Always

"Leah, I have to tell you something", Sam's eyes lit up. Omg is he gonna propose?? Wait--noo, it can't be. Uhh what is he gonna tell me? 

"Yeah? Go on", I acted all cool.

"There's this girl I like," he proceeds to hide his smile, "and I need your help." Oh. Ohhhhhh. Ouch.

He can't be serious right now. Why can't this moron see how much I like him? He's so blind. 

And now I'm supposed to help the love of my life ask someone else out. Great. I'm such a good friend, aren't I? 

"Aww look at you, all in love. How cute!," I lie. Huh, I must be a really good actress.

"Do i know her?", I elbow him. 

His face turns bright red. And I can't help but feal jealous. That lucky girl! She better be nice.

"Her name's Jane. She lives right down the street. We've been out a couple times and I seem to really like her. Maybe I'm ready to officially ask her to be my girlfriend," he says.

I can't help but feel like someone just stabbed me in my heart. I wanna tell him. I wanna tell it to him right away. But--- I can't...he's happy. He's never looked so lively before. 

                          .    .    .       

We went on and on for a while until it was finally time to go home.

"I guess I'll get going now. Text me once you reach home," he gives me his usual chubby, adorable smile and I can't help but melt over it. 

"Hey! Wait," I call out to him. "Sam, I really--- I think--- I mean..." I try to get a grip of myself and just take a deep breath, "Will we always stay friends?".

If having him forever means loving him from a distance, then I'll do it. I'll do it for me. For him. For us. For our friendship.

His head tilts a bit. He looks surprised but quickly gives me a reassured smile. His pupils dilate as he takes a step toward me. His hand reaches for mine and for a moment everything around us stops. 

"Always", he says, "you'll always be my dearest friend".