Aaron
"Are you going to Molly's birthday party? Jenni is insisting. I shouldn't have said anything about it to her. But I would rather be sleeping at home."
I laughed. I knew just how much of a nag Jenni could be. More often than not she nagged Joshua to death until she got her way. Josh was way too nice to say no to her.
"You can't even come up with a decent excuse?"
"I know right. I'm stumped. Can you help?"
"Dude, you can't always count on me to get out of stuff. Learn to man up."
"I know, I know. But right now, I need you."
"How can I say no when you say shit like that to me?" I couldn't help laughing.
"Can you be sick so I can pretend to take care of you. I'm thinking cold, lots of coughing and sneezing. Jenni is scared of catching a cold, she won't come near us."
"Fine, Joshua. But I don't fancy spending the whole night in. Let's do this, call her make your excuses. Sal was telling me about this new speakeasy by Wilshire. I'm feeling good wine and good music, plenty of undiscovered raw talent. Even the online reviews are great."
"I was thinking of hanging out at home, maybe binge on some tv. Haven't had a night in a while where I do nothing but be lazy. Or even sleep early."
"No. You come with me or I will tell Jenni the truth." He sat upright and squinted his eyes at me.
"Aaron, are you seriously blackmailing me, like now?"
"Is it working?" He frowned, that look on his face might intimidate others but I wasn't scared of him.
"Take it or leave it Josh. That birthday party doesn't sound so bad now that I think about it."
"Fine. You win Aaron. I would rather be with you any day. Let's do this. I'll videocall Jenni, but you better bring on your 'A' game."
Three minutes later, Josh was on a call with his girlfriend. On cue, I went on a coughing and wheezing fit.
When Jenni tried to come over, I became even louder. After hanging up, we high fived. Jenni wasn't coming over.
A few hours later we were back at my apartment. I was a bit buzzed, those two cocktails had been delicious.
I would have had more but Josh knew I didn't handle alcohol well and had stopped me from ordering more. Those pink fruity drinks packed quite a punch. Josh lost the coin toss and had had to be the designated driver.
"I can hear your phone buzzing. Jenni again?" Josh looked at his phone and put it face down on my coffee table. He didn't need to say anything. We both knew it was her.
We were siting on my couch with the lights dimmed. When I was tipsy the lights hurt my eyes.
"You should break up with Jenni." I could hear him chuckling. He had handed me a moist towel that I used to cover my eyes.
"Why would I ever do that Aaron? Jenni is a lot sometimes but I like her enough. We have our good days." I laughed with him.
"Is that even a reason to be with someone? Half the time you find excuses to avoid her and its left to me to rescue you. Why are you still with her?
Clearly, you are not in love with her. Not once have I ever heard you saying you loved her. Is the sex that good that you stay with her even if you don't love her?
With the amount of time you spend with me, do you guys even have time to do it?You deserve better. You deserve love and happiness and Jenni doesn't give you that." I could feel him shift his body weight and face me.
"Since when have you started worrying about my sex life? We do just fine. Thank you very much. Aaron, I have the best I can get. I'm happy with the way things are."
"No, you are not. You haven't been happy in a long, long time."
"What's this Aaron? You've never cared about Jenni and I's relationship."
"I hate seeing you like this. Doing this all the time. She doesn't make you happy. I want to see you being blissfully in love and with Jenni its never going to happen."
"You are right. I haven't been happy, Aaron. I know what would make me happy but I can't get what I want."
He was silent. I took off my towel and looked at him. His eyes were on my face. He extended his hand and caressed my cheek, pulled me closer to him.
Before I could speak, he kissed me. A soft kiss on my lips. He pulled back and held my gaze. Whoa!!!
He let go of my nape and leaned back on the couch. He looked up as he ran his hand through his thick black hair. I put my fingers to my lips unsure how to react.
I couldn't believe it. Joshua had kissed me. Kissed me. This wasn't the Joshua I knew. The Joshua I knew had a girlfriend.
The Joshua I knew was straight. At least he had made me believe he was. At least I thought he was straight. For the past two years that I had known him, he had never shown that he had such sort of feelings for me. I didn't even know what to say to him.
"Sorry for ambushing you like that but I don't regret that I kissed you." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Its something I have been wanting to do for a long time now. I have very strong romantic feelings for you Aaron and I have been dying to tell you just how I feel." It took me a while to get my bearings.
"I think I should leave Aaron." He deeply exhaled.
"But....."
"Don't say a word now. I think we should talk about this sometime Aaron. Call me when you are ready. I'm just a phone call away." He grabbed his phone and car keys and I watched him put on his shoes that were by the door.
I couldn't even answer him. I wasn't expecting this. He was my best friend. I hadn't realised that he harboured such feelings for me. How had I not known this? How long was a long time?
What was I going to say to him when he insisted on an answer because now that it was out in the open, I couldn't go back to pretending like I didn't know.
If I turned him down, would our friendship survive? I didn't want to lose him over this. Would he want to be just friends after this?
Would I be comfortable being just friends?
