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Tyler

"I know." She sighed putting on her shoes. "We'll always be just friends."

I watched her walk away and wished I hadn't. With a sigh, I stood up and began to walk after her, but when I entered the banquet hall again, I stopped when I saw Amari laughing as she nudged Jake.

"There you are!" Naomi said grabbing onto my arm. "If I knew you'd be abandoning me all night I would've stayed home."

I didn't reply as I watched Amari and Jake walk away happily. Naomi looked at them and sighed.

"They're so cute, I have to admit." Naomi smiled softly. "And here I was thinking she'd be competition."

"Competition for what?" I asked glancing down at her.

"For you." Naomi said looking up at me. "I thought you two had a thing. Everyone thought you two had a thing. Turns out, you're apparently not even her type. He is."

I sighed and pushed Amari out of my head trying to enjoy the rest of the night.

4 weeks later

Amari and I hadn't spoken since the banquet. Maybe she was embarrassed about what she had said or things between us had actually changed, but either way we weren't speaking. I was unable to focus on whatever the Government teacher was saying as I scribbled in my notebook.

If I were being honest, I didn't know if I had drawn Amari and me or Amari and Jake. I sighed and flipped my notebook shut before putting my head down.

"Are you okay?" Chase asked.

"Fine." I mumbled. "Just a little sick."

I glanced up and across the class at Amari who was taking notes and texting Jake at the same time. It was a routine she had developed.

"Do you miss her?" Chase asked and I looked at him confused. "Amari. You two haven't talked in weeks and haven't been hanging out."

"How would you know that?" I asked.

"You have so much free time now." Chase laughed. "What happened between you two?"

"Nothing." I said shrugging before sighing. "I don't know."

The bell rang and every began to pack up.

"Well, you better go figure it out." Chase nudged me and I sighed walking out of the class behind Amari.

I followed her to her locker and sighed before approaching her.

"Amari, can we talk?" I asked.

She looked up from her phone and glanced around before nodding.

"Uh, privately." I said glancing over to where Lana and Chase stood listening to us.

Amari laughed and followed me outside.

"What's up?" She asked leaning against the building.

"I don't know. What's up with us?" I asked coming out with it. "We haven't talked or hung out in forever."

"Okay? What's wrong with that?" She asked.

"What changed at the banquet?" I asked crossing my arms and looking around nervously.

Amari

Besides the fact that I almost told you that I liked you? That I dropped the most obvious hint about wanting to be more than friends and you completely avoided the topic?

"Nothing." I shrugged.

"We'll always be just friends?" He asked repeating what I had said and I cleared my throat. "What's that about?"

Was there a point in hiding it? I mean, we weren't even friends anymore. At least, I didn't consider us friends anymore.

"Do you... Um..." He hesitated. "Like me?"

I sighed and looked down at my shoes.

"Does it matter?" I asked before glancing up at him again. "Will it change anything?"

"I mean... Honestly, no." Tyler shook his head. "I don't like you like that, but I still want to be your friend."

"Tyler, I don't want to be friends." I laughed. "I want to go on dates. I want to hold hands and kiss in public. I want to be with you."

"Amari..." I cut him off.

"What's so wrong about us?" I asked. "About being with me?"

"You're my best friend, Amari." He sighed. "We've spent years proving to people that we were only friends and you want to throw all of that away?"

"We already have at Naomi's party." I said with my eyes watering.

"Naomi." He said. "I like her, remember?"

"Why are you talking to me right now?" I rolled my eyes. "What was the purpose of this?"

"To fix our friendship." He said. "I didn't expect to come out here and have you confess your undying love for me."

I laughed bitterly and looked away.

"Tyler, I don't think we should be friends anymore." I said. "I think that this friendship has officially died."

"Amari..." He trailed off. "What about Hunter? He'll be heartbroken. And my Mom and Dad, too."

"What about you?" I asked. "If I walked away right now, how would you feel?"

"I mean, it'll suck." He said rubbing his neck.

"It'll suck? That's all?" A tear rolled down my cheek. "Tyler, we have 17 years and all you can say is it'll suck?"

"I don't want us to end, Amari, but I can't promise you forever in the way that you want." He said grabbing onto my face.

"I just want forever with you! It doesn't matter what kind of way!" I cried and he studied my face. "But you can't give me that." I stared him directly in his eyes.

I didn't want to take it there, but it was the only thing that came to my mind. The only thing that I felt would finally end all of this.

"Crapulous." I said and his face dropped.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"Crapulous." I repeated walking away from him.

"Amari and Jake." I heard him whisper to himself as I entered the school building again.

Almost immediately, Lana ran to me and Chase rushed outside to Tyler.

"What happened?" Lana asked. "What did he want to talk about? Did he confess his love for you?"

