Between
by mistsplash
It's a quiet afternoon when it hits her. It's incredibly hot and sunny, but he still insists on dragging her outside and eating ice cream with her. She agrees after a weak bit of arguing on her part, because it's been so long since they've hung out and she thinks she would've agreed even if he suggested they jump off a bridge together.
They're enveloped in a comfortable silence, and with a small prick of sadness, she realizes that she's never had a comfortable silence with Matt before. Matt's her boyfriend, but there's no exact time when they can just sit back and enjoy each other's company. No, they always need to fill up the silence, be it with heated kisses or awkward small talk.
She doesn't need to do that with Tai. Tai's simple, easygoing—he's no riddle to figure out, like an open book. Things are never complicated with him, unless she does something to make it that way. She really doesn't deserve him as a best friend, but she's too selfish to let him go just yet.
She finds herself comparing the two—Matt and Tai, that is. There's fire, and then there's ice. She goes to the fire for comfort, but she stays with the ice for the mystery. Tai's funny and sweet. Matt's handsome and a real gentleman. They both make her feel like the luckiest girl alive. They're both imperfect, but they balance each other out.
She needs both of them. She's incredibly self-centered for that, she knows, but she can't help it. She loves them both.
She glances over to the brown-haired boy beside her, and smiles a little bit. He's trying to keep his cone from melting, and from the looks of it, he isn't really succeeding.
She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it quickly, knowing that she'll ruin the calming atmosphere if she does.
For a brief, flitting moment, she wonders what it would be like to have Tai as her boyfriend.
Then he turns at grins at her, ice cream dripping off the tip of his nose. She smiles back, and the thought of this guy as her boyfriend is gone.
Because Tai is purely Tai, and the title of "boyfriend" isn't good enough for him, anyways. He's her best friend, and he'll always be just that.
Author's Notes:
More short stuff. Woo-hoo. *deadpans*
But I liked this, nonetheless. After all, "the first step in writing something good is to get the author to like it." (And by the way, mom, that statement is complete BS.)