Status: Finished.
Your Melody Sounds As Sweet As the First Time It Was Sung
Chapter Five
If I could, I would say that that was where it all ended. Brendon and I stayed best friends forever, nothing else involved. However, I was always a terrible liar, so I shan’t even try to convince anyone of that. Things were only perfectly normal for around a year or so.
So where to start?
Oh, anyone remember Chubby and Skinny? Those guys that live across the road from me?And totally stalked me when I moved here? Turns out Brendon knew them. Chubby was actually named Spencer, and Skinny was actually named Ryan. They were best friends and went to that Catholic school mum had tried to convince me to go to; Bishop Gorman. Spencer was my age but Ryan was a year older. Brent was the one who knew them, although not well, and they had met Brendon before once or twice.
Brendon got a job at the smoothie hut – which I never let him forget, considering how funny he looked in that yellow, orange, and green uniform – and I was there waiting for his shift to be over when Spencer and Ryan walked in, although at the time they were still unknowingly under my own names for them. They strike up conversation with Brendon, and I was properly introduced to them. They were great guys, and by that night I already considered them best friends too. Not like Brendon, he was my bestest best friend forever, but they were next in line. It was really handy having them live across the street too, and we spent as much time at each others’ houses as we did at our own.
Mom was over the moon at me having all these new friends, even if none of them were girls. They were much better friends than I’d ever had in Jersey. The guys all loved my mom like she was their own – she pretty much was Ryan’s mom seeing as he was lacking one, but let’s not go into that – and she loved cooking home-made dinners for them almost every night. Mom and I had always thought that it would be just the two of us, but it wasn’t. Of course we still had our mother-daughter bond, but Brendon, Ryan, and Spencer became like family. Even Brent would join us sometimes, but he had other priorities a lot of the time.
So this was generally how that year passed. I was happy, and my life was free of complications. I know right? Naivety at it’s finest. Truth is, life is complicated. And I had to go ahead and do the single stupidest, most wretched, clichéd, mistaken, forbidden thing to fuck up my life, and being the selfish bitch that I am I had to go ahead and drag everyone else down with me.
I fell in love with my best friend.
Bravo Charlotte, you stupid dumb bitch.
Leave now if you want, because this story isn't going to end the way you might want it to. This isn't the good old ‘boy meets girl, fall for each other, he dates a whore because he doesn’t think she feels the same, she tells him, they kiss, happy ending.’ Oh no. I wish. Things just don’t happen like that.
How did it happen, you may ask, if you’re not repulsed enough by my idiocy as it is? Well, it’s not like I’d always felt that way about him at all. No, he was my best friend for over a year before anything happened to indicate otherwise. There was no big catalyst or whatever. I think that the first time I realized anything was different was when Brendon, Ryan, Spencer and I went to the beach around two weeks before Brendon’s sixteenth birthday. It had been a pretty average temperature day, but after much driving we got to the beach at around five thirty in the afternoon, just as the sun was beginning it’s descent and the colours of the sunset were thrown artistically from the horizon to cover the dusk sky. Ryan bought us all ice creams from the small shop across the street and we sat on a grey and green checkered blanket just talking and laughing, watching the sun gracefully drop behind the skyline.
“Who wants to race me to the water?” Spencer asked as we finished eating.
“Ooh! Pick me!” I said, gobbling down the end of my ice cream cone.
“’Kay Charlie, but I’m not going to run slower just because you’re a girl.”
“What?” I scoffed, standing up to come face to face with Spence, or more like face to neck, because he was that much taller than me. “I run faster than you any day, boy.”
“Prove it,” he grinned and immediately began running towards the white foam that was leaving an invisible salty crust at the water’s edge.
