In the Sidelines » Damian Lillard

04.

"READY TO GO?" Damian stood on my front porch, twirling his car keys in his hand.

I gave a thumbs-up and showed him the large bag I had in my hands. "I even baked some cookies. And yes, they're chocolate chip," I added.

He took the bag from my hands and walked down to the driveway. "You know me so well."

"What did you bring?" I asked while hopping into the passenger seat.

"You know, my specialty."

I blinked. "You just microwaved some chicken noodle soup again, didn't you?"

"You want soup or not?" He asked while raising his eyebrows at me. Laughing, I raised my hands up in defeat.

Damian started the car, and soon we were on our way to the bay.

We parked by the docks overlooking the water, the same place we always hung out at during the summer. It was dark already, like we had planned—an evening picnic the night before we would move out for college. It was our own little going-away celebration.

"Should we eat outside? Looks freezing out there." Damian peered over the dashboard to see if anyone was standing by the docks.

"Apparently not cold enough to keep the couples at home," I replied, gesturing towards two younger teens that were standing a few feet away from Damian's car.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust when he saw the two people and realized they were making out. "Wanna bet how long it takes for them to get hypothermia?"

I laughed and opened the car door. "It's probably not that cold."

I stepped out and immediately ate my words. I was almost knocked over by the freezing wind. It also didn't help when the waves hit the docks and some of the water splashed onto my face.

Just like that, I was back inside the car.

Damian was surprised to see me back so quickly. "I thought we were eating out there? And why is your face all wet?"

I ducked my head as I used one of my sleeves to dry my face off. "Hell no, we're not going outside. Nature hates me."

He laughed at the annoyed look on my face. Before he could make fun of me, I spoke up. "Just be quiet and eat your damn microwaved soup."

Dame raised his eyebrows at me. "I liked you more when you were super quiet and nice to me. Which was eight years ago."

"Hey, I was only nice to you because you were an adorable looking fourth grader. I didn't know that I'd be stuck with you ever since that day." I rolled my eyes at him.

As Dame looked at the view of the city lights outside, he gave a long exhale. "Man, have we really been best friends for eight years? Time really goes by fast."

"I know. I still remember when we were almost the same height and we made a deal to both be in the NBA someday." I laughed at the image of me trying to play professional basketball.

"Even though I think that dream's a little out of reach for you now, that's still my plan going into college," Damian said truthfully. "Who knows, if I play well enough in Weber State, maybe the NBA won't be too far away."

I grinned. "And I'll be sure to watch your college highlights and check your stats whenever I can. That's a promise. As for me, I want to be a successful businesswoman once I graduate college. Follow in my parents' footsteps, I guess. I know it'll be tough, especially since I'll still be really young, but you know me. I'll do it anyways."

Damian gave a small grin and gave me a fist bump. "Ara, that's exactly why we're best friends."

I gave a sad smile and looked away, thinking about tomorrow. We were moving out from the homes we had lived in since childhood. While I would be moving just a few miles south, closer to Stanford, Damian would be all the way over in Utah, a whole two states away.

Ever since graduation I had been looking forward to leaving for college. At the same time, I had been dreading it.

I was really going to miss him. The person who had always been there for me, ever since I moved into the Bay Area. The boy that I'd always been able to talk to about anything, and he'd do the same back. We were extremely close, and tomorrow would be the end of us being able to see each other face-to-face for a while.

Dame seemed to be thinking about the same thing. "I—I don't know if I'm ready to leave." He spoke with a waver in his voice. "I'm just gonna leave my home Oakland behind? And California? Leave you? I don't know how I'll do it."

I knew how he felt. I felt the same way. My closest friend was leaving tomorrow, and I cared about him way too much to want to see how I would be in college without him.

"We'll call each other on the phone. We can Skype, too," I said, trying to think positively.

"It ain't the same." He was silent for a second as a thought occurred to him. "Ara?"

"Yes?"

"I just wanna say something. Since we're moving out tomorrow, I might as well."

My heartbeat sped up. I had no idea what he was going to say, but a small part of me wanted him to say what I had always wanted him to tell me—I like you, as more than friends.

But I knew that we were just friends, so my feelings for him never really surfaced. He obviously didn't like me in that way either, right?

"I've always had..." Damian muttered, fumbling his words. He stared down at his hands and my eyes widened. His words sounded very close to the ones I always hoped he'd say. "I mean, for a while now...I've had a—"

Angry yells interrupted his words. Damian and I both were startled and we looked around to see who had screamed.

"It's them again," Dame groaned. It was the same couple that had been kissing each other just minutes ago. Now, they seemed to be in a heated argument.

"They seemed to hate each other really quickly," I added as I desperately pressed on. "What did you want to say to me earlier?" I wanted to know what he was telling me before.

Something in Dame's attitude changed after he warily eyed the boy and girl yelling at each other outside. "Earlier? Oh, it was—it wasn't important."

My heart sank. "Are you sure? You can tell me anything." Dame just nodded in reply but wouldn't look at me.

"Well, I just wanted to know if you'd miss me in college."

I wanted to yell just as much as the couple standing outside was. Dame was obviously lying to me, but I just slumped my shoulders in disappointment.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course I'll miss you."

---

Poor Arabel! But her and Damian are best friend goals tbh.

So I've changed the cover for this story since the other one didn't really show Damian's face. Let me know what you think.

Appreciate all the reads (600+!) and votes!