Explanations Are Always Under Pressure, Aren't They?
Recap: As soon as my name left his lips, he was right in front of me, and crushed me in a hug. It wasn't one of those friendly hugs. Or romantic, either, before any of you get any ideas. It was more of an 'Oh, my god! I can't believe it's you! I've missed you so much!' type of hugs. And I returned it with as much reverence as I could.
After a few minutes, we pulled back to be met with many pairs of surprised eyes. Mia's being the most surprised.
I looked at Taylor, then back at Mia, and said nervously, "I guess I have some things to explain, huh?"
"Uh, yeah. I would say so," Mia said, stunned.
"Heh, um… well… uh…" I stuttered, then finished lamely, "This is Taylor Lautner."
"Yeah, I gathered that! I thought that I was introducing him to you, though," she whined.
"Okay, well, Taylor and I were best friends for a while. Actually, until I was eleven, and we lost touch because he became this big-shot celebrity heart-throb, and every girl, including you, drooled over him," I summarized. "So, yeah. That's basically it."
"But… but…. You drooled over him, too!" she accused.
I saw Taylor smirk out of the corner of my eye as I blushed. I quickly retaliated, "That was just to fool everybody into thinking that I didn't know him! Actually, every time I saw one of his pictures, it absolutely killed me inside. We used to keep in touch. But, we just slowly stopped communicating. It was kind of painful," I admitted.
I suddenly felt arms lock in an iron grip around me from behind, pinning my arms to my sides. "Aria, I'm so sorry! I would've kept in touch, but I just got so busy with everything!" Taylor suddenly broke the solemn silence with a comical — shouted — apology, causing everyone in the room to burst out laughing.
I slapped his arm. "Taylor! Let go of me!" I laughed.
Mia chose then to lean over to me and say, "Are you crazy? What I wouldn't give to have him hold me like that," she sighed dreamily.
I just laughed and shoved her shoulder. "God! Stop! That's my best friend you're talking about!" He was just my best friend. Nothing more. He would never be more. It was impossible. He could never see me like that. To him, I'm his little sister/best friend, who always hurts herself by tripping over nothing. I may have been a figure skater, and yes, I was graceful on the ice, but I couldn't walk across a flat surface without running into something and bruising myself.
But, oh my god. He's gotten gorgeous. WHOA! BACK UP AND BRAKE! Where are these thoughts coming from? He's my best friend, and like my big brother! Geez! That would be, like, non-incestuous incest. But, then again, we haven't seen each other in four years, and we haven't talked in like three and a half….
No! Stop! He's nothing more than a friend, and never will be. This was all probably from the long time apart between us that was igniting these feelings. It would all blow over in a few minutes.
"Yeah. We're best friends, always have been, and always will be," Taylor stated proudly.
And after he said that, I just couldn't figure out why it felt like my heart was breaking into a million pieces.