Best Friends Forever

11

Back at school, it wasn't hard to tell that not all was forgiven and forgotten like I wanted it to be. The first two periods consisted of Jason and Addy ignoring Lucas and Lucas pretending he didn't care or notice. It was only at lunch that someone took a step towards reconciliation. And, of course, that someone was Lucas.

After buying his lunch, he and I walked to our usual table where Addy and Jason were already seated. Immediately they fell silent and the awkwardness was heavy in the air.

"Did you guys do the physics homework?" Lucas asked finally after a long stretch of quietness.

No one said anything, but Jason swore under his breath, a clear indication that no, he hadn't done the physics homework. Silently, Lucas reached into his backpack and pulled out his assignment, sliding it across the table to Jason.

It was Lucas's white flag. Lucas had no problem with apologizing straight up, but with Jason it was always safer for something unspoken. Jason had never been good with words.

"Thanks," Jason said softly, then took out his notebook and started scribbling down the answers. Jason was easily the smartest one of us, even smarter than Addy (which was saying a lot). It was his total lack of self discipline and motivation that hindered him from becoming top of the class. Though he somehow managed to ace all his tests without ever studying, he handed in his homework once in a blue moon and participated even less often. He was what teachers referred to as a wasted talent.

That had always bugged me. As someone who struggled in school and barely got average grades, to see people understand everything so naturally was beyond frustrating. I could study for hours and Jason for minutes and he'd still score near 100%, whereas I'd always been hovering much lower than that.

The only reason I could say I wasn't completely failing was Lucas. He came over all the time to help me study. He even made review packets for me, compiled questions into practice tests, and spent so much time tutoring me that I had begged him to let me pay him numerous times. It was a service I'd gotten completely undeserved, but one thing about Lucas was how much he genuinely wanted his friends to do well. It was like he cared about our success even more than his own.

I knew that if he didn't put in all the time he did helping us out he couldve had the grades Addy did, but he had never complained. Still, I felt guilty. I was a burden and I knew it, but I was too selfish to give up my much needed tutoring to allow Lucas to focus on himself.

When Jason was done with Lucas's answers, he handed it back to him, but everything was different. Just like that, the tension between them was gone and I was shocked at how little it had taken to smooth over any misunderstanding between them. Next on Lucas's list: Addy.

With Addy it was all about effort. Grand gestures were more than welcome; anything that showed you put in enough effort for your grovelling to be valid. She liked that you had to work for her forgiveness. So when Lucas pulled out the box of Ladurée macarons and asked if anyone wanted some, Addy's eyes all but popped out. She loved macarons.

"Oh my god, Lucas," I exclaimed, wanting to help him out. "When did you have time to go get these? The nearest Ladurée is all the way in New York, you must've had to drive for hours just go get them!"

"Yeah, I did," he smiled at me, thanking me for my theatrics. "But I just wanted to do something nice for someone to show how sorry I was-"

"Ugh, Lucas, you cheeseball," Addy laughed. "You're really laying it on thick, but yeah, this worked. Apology accepted. I love love love you!"

After grabbing the box of delicious sweets from her twin brother and wasting no time in shoving bite after bite down her throat, the atmosphere had changed.