It was a very hot summer day, with the sun just now peeking through my window. I woke up sweating because it was so hot. I looked at the clock, my eyes still half-closed and realized it was ten thirty, and time to get up. I took the light blanket off and rubbed my eyes, getting the scent of eggs and bacon coming from the kitchen. That immediately woke me up. I walked to the kitchen, and the smell of food was the only thing that kept me walking. I finally arrived at the kitchen, and found my father behind the newspaper and my mom cooking. My sister, Jen, obviously wasn’t downstairs yet. A few minutes later, she appeared through the doorway, looking tired and sleepy.

“Good morning,” she mumbled, sitting next to me. Finally, our mother set the plates down, and we started gulping down our food and chugging down our orange juice. Our mom made the best scrambled eggs and bacon. After we were finished, I decided to take a shower to keep me from feeling so dirty and sweaty.

I changed into shorts and an orange short-sleeved tee shirt after the shower and put on my Converse. I didn’t know what to do for the day, although I had a vague idea. I wanted to be with my best friend, Brian. Brian and I had been best friends since sixth grade, and he was practically the first one I met in middle school. I met him through one of my classes—science to be specific—and he and I had been friends ever since. Sure, I had more friends that were girls, but after freshman year, I started hanging out with more boys because I was sick of all the drama.

Brian was the guy that had helped me get through all the hard times—breakups, backstabbing friends, and all of that. This was exactly why he was my best friend. I guess I had also helped him get through life—for example when his dog, Woof, died, or when he lost his football championship for the team, or when his girlfriend cheated on him. We had always been there for each other.

There was a point where I did like him more than a best friend and wanted to take it to the next level, but of course, Brian would never want that. We could never be anything more than best friends.

At the time, on those hot summer days, I still didn’t know whether I liked him more than a friend. I didn’t know if I wanted to, or if I was even ready for it. I had absolutely no idea if he had even thought about it once in his life.

“Mom, I’m going to Brian’s house!” I yelled from the front door.

“All right, be back before four o’clock!” She bellowed back. Then, I walked out the door.

Brian lived in the same neighborhood I did. He lived at the end of the street. So as I walked, feeling the heat on my back, I spotted an unusual and unfamiliar SUV at the end of the street. It was navy blue, and I had never seen it before. I knew almost every car that went through here, and that one wasn’t one of them. But I let it go.

I finally reached Brian’s house, and I rang the doorbell twice before his older brother, Tom, answered the door. “Hey. Is Brian home?” I asked.

“Yeah, hold on. BRIAN, AMY’S AT THE DOOR!” Tom had the loudest voice you would ever hear. I almost had to cover my ears every time he yelled.

Finally, Brian came downstairs, jumping from the third step of the stairs and to the door.

“Hey.” His ocean blue eyes caught mine, and for a second I forgot how to breathe.

“Hey. You want to hang out at the park or something?” I asked.

“Let me ask real quick,” he replied. “Hey, Mom, can I go to the park with Amy?” He turned his head in a way so that his light brown hair moved like they did from those guys in the movies; so perfectly and so…bouncy.

“Yes! But don’t be out too long!” his mom replied from either upstairs or the kitchen.

“All right!” He closed the door behind him and we started walking down the street. The park was only around the corner.

“So, how was your morning?” He asked. Brian and I were completely comfortable around each other and could talk about anything. After all, that’s what best friends did.

“It was…all right. Have you ever seen a navy blue SUV around here before?” I asked curiously.

“Not that I know of. But then again, you know I don’t pay attention to that. I’m not some car maniac,” he laughed.

I laughed with him. “Yeah, but…well, it kind of slowed down, and the person inside seemed to be looking at me,” I said nervously, just now realizing that fact.

“It was probably some dude looking down the street. Don’t worry about it. Besides, as long as you’re with me, nothing bad will happen to you,” he joked, but deep inside, I knew he was serious and would protect me.

We reached the park only five minutes later, and sat down on the steps by the bright yellow slide. The grass was somehow all green. How did they manage to do that?

“What would you do if somebody just tried to kidnap me? Us?” I asked, not knowing why I even asked it in the first place.

“Kick their butts, of course.”

“What if they were too strong for us?”

“Nobody’s too strong for me,” he played around.

“Seriously.”

“I don’t know. Why are you even asking?” Good question.

“I don’t know. Because it’s something nobody asks?”

“Sure they do. People ask it all the time,” he replied, smirking. Boys.

I sighed. “Okay, what I would do is TRY to kick their butts, and if I couldn’t, then I would try to escape, and if I did escape then try to save you, and you can run away and then kick the other guys’ butt and then I could run away. Or we could just be murdered together,” he answered, then laughed.

“Shut up! It’s not funny. What if I did get murdered?” I actually considered the thought.

“You won’t. But if you did, I don’t know what I would do.”

I knew I was blushing. I had to turn away.

“What would you do if I died?” he asked, suddenly curious.

“I don’t know. Cry?” I said.

“Yeah. I would, too.”

“You never cry,” I stated.

“I would if I lost my best friend.” Silence.

“What would you do if I started tickling you?” He asked. I knew he would, just to get me to talk again and laugh and break the awkwardness.

“Don’t!” I was too ticklish. Even if you touched me, I would laugh.

He started poking my stomach, and I tried to stop him, but I was already laughing too hard. His touch always made me weak.

I started running away, but I knew he would eventually catch up to me. I was laughing so hard I was already slowing down.

Suddenly, I was on the ground, and Brian was on top of me laughing as hard as he could. I was laughing hard, myself. We couldn’t stop.

What happened next made us laugh even harder. There was suddenly water spraying everywhere on the field. For a second I think we both thought it was raining, but then we realized it was the sprinklers. We were both getting soaked, but the coolness of the water felt good.

As our laughing came to a stop, we realized we were inches away from each other. I could even feel his breath on my face.

The remaining of my laughter was stopped by his lips on mine. It took me a second to realize Brian was kissing me. Why? I had no idea. The water was still spraying though, the earth was still moving, but it was as though time had stopped. It seemed like the kiss lasted forever.

I unconsciously wrapped my arms around his neck. Why was I kissing my best friend? A millions thoughts ran through my head, and my stomach flipped over and over.

When he pulled back, the awkwardness came again. It was awkward, but he smiled. I found myself smiling back.

“Come on,” he whispered. He pulled me up and held my hand. Suddenly, we were running through the field, soaked, but the water felt great against our hot skin.

We were both laughing. We finally reached a dry spot, and we kept laughing. As I looked behind him, I spotted the SUV. The laughter coming from me immediately stopped. I looked behind him. The SUV was parked but there was nobody in it.

He didn’t notice.

“Amy, I have a confession to make.” I wasn’t listening.

What happened next happened way too fast to even know if it was real.

“I love you. I have for a while, but I never thought you’d feel the same. I love you, Amy.”

Suddenly, I only remember hearing a thud and seeing a shadow of a very big man. I was dumbfounded, though. I remember seeing Brian on the floor. He wasn’t unconscious. He was rubbing his head. Then, I was on the ground next to him. I saw someone over us, and then looked back at Brian, and caught the slightest glimpse of his ocean blue eyes.

That’s when everything went black. The last sight before that were only his beautiful eyes.

“I love you, Amy,” were the last words he had said to me.