AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Closer people?”
I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose to get me to say what I want to state explicitly, or if he’s lost. Either way, I have to rephrase what I’m thinking, and it takes me a minute to come up with a sentence that’s clear enough. It’s going to get awkward, and I don’t feel well saying it.
“Like something that friends do.”
Five…
Ten…
Fifteen seconds pass before Stanley’s laugh breaks the silence. I’m walking around my room, feeling the pressure on my shoulders. It’s agonizing.
“I consider you my friend, Bree.”
I abruptly stop pacing.
“You do?” I pronounce in a whisper.
My stomach clenches.
“Yes, we’re friends. At least from my perspective,” he confirms. “We spend a lot of time together more than sitting down to study in silence. I accompanied you when you were taking photos, and we also talk about a lot of things that normal classmates don’t. I think that makes us friends in my book.”
I never thought about it that way. I knew that our relationship was more sympathetic since we’re not fighting every five seconds, but now that he mentions it, I can see what he means. We have been sharing part of our lives that regular classmates or allies don’t do. I’ve just been blind to that fact because sometimes my stubbornness is bigger than me.
I guess that wearefriends.
“Putting it like that, yeah, I guess we are,” I agree softly, slightly embarrassed by the fact that he had to explain our friendship for me to understand.
“So, are you coming over or what?”
I hear a noise on the other side of the line, mostly like a struggle, and I wait impatiently until they stop behaving like children.
“Hey, dwarf, bring your tiny ass over. Stanley’s cooking today, and I don’t say this like his friend, but the son of a bitch knows how to cook,” Ryder tries to persuade me.
I chuckle at his choice of words.
“Are you sure that I won’t die from food poisoning?” I quip.
“Trust me, Bree. I’ve been to the best restaurants in the country, and they don’t stand a chance against Stanley’s homemade pasta.”
Oh, Lord.
That’s something that I did not see coming, and Ineedto see it to believe it.
“Okay, okay,” I comply, smiling. “When should I come over?”
“As soon as possible, sweetheart.”
Chapter Thirteen
It takes me a full minute to soak in the achievement of convincing Bree to come over. Insecurity creeps in, making me uneasy about the decision to invite her in the first place. Swiftly, my eyes scan the area, trying to see if something’s out of place. The apartment looks decent. At least decent enough for a girl to spend time here. It’s better than what you would expect from three single guys living together.
On the bright side, it doesn’t look like the bottom of a trash can.
Since this is our sanctuary, and we don’t get visited often, the apartment is almost perfect. We rarely bring any hookups, not even Ryder. He prefers to have his one-night stands in other places. There’s an unspoken rule to keep this place to the inner circle only for people we can trust.
Bree is one of them.
We’re all bound together with the phone scheme. I don’t think we can get any closer than that. I felt that until we shared that night in the city, and I consider her to be a good friend. Theonlyfemale friend that I’ve had since high school.
