Crystal Ball

“Alex, be nice!” Emma hissed under her breath.

“What? I can’t help if the guy is a total douche,” I replied nonchalantly. “He couldn’t even bother to pick his girlfriend up for their date.”

“Stop it. You know his car broke down last week,” she reminded me, rolling her eyes as I pulled into my girlfriend’s driveway. “Now go to the door, like a decent boyfriend, to get your girlfriend,” she scolded, attempting to change the subject.

“Unlike yours?” I questioned rhetorically as I jumped out of the car, not waiting for her reply. Vanessa had the door open before I reached it, standing on her toes as she waited for a kiss. I complied before wrapping an arm around her waist as I led her back to the car. In my absence, Emma had relinquished the passenger seat in favor of the spacious back seat.

Next, I stopped at Steve’s house, honking to alert him of our arrival. As he ran to my car, Emma whispered harshly, “Please remember to be nice.”

“Aren’t I always?” I smirked in the rearview.



Throughout dinner and the entire movie, I could not hide my distaste for Steve Burr. I had never particularly liked the kid, who was a year older than Emma and me. But my severe aversion to Steve only intensified when he began dating my best friend. I did not think—no, I knew—that he was not good enough for Emma. But nothing I said deterred her from spending time, dating, and who knows what else, with him.

After the movie, I dropped Steve off first, wanting to spend as little time with him around as possible. Next, I dropped off Vanessa. While I walked her up to her door, giving her a short goodnight kiss, Emma reclaimed the passenger seat.

Returning to my car, Emma wasted no time. She was talking before I had slid even halfway into my seat. “I thought I asked you to play nice with Steve tonight? Why is it so hard for you? Why do feel obligated to hate him?” She stared at me, waiting with her arms folded across her chest. When I did not answer, she shook her head slightly as she faced forward. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?” she muttered.

“But you love me.” I smirked, attempting to coax a smile out of the girl.

“What makes you so sure?” she quipped, looking at me through the corner of her eye.

“Because I’m your very bestest friend in the whole wide world?”

“Not anymore,” she mumbled as I pulled into my driveway. Before I had even turned the car off, she was opening the door.

“Where are you going?” I asked as I fumbled with the keys and hastily copied her actions. “I thought you were coming over.”

She shrugged. “If you had at least pretended to stand Steve for the night, I would have come over in an instant. But, no, you couldn’t even do that,” she answered as she turned for her yard, which bordered mine.

“Wait, Emma!” I closed the distance between us in one stride and wrapped my arms around her waist from behind. “I was being a jerk. I’m sorry. Really, I am,” I whispered pleadingly into her ear as I rested my chin on her shoulder. I could feel her sigh as she let out her breath.

“Okay, okay. I’ll come over.” She patted my cheek lightly, before we walked hand in hand into my house and up to my room.