My Girl

We walk for a very long time

The next morning, we sleep in until noon. We pull on leggings and hoodies and make pancakes in my kitchen. We're talking about movies; her favourite is The Breakfast Club. 

I ask what she wants to do. "Do you need to be home?" I ask. I'm hoping we can spend the day together and do something fun. Like a date, except not, because Lucy is straight and I'm her best friend. Ugh. 

"Nah," she says, "my mom won't mind as long as I'm back by curfew."

"Let's walk somewhere," I suggest, because that's something we like to do. Why pay two dollars to take the bus when you can walk instead and spend your two dollars on food or something?

We hatch a plan to walk all the way across town to the Brookside Bridge. According to Google Maps, it's two and a half hours. We'll grab dinner, watch the sun go down from the pedestrian lane of the bridge, and catch the bus home. 

"Let's do it." My face breaks into a grin and she puts her arms around me with a cute little squeal.

We lace up our sneakers, pack snacks, and hit the road. We walk down the main road until we reach the highway, then we cross it into a shortcut trail. It's a little dark and there's no one around. I seriously want to grab her face and mash it into mine. No no no, stop thinking that, I try to tell myself, but it's really no use. 

We play music from her phone. Conan Gray, and Girl In Red, and King Princess. Musicals, since we both love those. Our favourite is Spring Awakening. She is actually a decent singer, with a pretty soprano voice, while I have a shaky alto that is only decent for singing boy parts in duets. 

"How much further," Lucy asks, and I check my phone. 

"About an hour," I tell her. "You doing all right?"

"My feet are killing me," she says, "but I'm fine."

"I've got a bandaid if that would help?"

She sits down on a bench and nods. I dig around in my pocket and she takes off her shoe. 

It's not like I have a foot fetish or anything, but... those feet of hers are pretty damn cute. I find her blister and smooth a bandaid over it. I lean over her and I catch a whiff of her shampoo. It's like, limes or something, and for some reason it's turning me on. Lovely. I'm forever destined to be the girl who gets aroused by her best friend's smell while touching her foot. 

We keep walking, and we eventually get to Whole Foods to buy dinner. We get those fun little boxes you fill up with stuff from the trays, and we take them with us to the bridge. 

The sun is beginning to go down. We're chatting, just talking about music or something. 

One of the things I love the most about Lucy is how we can talk about anything. Like, with some people you need to put effort into holding a conversation with. But with me and Lucy, the words just flow without even thinking. And we don't even have that much in common. We go to different high schools and we have totally different friends. We met because we're neighbours. But we think in the same way, and we both like books and music and movies. We're both clever. We just get along so well.

And it's not awkward like it was when I had a crush on Abby Santiago or Talia Ramone. Those girls made my blush and stutter and generally act like a fool. But with Lucy, it's easy. She's my best friend, after all. 

We're near the top of the bridge. There isn't a cloud in the sky, and the sunset is gorgeous. From here, we can see the sun sink down right into the Pacific Ocean. 

This would be a really awesome first kiss story. If only. If only, if only, if only.

"Hey, Cameron?" she sounds really serious, and I wonder if something is wrong.

"Yeah?"

"Can you take my picture?"

I force a smile, and pull out my phone to snap some pictures. 

We sit down against the railings and watch the sky turn orange, and red, and purple. We're singing songs from a musical, Dear Evan Hansen. 

"All we see is sky, for forever," her voice floats through the night sky.

"We let the world pass by, for forever," I echo back. 

"Seems like we could go on for forever, this way,"

"Two friends, on a perfect day."

We smile at each other and I stare into her deep blue eyes. They are the colour of the fading sky. 

It's getting late, and rather cold, so we walk down the bridge together to the highway to catch the bus. We're near her stop when she says, out of the blue, "Cameron?" 

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm bisexual," she says, "and I just thought you should know." 

She's smiling a little, and then the bus stops and she's gone.