Belle 16: He Ran

Thankfully Brody acted as if nothing happened so Miranda didn’t get mad again. I didn’t understand how they lasted as long as they have. She never looked at him the way some would think she would. Everybody can see that all Brody wants to do is share his love, but she didn’t see it. Everyone knew she was with him for the wrong reasons. How could he not see it?

Brody called suddenly the Friday we wanted to go on a run.

“Hey, can we go on our run right now?

“Yeah sure. Why?”

“I just need to.”

“Okay.”

I met him out back. He came out looking agitated and anxious.

“Can we just walk it?”

“Sure.”

He was acting extremely weird. I’ve never seen him like this. I figured Josie was being a pain-in-the-butt again. Normally, Brody doesn’t put up with that kind of thing, so something’s going to give really soon. With that being said, I wondered if and when I could tell him how I feel �" IF I decide to. I’m not sure I should though.

“So, why did you wanna come out early?”

“I just needa get away from that stupid phone. She calls me all the time to talk about her day, shopping and fashion and all this noise.”

“Oh. Gross.”

I knew better than to talk about female stuff with Brody unless he asked about it. If he asked he was willing to hear the answer even if it meant boring or gross details, but if he didn’t ask, don’t tell.

“Yeah. I had to get out, but I did tell her I was going out to feed the animals.”

“Good idea.”

“I dunno if I wanna do this anymore.”

“Do what?” my heart sank wondering what “this” meant.

“Be with Miranda. She’s just not the type of girl I want. A fling is fine, but this has been way too long of a fling.”

“How long have you been thinking this? I thought you really liked her?”

“I did. But it was more of a desire that every guy has . . . ya know the one about dating the pretty girl in school that every guy wants.”

“Oh. So you’re thinking about dumping her?”

“I wanna see what prom does for us and if things are still the same, then yeah, I will.”

“What makes you think prom will change everything?”

“Because she’s been asking to do ‘it’ and if she doesn’t mind not doing it then it’ll be fine, but if she can’t its over.”

“So you still don’t want to?” I wasn’t sure if heard this right and I wanted what part of my heart sank to calm down. I tried not to think about how and why that ever came up between them.

“No. I’m not about to give that up to her unless she and I have said ‘I do’ in the church.”

I was thankful he was saying that. Knowing that he and Miranda might be breaking-up after prom lifted a weight off my shoulders, but there was still that chance. But then again knowing what kind of track record she has, it’s highly unlikely she’d be willing to not do it on prom night since prom night is known for being teen sex night. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I hoped for the better but expecting the worst.

He looked ahead, “I’ll race ya to our spot,” he challenged.

“You’re on.”

We started sprinting to our little spot in the grass. Both of us tried to stop too late so we ended up tumbling on top of each other laughing.

“No clue who won!” he shouted

“I did cuz I’m on top.”

I sat up realizing I was strattling him and got off.

“Woh! Didn’t know we were that close of friends,” he teased sitting up. He stared at me. I looked down modestly smiling.

“I miss being able to hang out with you and not having to worry about someone else.”

I rolled my eyes, “Lies.”

“No. I do because I can’t do this on a regular basis anymore,” he started tickling me making me fall back, “Huh? Give? Give?”

“Yes! Give!”

I sat up, “I could do without the almost-peeing-my-pants routine,” I teased.

“You like it.”

“You wish.”

“I wish things could go back to the way they used be.”

“Why?”

“No girlfriend to weigh me down. Just me and my best friend. Free to do as we please.”

I nodded. I guess telling him was no longer an option. He didn’t want a girlfriend. There goes that hope. But at least he’s wanting to be single to be with me, his best friend again and that’s enough for me . . . for now . . .