We'll Keep a Secret (If You Keep Me Guessing)

When we finally made it to Alex’s house, which was only a little ways down the street from mine, Alex led me up the stairs to his room.

“Forgive me for the mess,” he said. “I just haven’t had the time to clean it up lately.”

“It’s fine,” I said with a smile.

He opened the door and allowed me to step inside. I looked around the room and didn’t find it to be as dirty as Alex seemed to think it was, just an unmade bed, a cluttered desk and a few clothing items strewn out across the floor. I made myself comfortable on the bed while he sat in the chair at his desk.

“So,” I said, “why did you want me over here so badly?”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at me sort of blankly, his soft brown eyes burning holes in my features. It was really creeping me out.

“What?” I asked, shying away from his gaze.

He shook his head, snapping himself out of whatever trance he was in. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I just… I missed you a lot over the summer.”

I chuckled, a bit confused by his statement. “How could you miss me? We were together almost all the time.”

“No, I meant, those two weeks or whatever that we didn’t see each other.”

I nodded, finally understanding. “I missed you too, but we were both pretty busy during that time.”

“Yeah,” he trailed off, looking away from me. He seemed a bit distressed, like he had something on his mind but didn’t quite know how to say it. “It’s just that you were one of the few people I really wanted to talk to, but I couldn’t.”

“Well, I’m here now. Tell me what you want.”

He smirked as he got up to join me on the bed. “That’s why you’re my best friend, Soph. You’ve always been there for me when I needed you, through everything.”

“Mm-hmm.” I nodded. “Like that one time when you and Jack got caught skinny dipping in the neighbor’s pool in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “I still don’t know how you got us out of that one.”

I shrugged. “I got skills.”

“You do,” he agreed, but slowly, the brightness in his expression faded away, and he got serious. “Soph, promise me that things will always be that way.”

I furrowed my brows in confusion. “What? You’re not planning on going skinny dipping again, are you?”

“No,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I meant, promise me that you’ll always be here for me, as a friend, whenever I need you, no matter what.”

“I will,” I assured. I was starting to worry about him because this talk came out of nowhere. “Are you feeling alright, Alex?” I asked, placing a hand on his forehead to check if it was warm.

“Yes, I’m fine,” he replied as he swatted my hand away. He stretched out and allowed himself to lay flat on his back before exhaling deeply. “Now that that’s over with, catch me up on what went on in those grueling two weeks.”

“Well,” I started, “Erin’s mom took Erin and me on a trip to Florida, Miami more specifically.”

“How was that?” he asked, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.

“It was amazing. We had so much fun, and it’s so pretty down there. At least, the parts that we saw were. The beaches were really nice even though I hate saltwater. We went on a boat ride one day, and we watched the sunset in the middle of the water. It was so pretty, probably the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. Then we—” I stopped when I noticed that Alex’s breathing was getting lighter. He was falling asleep. “Am I boring you, Alexander?”

He cracked one of his eyes open. It was red, reinforcing the fact that he was tired. “Not at all. Go on.”

“No. I think I should go so you can get some sleep.” I was about to get up, but I couldn’t move because Alex grabbed a tight hold of my wrist.

“Don’t,” he said. “Please keep talking.”

I huffed. “Fine. After our boat ride, Erin and I took a walk down Ocean Drive, and we met a couple nice guys.” I made up that last part just to see what he would say. I never spoke about boys in his presence, partially because he tended to take on the role of my protective older brother and partially because I didn’t have much to talk about. I just thought that throwing that in there would make Alex perk up a little.

Unfortunately, it didn’t. He stayed calm and kept his breathing steady and his eyes closed. “Really? Were they hot?” he asked indifferently.

I rolled my eyes, a bit disappointed that I didn’t get the kind of reaction that I was hoping for. “Yeah… You know what? I’m going to leave because you need to rest, and I have to get home.”

“No,” Alex whined. “Stay here and take a nap with me.”

“I’m not going to nap with you, Alex. I’m not tired.”

“Just lay down and close your eyes. You’ll be asleep in no time.”

“Alex—”

“Please,” he begged, forming a pout on his face. “Just for a little bit.”

I sighed. He was too good at talking me into things. “Okay.”

He smiled widely and moved over, permitting me to lay beside him. I wasn’t going to nap with him. I just didn’t want to hear any more of his whining. He heaved a sigh and snuggled a little closer to me.

“I love you, Soph,” he whispered.

I suddenly felt warm on the inside. It wasn’t abnormal for Alex, Erin, the other guys and I to express our love for one another, but for some reason, it just got to me a little more when Alex did it. I half-smiled and replied, “I love you too, Lex.”

I lied there for a little while, just watching him sleep. He looked so calm and relaxed. Whatever was troubling him before seemed to have slipped his mind. He was almost kind of cute. I smiled and thought back to the promise that he forced me to make a while earlier. I wondered why he was so serious about it. Did he think that I was going to just up and leave him hanging one day, that I was just going to get tired of him eventually and move on? The idea was preposterous. Alex was one of my best friends, one of the few people who knew everything about me and still liked me. I could never leave him out to dry for any reason. He meant way too much to me.

It was getting kind of late in the afternoon, and I didn’t want to stay and wait until Alex woke up. As soon as I was absolutely sure that he was asleep, I carefully slipped out of his bed, grabbed my bag and made my way home.