Can't Be Friends

Nia

“They said teenagers scare the living- out of me! They could care less as long as someone'll bleed!”

“What in the world are you listening to?” Keivan asked, his face popping up next to mine in the bathroom mirror.

I snickered, smiling. “My Chemical Romance, kid. Before your time.”

He smirked and shook his head, amused by my statement. “You know I'm two years younger than you, right?”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I continued straightening my hair. “Yup. You missed all the cool stuff.”

Keivan laughed outrightly at that. “Whatever. I've always been very selective with the rock music I listen to.”

I set the straightener down and turned toward my little brother. “You look nice, Keiv.”

He glanced down at his simple jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers and pouted. “You're mean.”

I grinned.

The doorbell rang before I could reply and Keivan sluggishly answered it.

As I was applying lipstick, Jayna poked her head into the bathroom. She gave me a grin.
“Hey, girl. Looking good.”

I set my lipstick aside and returned her smile. “Thank you, so do you.”
She did. Jayna had a way with fashion though, so I wasn't surprised. She had on a skirt and blouse that she somehow made match even though they were vastly different colors and little heels. There were big hoop earrings in her ears and a faux flower in her hair. I really didn't understand how she did it. Or why she was complimenting my effortless jeans, blouse, and sneaker combination. Unlike her, I couldn't do heels.

Jayna gave me a shy smile and fake hair flip that caused us both to laugh. Even before the party, I felt so free. Just knowing that I would chill and enjoy myself that night made me want to smile. I hadn't felt this good in a while, I hadn't felt this good since-
“Are you ladies ready yet?” Keivan asked, smirking from the doorway.

“You can't rush beauty like this, Keiv,” Jayna muses, applying some eye liner to my eyes.

Keivan scoffed, but I heard his undertoned, “No, you can not.”

It caused a light smile to grace my lips. Jayna was obviously beautiful far before her whole junior year makeover and Keivan had always had a little crush on her. For a popular, buff jock, Keivan was a really nice guy. He didn't mess around with a lot of girls or use them the way he easily could. He'd had very few girlfriends and had been single for at least a year. I was proud of the way he treated women.

“Where's Shawn?” Keiv mumbled, messing with his watch.

“He and Markus are going to meet us there,” Jayna answered, finishing my make-up. “Done.”

“Thanks, Jay,” I smiled.

Jayna returned the expression. “You're welcome. Let's go have some fun.”

Jayna, Keivan, and I walked to the party. Melanie Crawford lived on the other side of town, the rich part, so it was a long walk. I couldn't contemplate how Jayna managed to do it in those heels without a complaint.

“Oh, come on. You know Ryker loves me too!” Keivan laughed.
Jayna shook her head. “No, no, no. He loves your dialogue skills. He likes everything about what I write.”

Keivan sucked his teeth. “Whatever. Same thing. How else would I have gotten into Creative Writing 4 as a sophomore?”

Jayna laughed, “Because you're a little genius.”

Keivan chuckled, trying to hide his blush. I decided to help him out.

“That's the house, huh?” I asked, pointing at the brightly lit mansion a block away from us. Cars crowded the surrounding streets.
Here we go.

“Wooo! This my song!” I think that was me yelling. I should not have drank that much.
Shawn appeared next to me suddenly. Or was he there before. Damn.

“Nia, come on. Let's get you some water.”

I followed him upstairs, realizing about halfway up the stairs that kitchens usually weren't in this direction.
“Shawn . . .” I whispered, holding my breath as we passed some guys smoking weed. Eww.

He didn't turn back to me, just kept dragging me until he found an empty room. I could hear

“Tennessee” by Arrested Development playing through the door. I wanted to dance, but Shawn sat me on the bed.

“Nia, Nia! Hey, pay attention.”

I whined. Why was Shawn ruining my fun?

“What?” I mumbled, trying to see him, but my eyes had yet to adjust to the dark room.

“You've been sad ever since you came back from Jersey. Did something happen to you there?”

I squinted at Shawn, my eyesight finally returning and shook my head. “ 'm not telling you.”

Shawn rolled his eyes, smirking. “Nia, come on. You'll feel a lot better if you get it off your chest. Our friendship has been suffering and I just want things to go back to normal.”

I shook my head again. “No, they won't. Things will never be normal again. I'll never be normal again.”

Shawn eyebrows creased as my vision blurred momentarily. “Why not, Nia? What happened?”

“No-nothing. Leave me alone.” I tried to stand up, but wobbled. Next thing I knew, Shawn's hands were on my hips and he was pulling me back down. I flopped onto the bed loosely.

Shawn's deep brown eyes stared into mine as he leaned over me. “You okay?”

I nodded lightly, moving my head to the music pulsing from downstairs.

“What happened, Nia?”

Blocking out images of last time I was this close to a guy, I looked back into Shawn's beautiful- did I think that?- eyes and leaned up, touching my nose to his.

“Nia, what're you-” My lips met his plump ones in a soft press before I pulled back.

“Ya wanna know what happen'd? I reali-ced 'm in love with you. But you don't think friends should date, so 'm gonna regret this in the morning. Right now, I just think you're stupid.”

Shawn looked baffled and completely caught off guard.

“ 'm gonna go now.” I half expected him to try to stop me.

Good thing I didn't hold my breath.

I found Jayna downstairs.

“You ready?” she asked me. I nodded and she grabbed Keivan before we left.

Yup, I was gonna regret it in the morning. My friendship was shot.