Ian's POV

After getting coffee with Melanie, I made it home to find Anthony playing video games on the couch. He was so focused on his game that he almost didn't notice me walk past him into my room. When he did notice he paused his game and called me over to him.

"Where were you?" He asked me.

"I was getting coffee."

"It took you five hours to get coffee?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, there was a really long line."

"Ian, I know that's bullcrap. Just tell me what you were doing." He stared at me, waiting for a logical answer.

"I was getting coffee. . . But I wasn't alone." I watched his face to see how he felt about it.

"And who was this somebody?" He asked, unsatisfied with my answer.

"It was Melanie." I said quietly so he wouldn't hear me.

"Who?" He asked again.

"Melanie." I repeated.

"Who's Melanie?"

"She's a girl I met at the store yesterday."

"Oh." He looked disappointed. "Okay."

I stopped to look at him. I don't know what has been going on with him. I guess now is as good a time as any to confront him about it.

"Anthony, how are you?" That seemed like a good place to start.

"I'm fine." He answered curtly.

"No. No, you're not. What has been up with you lately? You have been acting really strange. Did I miss something?"

He just looked at me and said something that I couldn't hear.

"What?"

"It's about time you noticed. . ." He looked past me, avoiding my eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've been a pretty crappy friend!" He yelled at me.

"Oh, I'm the crappy friend?! You should look in the mirror! Who's the one who does all the shopping? Who listens to your problems?" I retorted, also yelling.

"Well you didn't do a very good job this time! Maybe you would've known that Kalel broke up with me!" He shouted as tears began streaming down his face. He ran to his room, throwing the game controller on the floor.

I could only look at him stomp away into his room, wishing I would have paid more attention to the downfall of my best friend. I couldn't believe that Kalel, his girlfriend of three years, had broken up with him.

I turned off the television and slumped onto the couch. When did I start yelling at my best friend for no reason?

After about ten minutes of staring at the blank television screen, I got up and headed to Anthony's room. I tried the door to see if my assumption was right. It was; he had locked his door.

"Anthony," I hoped he would be less upset by now. "Could you open up?"

"NO!" He yelled. I thought I heard some sobbing.

"Come on, man. I just wanted to apologize."

He appeared at the door and only cracked it enough so I could see just his face. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I don't know why I started yelling at you. I really didn't have any reason and - "

"Stop!" He cut me off before I could finish. "Enough of all this sappy stuff. I can feel myself losing my manliness just listening to it." I breathed a sigh of relief. This apologizing thing was getting kind of annoying.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" I was unsure of how to compensate for my outburst earlier.

He opened the door all the way now. "Nothing really. . . I just want a friend to talk to when I need support." He looked up at me sadly.

"Alright I'll be here for you." I patted him on the back. "Bro hug?" I held my arms open.

He smiled. "Sure." We hugged quickly. "But don't tell anyone about this." He added.

I laughed. I made up with my best friend. I had a date with an amazing girl in several days. Life was good.