I followed his silhouette against the sun, but soon caught up and we reached the water together, laughing at each other’s funny ‘running faces’. Minutes later we were joined by Ryan, but Brendon was still finishing his ice cream up at the rug. One of that boy’s weird quirks; he’ll scoff most anything edible down in a heartbeat, but when it comes to ice cream he eats it so daintily the queen would be envious. Spencer rolled the bottom of his jeans up, but Ryan and I didn’t need to because we were wearing shorts. Standing in between the two, I took one of each of their hands as we ran into the water, going no further than a foot deep. Then we did what all kids – usually of a 4-6 year old age group – do; we proceeded to chase the waves and then run away from them. We’d run up to them, hands linked, and then abandon each others’ fingers when we had to turn around and run from the moving hills of water. After a few minutes, Brendon had devoured his cone and joined us.
“Guys…” he whined. “I want to hold Charlie’s hand!”
“Too bad,” Ryan teased. “We got here first.”
“Guys,” I started, acting all cocky. “Don’t worry. There’s plenty of me to go around.”
“But we don’t want to share!” Spencer argued. Brendon pouted at me.
I sighed. “Well, one of you has to give Mr Urie here one of my hands before his bottom lip falls off.”
Brendon started blushing slightly as he pulled said bottom lip back into his mouth and I giggled at him.
“Fine!” Ryan rolled his eyes. “But you owe me!”
“Thank you Ryry!”
He ran out after the next small wave as a grinning Brendon smiled at me and grabbed my hand.
That was all. He took my hand.
And even though he’d done it a million times before, that was the time that I felt it. The tingling in my fingertips…
Haha okay. So that’s completely absurd and try-hard poetic. There wasn’t any tingling or weird feeling. At least not physically. Inside my heart seemed to do a little flip in my chest when his fingers entwined themselves with mine. I don’t know why. I most certainly didn’t ask for it, and after a long time I decided that fate actually did exist and just hated me. I wasn’t stupid, I know what the little flippy-heart thing meant. And I knew it wasn’t good for me.
Oblivious to the terrifying realization that I liked my best friend as more than that, Spencer and said best friend held my hands as we ran forward to the water after the skinny brown-haired figure that was Ryan. I hoped that it was just a small little crush or whatever. I hoped that I’d get over it in a month.
Hopes are like dreams; made to be crushed.
So where to start?
Oh, anyone remember Chubby and Skinny? Those guys that live across the road from me?And totally stalked me when I moved here? Turns out Brendon knew them. Chubby was actually named Spencer, and Skinny was actually named Ryan. They were best friends and went to that Catholic school mum had tried to convince me to go to; Bishop Gorman. Spencer was my age but Ryan was a year older. Brent was the one who knew them, although not well, and they had met Brendon before once or twice.
Brendon got a job at the smoothie hut – which I never let him forget, considering how funny he looked in that yellow, orange, and green uniform – and I was there waiting for his shift to be over when Spencer and Ryan walked in, although at the time they were still unknowingly under my own names for them. They strike up conversation with Brendon, and I was properly introduced to them. They were great guys, and by that night I already considered them best friends too. Not like Brendon, he was my bestest best friend forever, but they were next in line. It was really handy having them live across the street too, and we spent as much time at each others’ houses as we did at our own.
Mom was over the moon at me having all these new friends, even if none of them were girls. They were much better friends than I’d ever had in Jersey. The guys all loved my mom like she was their own – she pretty much was Ryan’s mom seeing as he was lacking one, but let’s not go into that – and she loved cooking home-made dinners for them almost every night. Mom and I had always thought that it would be just the two of us, but it wasn’t. Of course we still had our mother-daughter bond, but Brendon, Ryan, and Spencer became like family. Even Brent would join us sometimes, but he had other priorities a lot of the time.
So this was generally how that year passed. I was happy, and my life was free of complications. I know right? Naivety at it’s finest. Truth is, life is complicated. And I had to go ahead and do the single stupidest, most wretched, clichéd, mistaken, forbidden thing to fuck up my life, and being the selfish bitch that I am I had to go ahead and drag everyone else down with me.
I fell in love with my best friend.
