Ally hung up, her hands shaking ever so slightly. Her heart was ready to burst. She ran downstairs almost skipping.
"Hey, what's up Ally? I swear there's a happy dance somewhere in there," Mum called after her as she made a right swing towards the front door.
Though Ally told her mum almost everything, she wasn't ready. She wanted to enjoy this moment of butterflies dancing in her stomach and dragonflies buzzing in her head. She wanted to savour this moment just a little bit longer.
"Just going over to Luke's for a bit. Will be back before dinner."
Ally and Luke were neighbours, best friends for life they had said when younger, laughed over silly things, held each other's hands when sad, talked to each other about everything. Well, almost everything.
To be fair, Ally didn't even know there were was another feeling hidden under the layers of loyalty, love and respect. Well, not until Debs, the new girl in school turned up.
Ally, Debs and Luke had become good friends over the last couple of months, but when Debs started talking about and to Luke in circles, Ally felt the pangs of jealousy. At first, she didn't recognize the irritation but when Debs asked "Hey, do you like Luke like that?", she knew she had fallen in love with her best friend though she denied it and changed the subject.
But it was at that point also, she decided she had to tell him. It took days of self-talk but finally, she took a deep breath and called him with the intention of telling him over the phone so he didn't have to see her nerves. But before she had begun he had suggested they hang out before dinner.
She hesitated at Luke's door before ringing the bell. Luke's Mum opened it and gave her a hug. Then she hollered up the stairs "Luke!! Ally's here."
Luke came charging down the stairs with his mischievous grin and gave his Mum a big giant hug. He had always been very open about his affection, even when they were younger and the kids in school would tease him about hugging his mum, he never stopped. He would stride past, grinning back at them like he had a secret they were oblivious to.
That was a long time ago. Now they were almost at the tail end of their teens, and he was still public about his affections, sometimes to the point of embarrassing her.
"Hey, you Diplodocus!!" he called out as he grabbed the keys to unlock his tandem bicycle. For the last 14 years, he'd found the strangest nicknames to call her simply because he liked the way it sounded. Diplodocus was something he picked up from a documentary he had watched on YouTube and said it was better than the last, Sashimi.
"Come on, let's take Dad's tandem bike for a ride."
Debs knew where they were going. To their favourite place in the whole wide world, the only times they took the tandem bike. The river where they had shared many secrets, gossiped about the kids in school, talked about their dreams and hopes and initially even swims. But the swimming had stopped a few years back when her body started to change, and even though he would still take a dip on hot days, she'd stand close enough to take some goofy pictures of him but not too close that he could splash her with water.
As they cycled, her thoughts were racing. The butterflies fluttered stronger. What if she told him and he didn't feel the same way? What if they became awkward after that? What if she lost her best friend in the world? The same questions she has asked herself over and over again. So many "What if's". But what if he felt the same way......
Usually, she huffed and puffed and complained all the way, but this time they arrived at the river before she knew it. He pulled out the red table cloth and threw it on the grass under the tree.
"Mum made some sandwiches," he said as he laid everything on the cloth. Then he sat down and looked up at her still standing there.
"Ok, what? You need an invitation. Sit. I have to tell you something."
She sat down and tried to be normal, it was like suddenly she had forgotten how to behave around him. Her lips were dry and she grabbed the water bottle he was drinking from and gulped some water. *Was he going to tell her what she was going to tell him? He had been acting a little shady lately. *
"Don't you want to ask me what?"
"What?" she repeated, her lips sticking to her gums. She felt like someone had pressed the slow-mo button on her life.
"This is going to sound crazy, but I think I am in love." He waited and when she said nothing, he laughed.
"Ok, I am already nervous telling you this. are you not going to ask?"
She was feeling giddy. This must be it, he felt the same. She wanted this moment to last forever. Not slow-mo please, she thought. Just press pause, freeze this moment.
This time, he took a gulp of water and continued, " Ok, I'm just going to come out and say it. So, I bumped into Debs today, and I just blurted it out. I asked her out on a date and I didn't even know I felt like that about her until that moment. And you know what she said?"
He waited only a split second before continuing. "She said, I thought you'd never ask."
Ally gave a nervous laugh and stood up. "You guys would make such a perfect pair," she said as she ran towards the river. "Last one in is the Diplodocus," she said as she jumped in.
The water will hide her tears.
This is my entry for the prompt Unlikely Hero by @theinkwell. You can find out more HERE.
image source, edited on canva