"No." I said with a broken voice. "I did."

"Huh?" Lana asked shocked and when a tear slipped down my cheek, she quickly pulled me to her.

"He didn't want me." I cried into her chest as she rushed us somewhere private so people would stop staring.

"Shh baby. It's okay." Lana comforted me.

Tyler

"So? Did you fix things?" Chase asked.

"No." I mumbled staring at where Amari had be standing. "She likes me."

"Yeah?" He asked happily. "Are you two finally a thing?"

I shook my head and looked looked over to Chase.

"I chose Naomi." I shrugged. "How dumb am I?" Chase didn't interrupt my ranting. "I just threw away 17 years with my best friend for a girl I don't even think will be around for too long, Chase."

"Dude, I thought you liked her...." Chase said quietly.

"I do, but I just don't think Naomi and I are too compat..." Chase cut me off.

"No. I thought you liked Amari." He said. "All the drawings of her. When you draw you two together. I thought there was something behind that."

"I guess not." I shrugged. "... I made her cry." I looked up at Chase. "I haven't done that since... Ever. I'm usually the one to fix her tears, not cause them."

Chase went to say something, but was cut off when someone called my name. We both turned towards the parking lot and saw Jake approaching us with a big gift bag.

"Hey Tyler." He smiled at us. "Do you know where Amari is?"

I glanced at Chase and he took over.

"She's inside, why?" Chase asked.

"I just bought her some stuff." He shrugged. "I think I'm gonna ask her out on an official date."

"You don't think it's better to wait until she's at home to do that?" Chase asked.

"I mean, that's ideal, but I have to work later." He shrugged. "I'm too excited to wait anyway."

Chase went to say something, but I cut him off.

"I'll bring her out here." I said and walked into the building.

I had no intentions on bringing Amari to Jake. I just needed to apologize. To get a grasp on how serious the situation is.

"Hey!" I called to a random kid. "Where's Amari?"

"I swear I didn't make her cry." The kid said afraid and I just stared at him. "Lana took her to the science lab."

I walked away and people stared as if waiting for me to attack someone. I knocked on the lab door and Lana swung it open. Her became dark once she saw me.

"What do you want?" She spat.

"Where's Amari?" I asked looking pass her at Amari who was sitting beside the window.

She didn't look at the door. She knew it was me.

"She doesn't want to see you." Lana rolled her eyes. "You know, if I knew how much of a jerk you were, I wouldn't have talked you up so much. I would've trash talked you so bad."

"Yeah. Yeah." I said not paying her any mind as I stared at Amari.

Why did I have to fuck this up? Of all things. Why Amari? I sighed slid pass Lana and into the Lab. She wasn't really trying to fight me off or anything and I knew it was because she wanted me to fix things. She wanted us to end up together.

"Amari, I'm sorry." I said walking over to her. "I'm sorry that I got you attached and fucked things up. I'm sorry that I don't feel the same way and I'm sorry that I can't give you what you want."

She glanced up at me and rolled her eyes. She wasn't budging. I prepared to continue my apology when Amari jumped to her feet and leaned out the window a little.

"What's wrong?" I asked grabbing onto her elbow in case she was trying to jump.

"Jake is here!" She sniffled. "Jake is here and I look like this!" She turned to Lana, still ignoring me. "Help?"

"Of course." Lana nodded grabbing Amari's hand and they both ran out of the lab.

Well, there goes my apology.

Amari

I fluffed my hair and reapplied my lip gloss as Lana used a wet paper towel to wipe away my dried tears. When we were done, we both ran outside where Jake stood talking to Chase.

"Jake." I said softly and he turned to look at me.

His face lit up and his smile grew bigger as he stared at me.

"Come here." He said holding his arms out and he hugged me tightly. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Well, I'm surprised." I laughed.

"Look at what I got you." He said breaking our hug and holding out a big gift bag.

"Really?" I laughed grabbing it. "What is it?"

"It's literally in your hands. Open it." He laughed and I sat the bag down and opened it.

Inside was a bunch of my favorite candies, some lip glosses, five dvds, a pajama set, and some house shoes. I looked up at Jake confused.

"I was wondering if you'd want to have a movie night with me this Saturday..." He said rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I bought us matching pajamas and slippers. I picked out your favorite movies and I have my favorite movies. I mean, I can take you on a real date. Wherever you'd like if this doesn't sound..." I cut him off and jumped into his arms.

"It sounds fun." I smiled at him.

He was exactly what I needed after being rejected by Tyler. I didn't expect Tyler to want me the same way I wanted him, but it felt good to have someone want me after that.

"Cool." He smiled down at me. "I'll pick you up Saturday?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"I wish." Lana sighed dreamily and I looked over at her as her hand was folded over her heart and she stared at us. "Maybe I should go dress shopping."

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