Affection | Jenlisa

14 Ways to Know You're in Love

I'm in love with my best friend.

At least, that's what I think I feel. With all the articles I've read online and the little observations made by my group of friends that we chose to laugh off, I starting to think they had been right all along.

Maybe I'm in love with Lalisa Manoban.

But who isn't? Everyone in school is practically infatuated her; fawning over her looks when she passes by, blushing at every interaction they get with her, cheering obnoxiously loud at her games. The amount of love letters and confessions she receives are hilariously astounding and it's always a blast to watch her stutter in flattery, but mostly in a bashful manner, as she tries to let them down easily.

The difference between me and the rest of the school populace is that I'm the childhood best friend. We've lived beside each other before either of us were born. I've seen her at her worst and grossest points of her life; just enough to convince me that despite the image she projects to the public, she's really just my average.

Another possibility why I never thought about being anything more with her was because we treated each other like siblings. We both only child and naturally, this made us bond even more growing up. Our parents were always extremely busy; my mother was a chemical engineer that had business abroad every other month while my dad was a seaman that only came home three months a year. Lisa's mother was a housewife so she took care of me whenever my mom was on a trip. I can almost consider her as my best friend, too, with how young she looks. She often relies on me to tell her about the other thing's her daughter doesn't tell her about and it's always amusing to see her tell Lisa off when there's a particular story she would have opted to hear from her instead.

Her mom is the reason why Lisa has been single; she refused to allow her to date while she's still in high school and Lisa doesn't dare try to defy her. She tries to instill the rule to me too, but is more lenient-probably because I'm not technically her daughter. But if she finds out that I like Lisa, her daughter and my best friend, as someone more than just a friend, what would she do?

But before anything else, I need to be sure about my feelings about Lisa. I'm not going to risk my current relationship with her for feelings I've misinterpreted. I need to think about this clearly, try to remember when everything changed for me; when the signs started to show that I am, in fact, in love with Lisa.

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The First Sign

You start listening to sappy love songs and have them playing on repeat for hours.

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"I didn't know you like Taylor Swift." was the text that interrupted my current belt out to her song, 'Begin Again.' Immediately, I walk over to my bedroom window and peer outside, looking over to the adjacent house where Lisa was already waiting for me; her cheek puffed up as her palm presses up against it to hold her weight up.

She looks like she just came out of the shower with her hair damp and pushed back with a towel draped over her shoulders.

"How was training?" I hook my foot onto the leg of my chair to drag it over before sitting down.

"Same as always. Coach isn't as strict since the game is in a few days. You're watching, right?"

"Is that even a question?" I roll my eyes. I always go to her games, whether she asks me or not. Initially, I had really gone to support her, but there are times I used her games to procrastinate some homework or just didn't want to be home alone when my mom wasn't there.

She chuckles, "We'll never know, maybe you just don't feel like watching. That's okay, you know. I'm only asking because mom said she wanted to watch."