed I liked you or something.”

“Oh,” I say just as the bell rings, “Well see you in Chemistry.”

“Yep, sure will,” he winks at me before running down the steps again and joining the boys gathering on the oval.

I chuck my chip packet in the bin and throw my back pack on my back before turning and walking towards my Art classroom. I make it there in time and take a seat at the front with Chelsea, one of my friends. The rest of the day goes by like a blur and for last period I have Chemistry. I sit in a desk at the back of the classroom and start to get my books out of my bag. I hear the chair next to me scrape across the floor and look up to see Asher sitting down next to me.

“Hey,” he says looking at me with his hazel eyes.

“Hey,” I reply, turning my attention back to my work book on my desk.

“How’s your day been, Danielle?”

“Average, I guess. What about you Asher?”

“Yeah, average as well.”

The teacher marks our names off the roll and then goes on with the lesson. “Hey, Asher, my friend and I are having a beach party on Saturday. You think you can make it?”

Asher stares at me with excitement in his eyes, “Really? I’d love to go.”

“It starts at 10am and goes till midnight.”

“Cool, I haven’t been to a party in ages.”

I laugh and then for the rest of the lesson focus on the white board.