Ride the Sunset

Officially Friend-Zoned

Alastair

This was probably the worst possible idea that I had ever had in my entire life. And yet, I was going to go through with my craziness. I checked my phone and sighed softly as I waited for Jacob to show up. I had a coffee date with Sandy in an hour, but I was still hung up on Jacob. The chime went off, and I looked over to see Jacob finally coming into the coffee shop. He spotted me almost immediately and I smiled nervously. This wasn’t a date. Not technically, but it did make me wonder if I was ready to move on with my life. Jacob went over to the cover to put in an order before he joined me.

“Hey,” he greeted as he took a seat.

“Hey,” I said as I simply stared at him. I knew I was probably being weird, but I couldn’t help it.

“Why am I here, Alastair?” Jacob asked as he casually looked around the coffee shop. “Don’t you have a date today?”

“When I asked you to come here…didn’t you wonder why?” I asked as I ignored his questions. Jacob frowned as he studied the table. “Jacob…why did you come when I asked?”

“Because you asked,” he whispered. “I don’t know, because…because…” his voice trailed off and I sighed softly.

“Are you still against us trying?” I asked curiously. I needed to know. Jacob continued to avoid eye contact and as he slowly shook his head, I felt defeated. “Then why did you come here?”

“Maybe I want to be friends, Alastair,” he said as he finally looked at me and made eye contact. “Maybe I’m tired of this…of this…whatever it is, between us,”

“We are already friends, Jacob,” I pointed out. It wasn’t a total lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.

“No, we aren’t. Not really,” Jacob argued. However, before either of us could say anything else, a server approached the table with Jacob’s order. “Thank you,” the server was barely gone when he continued. “Look, I can’t be that person for you…but I’d like for us to be friends,”

“Ok,” I said even though it felt like my heart was being ripped apart. “Friends,”

“Friends,” he agreed. I had no idea how to be friends with Jacob. It wasn’t as if I was in love with him, but I harbored a massive crush on the guy. I shook my head as I leaned back in my seat.

“I have a date soon,” I said to him. I wasn’t sure if he would want to stay and finish his drink or if he wanted to make a run for it.

“That’s ok, I can hang out here with you until she gets here,” Jacob’s casual response left me with a sour taste in my mouth. He knew my date was a woman. He had probably overheard me talking about it to Naomi. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but since we had just agreed to be friends, I tried my best to relax.

“Cool, so how is work?” I asked. Jacob scrunched his nose as he studied his cup of coffee. “It’s not an unusual question,” I added. It wasn’t unusual, but it felt weird. I waited for him to answer.

“Work is work…it’s…” for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to tell me, but then Jacob explained their latest project they were working on. What it was for and what his role was. I was blown away by his excitement. It sounded boring as f**k, but it was clear to me that Jacob was passionate about his work, and that made me like him even more than before. “What about you?” Jacob then asked, and I smiled as I started telling him about our latest contract. When the server stopped by, we ordered a bear claw to share. It felt amazing to sit across from him and just talk about our work.

“Alastair?” a voice said, and I looked over my shoulder to see a pretty woman smiling at me.

“Yes?” I asked as I tried to figure out who she was. When she blushed and stepped back, I knew. “Sandy?”

“Yes, sorry I’m late,” she said as she glanced over at Jacob. Sandy hesitated and I quickly stood up.

“No, it’s fine. I was just hanging out with my buddy while I waited for you,” I said. It wasn’t a lie, except, I still felt bad. Maybe I felt that way because I suddenly wished she had canceled, and Jacob and I could have enjoyed the rest of the evening together. I then turned to Jacob, who looked as horrified as I felt. I needed to gather my wits about me. “I have to use the bathroom…why don’t you order something, and then we can…um…get started?” I fumbled over my words, and it sounded just as bad as I thought it did. I didn’t wait to stick around as I bolted for the bathroom. I couldn’t believe I had found myself in this position. I took out my phone and hurriedly sent Jacob a text.

Alastair: Sorry.

That was it, there was nothing more I could say. Jacob had officially placed me in the friendship box and while it was clear to me that there was something between us, Jacob wasn’t interested. For whatever reason, and I had already told myself that I was done trying to win his affection. I took a deep breath and left the bathroom. Sandy was sitting in Jacob’s spot and Jacob had disappeared. I hadn’t been gone for too long, but I had missed him leaving. I tried not to let my disappointment show as I joined Sandy.

“Sorry about that,” I said to her as I sat down. Sandy shot me a smile before she looked away. I frowned as the subtle look of disgust on her face made me wonder if I smelled bad or something.