I Fell For You

“I still can’t believe it’s been twelve years.” Shaun said as we sat in front of each other, our chairs by the pool.
“I still can’t believe you’re an Olympic gold medalist.” I said, smiling. He nodded his head, looking down at the pool.
“Possibly another Olympic gold medalist too, depending on how this Olympics goes.” He said, his eyes focusing towards the pool though I could tell he wasn’t actually observing the pool.
“I’m sure you’ll win. You’re real good.” I said leaning forward to place my hand on his. He looked down at our now touching hands then placed his free hand on top of mine.
“Thanks best friend.” He said softly, though sarcastically. I playfully shoved him then sat back in my chair. We stared at each other for the next few moments, not knowing exactly what to say.
“It’s been so long, I don’t even know what to say.” I said finally, shaking my head. Shaun nodded and sat back in his chair.
“I know, I always thought that if I saw you again, we’d catch right up from where we left off but twelve years is a long time. Not that I’m unhappy with seeing you, but it’s just somewhat…awkward.” He said, thinking hard on what word to use last.
“It is awkward. Though we couldn’t have possibly expected to just pick right back up. I mean we were eleven the last time we saw each other. A lot’s happened since eleven.” I said. Shaun agreed and looked at me.
“I missed you though.” He finally said, after staring at me for a while. I could feel the color rushing to my cheeks. Blushing? I was blushing? Why was I blushing?
“Ditto.” I said looking away, hoping he wouldn’t notice the sudden redness that was taking over my face.
“So, just graduated college huh? How was that?” He asked changing the subject completely. I sighed, glad the topic was something other than feelings.
“Fantastic. College was so much fun. Especially since Raine and I were roommates in college.” I said.
“Raine?” Shaun asked. I hadn’t noticed that in the past three hours that we had been talking, I hadn’t said one single thing about my best friend. Well, my now best friend.
“Oh wow, I can’t believe I haven’t told you about Raine! Um, she’s my best friend. I’ve known her since I was, well, eleven. She lived just down the street from my aunt and uncle and was the first person I met when I started school up here. Her and I became best friends instantly. She’s a really cool person.” I said. Shaun looked away from me and closed his eyes for a second, just a second, then looked back up at me.
“Your best friend.” He said laughing. I nodded my head.
“Yeah, Shaun. I um, I did make other friends when I moved away.” I said, adding a somewhat cynical tone to it.
He said nothing, just looked away. I watched him, wondering what he wasn’t thinking. Why would he be upset, or even effected at all, if I had another best friend? He couldn’t have thought that after I moved away, I wasn’t going to make a single friend and think only about him? Sure I thought about him, but life goes on. I had to make other friends. I couldn’t have survived this world without my friends.
I looked back at the back doors and noticed the crowd was starting to stumble a bit more, more drunk than before.
“Speaking of, I better go inside and find Raine. She’s probably wasted by now.” I said standing up. Shaun followed me with his eyes, at least from what I could see. I walked in annoyed with him.
I always thought that, had we met each other again, we’d have this incredible reunion and talk for hours and suddenly be best friends again. I forget that people change.
I searched through the crowd and finally found Raine, telling some overly-dramatic story to a crowd of people as she used her hands to exaggerate whatever she was saying.
“Raine!” I shouted as I pushed my way through the mounds of drunk people to get to my best friend.
“Raine.” I said finally standing beside her.
“Ang on, Im telling a story ere!” She said in a slight British accent. Whenever she got wasted, and I mean WASTED, she always popped out a British accent.
“So I said to ‘im, what do you mean I’m no good? You can shove it up your arse if you think that, you bloody wanker!” She said, now pulling her entire British self out. I grabbed her arm.
“Alright, I think it’s time to go home.” I said pulling her away from the people. She looked back at the intrigued crowd.
“But my story was just gettin’ good!” She said, whining like a small child.
“You’re speaking in a British accent. It’s time to go.” I said. We walked a bit before hailing a cab and getting back to the Hotel room.
I directed Raine to her bed and let her flop down on it, not even bothering to change or brush her teeth, which she was in dire need to do.
I walked back out to the living room and grabbed my coat, putting it right back on me once more. Late as it might be, I always loved to take walks when I had to think.
I wandered through the snow, trying to keep track of where I was walking too. Of course, I could always take a cab had I gotten lost, but I really didn’t feel like sitting in another cab for the rest of the week.
I managed to wander into a park, a beautiful one at that, and sat down on a bench. I looked around and noticed a frozen pond in front of me. The trees were leafless but the snow made them beautiful. The ground was purely white, minus the small tracks that I had laid coming up to the bench.
I sat back on the bench and stuffed my gloved hands into my coat pockets. I started thinking about eleven years ago, the day before I heard of the accident. Shaun and I were actually talking about the future that day. I remember the conversation as good as if it happened two minutes ago.

Twelve Years Ago

“I HATE Mrs. Williams’ class. She always gives us the most homework.” Shaun said as the two kids sat at the table.
“Just think, seven more years and we’ll be in college!” Teena said. She was always the one to try and brighten things up.
“We’ve got to go to the same college.” Shaun said looking up at his best friend. Teena rolled her eye at the red-headed boy.
“Of course! Why wouldn’t we?” She said. Shaun nodded his head.
“I wish we could be share a room together in college, but they don’t allow boys and girls to stay in the same reason. Colleges are stupid like that.” Shaun said. Teena looked up at him and smiled.
“But Lexi told me that her big sister lives in a building where there’s boys AND girls. They can’t share a room but they all live in the same building.” Teena said.
“Like an apartment?” Shaun asked. Teena nodded her head ecstatically.
“Yeah!” She said, beaming.
“That’d be cool if your room was right across from mine! Then it’d be like here, where we live right across from each other!” Shaun said.
“Then we could see each other all the time without our stupid parents telling us it’s time to go home.” Teena said.
“And if I get to make it a skateboarder slash snowboarder, maybe I’ll get sponsored and get lots of money so we won’t have to worry about paying for college.” Shaun said, thinking about his future self as a skateboarder slash snowboarder.
“That’d be awesome!” Teena said looking down at her homework, bringing the both of them back to reality as they started filling in answers to the questions.
“Teena?” Shaun asked. Teena looked up at him but noticed he was still looking at his homework assignment.
“Yeah?” Teena asked, staying focused on Shaun while he stayed focused on the paper.
“Do you think that we’ll stay friends forever, even after we graduate?” He asked. Teena felt her heart slow down and her breathing come to a halt. Imagining life without Shaun, imagining life without her best friend, it was impossible. How could he even think of such a ridiculous idea?
“Of course we’ll still be friends. Shaun, why would you think we wouldn’t?” Teena asked, still shocked at her friend for thinking of something like that.
“I just hear about these people that are best friends forever and then they graduate and don’t go to the same college and stop talking and, before you know it, they are strangers to each other.” He said. Teena reached over and grabbed her best friends hand.
“I promise, no matter where we go, no matter what happens, we’ll always be best friends.” She said, making his face light up instantly. He squeezed her hand lightly and smiled at her.
“Good, cause I really don’t want to make new friends. Those other people suck.” He said whispering the last sentence. They both laughed and went back to their homework, talking about other things and joking with each other.

Present Day

That memory had always stayed fresh in my mind. Maybe it was still fresh in Shaun’s too. Maybe that’s why he had acted so strangely when I talked about Raine. But how could he possibly think that after twelve years of not seeing each other and five years of not talking that we would still be best friends? I’m pretty sure he had other people that he had considered to be his best friend now. I mean, after twelve years, you’d think you’d move on and make more friends. Right?