Bravo Charlotte, you stupid dumb bitch.
Leave now if you want, because this story isn't going to end the way you might want it to. This isn't the good old ‘boy meets girl, fall for each other, he dates a whore because he doesn’t think she feels the same, she tells him, they kiss, happy ending.’ Oh no. I wish. Things just don’t happen like that.
How did it happen, you may ask, if you’re not repulsed enough by my idiocy as it is? Well, it’s not like I’d always felt that way about him at all. No, he was my best friend for over a year before anything happened to indicate otherwise. There was no big catalyst or whatever. I think that the first time I realized anything was different was when Brendon, Ryan, Spencer and I went to the beach around two weeks before Brendon’s sixteenth birthday. It had been a pretty average temperature day, but after much driving we got to the beach at around five thirty in the afternoon, just as the sun was beginning it’s descent and the colours of the sunset were thrown artistically from the horizon to cover the dusk sky. Ryan bought us all ice creams from the small shop across the street and we sat on a grey and green checkered blanket just talking and laughing, watching the sun gracefully drop behind the skyline.
“Who wants to race me to the water?” Spencer asked as we finished eating.
“Ooh! Pick me!” I said, gobbling down the end of my ice cream cone.
“’Kay Charlie, but I’m not going to run slower just because you’re a girl.”
“What?” I scoffed, standing up to come face to face with Spence, or more like face to neck, because he was that much taller than me. “I run faster than you any day, boy.”
“Prove it,” he grinned and immediately began running towards the white foam that was leaving an invisible salty crust at the water’s edge.
I followed his silhouette against the sun, but soon caught up and we reached the water together, laughing at each other’s funny ‘running faces’. Minutes later we were joined by Ryan, but Brendon was still finishing his ice cream up at the rug. One of that boy’s weird quirks; he’ll scoff most anything edible down in a heartbeat, but when it comes to ice cream he eats it so daintily the queen would be envious. Spencer rolled the bottom of his jeans up, but Ryan and I didn’t need to because we were wearing shorts. Standing in between the two, I took one of each of their hands as we ran into the water, going no further than a foot deep. Then we did what all kids – usually of a 4-6 year old age group – do; we proceeded to chase the waves and then run away from them. We’d run up to them, hands linked, and then abandon each others’ fingers when we had to turn around and run from the moving hills of water. After a few minutes, Brendon had devoured his cone and joined us.
“Guys…” he whined. “I want to hold Charlie’s hand!”
“Too bad,” Ryan teased. “We got here first.”
“Guys,” I started, acting all cocky. “Don’t worry. There’s plenty of me to go around.”
“But we don’t want to share!” Spencer argued. Brendon pouted at me.
I sighed. “Well, one of you has to give Mr Urie here one of my hands before his bottom lip falls off.”
Brendon started blushing slightly as he pulled said bottom lip back into his mouth and I giggled at him.
“Fine!” Ryan rolled his eyes. “But you owe me!”
“Thank you Ryry!”
He ran out after the next small wave as a grinning Brendon smiled at me and grabbed my hand.
That was all. He took my hand.
And even though he’d done it a million times before, that was the time that I felt it. The tingling in my fingertips…
Haha okay. So that’s completely absurd and try-hard poetic. There wasn’t any tingling or weird feeling. At least not physically. Inside my heart seemed to do a little flip in my chest when his fingers entwined themselves with mine. I don’t know why. I most certainly didn’t ask for it, and after a long time I decided that fate actually did exist and just hated me. I wasn’t stupid, I know what the little flippy-heart thing meant. And I knew it wasn’t good for me.
Oblivious to the terrifying realization that I liked my best friend as more than that, Spencer and said best friend held my hands as we ran forward to the water after the skinny brown-haired figure that was Ryan. I hoped that it was just a small little crush or whatever. I hoped that I’d get over it in a month.
Hopes are like dreams; made to be crushed.
♠ ♠ ♠
(Fifteen years old. Sophomore.)