I watched the ripples of the lake crash against the stones, as gravity pulled my hair down towards them. I felt the cold concrete against my chest. The stone hurt my sternum as I exhaled, however I didn’t have the energy to move yet. I pretended I wasn’t listening, while in reality I was listening to every breath they toke. Every thirty seconds or so I would steal a glimpse of her smile. The smile that I’ve helped create since we were kids, the smile I would have done anything for, and most importantly the smile that she didn’t deserve. As I lifted myself off the bridge I noticed her pasty, pale legs tightly wrapped around his chest. I attempted to look away until I felt his eyes on me. Not being able to move I stared back until,

“Kyleeeeee! Look at me!” She spoke as she placed her grungy hand on his face and stole his stare away from me. I always used to have her back, but this time I knew she was wrong. I knew she was still talking to Dave, and I knew she wouldn’t tell me even if she was. I never cared before, but this was Kyle. He was our friend, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why she would be so willingly ready to hurt him. Even though deep inside of me I already knew. It was because despite how well she could act, she really only cared about herself. As I felt the jealousy burning the back of my retinas I turned away.

“Bzzzz-zzzzz, Bzzzzz-zzzzz.” I heard my phone vibrating against the stone that had now left little red dots all over my chest and arms. I picked it up; it was a message from my boyfriend. I knew what I was going to tell him, that I felt like a third wheel and he should make it to the park as fast as he could. I didn’t care they were together, and I would prove it too. They’d see me kissing him and Kyle would continue to kiss her. No one would know the truth, and that’s exactly how I wanted it. I opened the phone as my whole face dropped into disbelief. The text read “We need to talk”. With shaking hands I quickly sent him back a question mark. I knew something was wrong.

“Bzzzzzzz-Bzzzzzz” The phone vibrated again, and this time I picked it up and opened it faster than my mind could calculate what I was doing. It read “I’m sorry but it’s over”. My fingers remained on the keyboard for a few moments, as I stared at the message. So badly did I want to say something back, but I didn’t need to say anything. I knew our “relationship” was over before it started, and I knew the reason he was apologizing was because I wasn’t the only girl he was dating, even though I knew he really wasn’t sorry for it. I knew that despite how mad I wanted to be at him, I was really mad at myself and I was about to start crying. I knew I couldn’t stand to turn around and see her gray, chapped lips on his bare neck so I didn’t. I ran. All I knew was that I wasn’t stopping, and I didn’t for what felt to be hours. I made it just to the edge of the park where the gate meets the grass. That’s when I felt as if my lungs were going to collapse into my stomach. I sat to breath for a moment, as I listened to the silence. All I heard was my insides screaming.

“Thump, Thump….Thump, Thump….Thump, Thump….” I heard from the distance. I was breathing so heavy that I truly thought it was my heartbeat, until I noticed it sounded as if it were getting closer. I jumped up from my resting spot on the ground and stared off into the distance. Not knowing what to expect, I was ready for anything. I was prepared to fight. I got in stance my palms were sweaty, I was shaky and my adrenaline was pumping so fast I felt like I was going to pass out. I stared down the walkway until I saw a black figure running towards me. My eyes attempted to focus on it, until I saw the ripped white and black sweat shirt. It was Kyle. My stance was quickly compromised as I let my guard down. I could feel pressure building up behind my eye lids, and with all my might I tried to not start crying again. I looked past him, expecting to see her trying to keep up. After all I knew I’d be able to, you could see her legs from miles away in the dark. He finally caught up to me as he bent over to take a breath.

“W-Where is s-she?” I asked under my breath, almost hoping he didn’t hear.

“I left her at the bridge.” He answered quickly as if he knew I would be asking, as we both began to walk down the street. Not making eye contact we continued to talk.

“You l-left her? B-but that’s your girlfriend…” I asked him in confusion, as thoughts stared quickly filling up my brain. I knew he wasn’t that kind of guy, he was too sweet.

“I couldn’t let you walk home alone.” He answered calmly.

“But you’d let your girlfriend walk home alone?” I debated as I felt tears building up in the corners of my eyes. He stopped in his tracks as he grabbed my arm and sat us both down on the curb.

“Listen to me he’s an idiot for cheating on you! You deserve a great guy.” He spoke now staring directly in my eyes. I could barely see him through all the salty tears, and even though I didn’t believe what he was saying I continued to listen. All I could think of was the last few weeks, and how we’ve spent so much time together. Him dating her was the best and the worst thing that could have ever happened to me. The fact they were together meant I had no chance with him, however if they never got together we would have never became best friends. All I could think about was the hours every day we spent together waiting for her to get out of drama rehearsal. I kept remembering the night we laid on the trampoline and stared at the stars, angrily trying to find the little dipper for hours. I thought of how he walked me home every night even if we were on the other side of town. I also thought about how for the last year I’ve been telling her I liked him. “Are you listening to me? I’m telling you, you’re a good girl. You deserve to be happy!” He spoke genuinely as he embraced my body with his arms. As I sat there enjoying the warmth radiating off his body I cried. Not because I was cheated on, or because I knew Jordan wasn’t a good friend. Not even because I knew that she was going to hurt him. I cried because my best friend thought I deserved a great guy. When in reality I knew that great guy was him all along. I cried because after everything we went through as friends that would be the night that would forever change it. Because that was the night that I fell in love with you.