Marked

Twenty-Seven

   "It feels like I haven't seen you in ages," I said, sitting down in the chair by my window.

"Because you're spending all your time with Parker. And while I'll agree that he has a smoking bod, you gotta spend time with the amazing person that is me," Samantha said with a grin, looking at one of the pictures that I had on my bedside table.

"You vanished off the face of the earth for like a week! No room to talk missy,"

"I was doing something very good with my time, thank you very much. I was meeting up with this guy that I met at camp last summer,"

"Weren't you dating Oliver?" I asked, even though I was so glad that it sounded like they had finally broken up.

"I dumped him a while ago," She shrugged like it was no big deal to her. "He sucked anyways,"

I raised an eyebrow. "I agree all the way. Hated him. And the haircut was not suiting him,"

Samantha laughed. "Well, I think that you would like Axel. He's pretty great. Might be a while before you meet him though. Ah, the joys of long-distance,"

"I'm good with that," I said. "And at least I have Parker now. Because if I didn't, I would've probably died of boredom,"

"Better than dying from some sharp rocks?"

I shook my head. It was something I wasn't proud of, but something people still won't let me forget. All you do is have one bad day, man.

"That was scary. Not going to lie. But you know, my dad was there. And Parker, and he was amazing. And he was probably so scared," I would've been terrified if the roles were reversed. I probably wouldn't have even gotten the idea to call 911. I would've tried to fix him on my own somehow.

"Because we all know that Parker's hopelessly in love with you," Samantha said. "And I barely even know him,"

"You're missing out on one of the great pleasures of life," I said, shaking my head. People who don't know Parker must have really sad lives.

"I'm doing just fine in my own life," Samantha said. "You can keep your boyfriend to yourself,"

"Gladly," I said. "But I want you to like actually meet him one day. More than you already have. I love him more than anything, and I love you. You guys just have to meet each other more,"

She made that smile that girls make when they think something's cute. "Awww, Sebby has a case of puppy love,"

"It's more than that," I said. I didn't know how to word it. "It's not like some stupid crush or something. I love him, like... I don't know. I just know that I do. There's so few things that I can say without any doubt that I'm wrong, that I would scream for the whole world to know because I know that it's right. And this is one of those things,"

"Never thought I'd see the day where you actually fell in love," Samantha said. "I thought that you would be alone forever,"

"I thought that you would just date everyone you could until you ran out of willing guys," I said with a shrug. "You never struck me as the type to end up getting married or something,"

"Seriously?" She asked, throwing a pillow at my head.

"Yeah, I did. You really went through... what was it? Eight guys? Last year alone,"

"Whatever you say Mr.Romantic,"

I really missed hanging out with her as much as I used to. We used to hang out every single day after school and do our homework together. Then we got put in a ton of different classes and it was just hard to be able to see each other as much. And I knew that I should've tried to see her more when I met Parker because I barely saw her or even thought about seeing her again. There were so many reasons why she was my best friend, and I needed to remember them all.

"That is the worst nickname that you have ever given me," I said. And there were a lot of them.

"Worse than Dunker Boy?"

"Yes, worse than Dunker Boy,"

She laughed. "I really worry about your priorities sometimes," She said.

"My priorities are amazing, thank you very much," I said. "Basketball, not totally flunking my classes, Parker, and hanging out with you,"

"Some of those are okay. I guess," Samantha said. "You haven't even known Parker for that long though,"

"I've known him for a few months," I argued. "That's plenty of time,"

"As long as you don't suddenly drop everything and pull a Finn and Rachel and get engaged in high school, then I will come to your wedding,"

"You're coming no matter what," I said. "You have to be my best man. I thought we went over this,"

"But I'm not coming to your wedding before you're twenty. Case closed," She said, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Whatever you say, Sammie," I knew she hated that nickname more than anything. Exactly why I took any chance to use it. "And besides, I wouldn't let anyone get into a car accident on the way to my wedding,"

"You don't even choose that," Samantha said.

I crossed my arms. "Yes, I do. I'll put on the invitations that it's against the rules,"

Samantha sighed. "Might want to make sure that Parker's okay with that before you do it,"