Brian's Heart

Chapter 5

AMAYA

2 weeks later...

After school, I decided to clear my head and take a long walk to the forest.

I needed to release all that has built up over the past weeks, but I have no one to vent to.

Brian's gone and I don’t want to hear another apology from Greg. He keeps sending me sad messages and crying over every phone call. If he was remorseful, he wouldn’t have done it, but who knows. These days, things just get weirder and weirder.

I can't express my feelings to someone who doesn't understand, and I don't feel comfortable telling Greg all the things I've shared with Brian. It's not right.

Though Greg was my boyfriend and I felt connected with him in some way, he wasn't Brian. He wouldn't understand my problems or why I remained silent in these times because he didn't know the real me, he knew the version I was trying to be, not the girl who would have smashed Amber’s face into a nearby locker and kicked him where the sun didn’t shine for that stunt. He didn’t know the real rage that lived deep inside, begging to show its face and reclaim my dominance.

Entering the clearing for the tree house, I stared at the ‘Do Not Cross’ taped onto two bog trees separate from each other, blocking off the place I once called home.

Taking a seat on the forest floor, I looked at the remainder of what used to be. It was now burnt into ash knowing the culprit of this lived just minutes away. Brian.

I knew he was mad, but I didn’t know he was this angry to destroying something we built together. My heart shattered every time I thought of him, I missed his presence more and more each day, but I couldn’t let him think of treating someone I came to care about like crap.

,I wished my best friend was here. My Brian.

****************

Brian

It was a few weeks and she neither talked nor looked at me. I could tell that she kept her head held high and her composure, so people wouldn't see the emotional side of her. The brewing of disaster just beneath that beautiful exterior.

Maya despised crying, but she hates it when she cries in front of others more. She's stronger than bawling her eyes out for the world to see and show false empathy.

I placed the key inside the ignition and sped to the forest as fast as I could, eager to see if she was visited. As I approached the clearing inside the forest, I could make out her frame crisscrossing on the leaves below her, she didn't move a muscle at the sound of my car engine coming to a halt.

I hopped out and made my way closer. As I neared, my heart hammered in my chest. I didn't know what to say, I had to act like I felt bad for her, but I was on cloud nine. She saw how much of a f*****g weirdo Greg is, and I made that happen.

I was ecstatic to have been the one with such a plan. Amaya was finally back, and it was all for me.

"Hey, baby," I sat next to her on the wet leaves of the forest.

She remained quiet, deep in thought about whatever was on her mind. She didn't even spare me a glance as we both sat in silence.

"Maya I-" before I could say anything else, she embraced me into a bone-crushing hug.

I was taken aback by the impact but quickly engulfed her into a warm embrace myself.

I've missed hugging her this way, I miss being here when she needed me and now, I can be.

"I've missed you so much, I know I have been acting like a b***h but-"

"It's okay baby, I forgive you," I soothed her. She cries into my neck as I rub her back in soothing circles.

I hated myself just a little for making her go through all of this, to see her cry like this, but it had to be done. Greg is finally out of the picture, now I can love and admire her from afar until I get the courage to tell her all the things that have been on my mind since we were kids.

When I saw her happily swinging on the playground, I wished I knew what it was I felt then. The younger me was so honest I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to tell her how I felt.

"Greg doesn't know what he had and for that I'm going to make sure that you know how special you are to me, baby. I promise that from now on I will repeat how much I love you every day." I held her tighter to me. Her scent hit my nose, and I was in complete bliss at that moment. I was caught in her trance once again, like a fly in a spider’s web.

"You always told me that dork" she giggled through her tears.

I'm glad that I could put a smile on her face and hear that lovely giggle which draws unwanted butterflies to my stomach.

"Still, I plan on doing it ten times more." She pulled back and gave me a smile before punching me on my arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?" I pouted, she shook her head and pinched my left cheek. The abuse was back as well, it seems.

"For always being so damn adorable" she chuckled as I pushed her hands away from my cheeks.

"I'm not adorable, I'm just a womanizer, I know what every chick wants" I smirked and pulled her closer suggestively.

"Oh really. So, if I was to... kiss you, you wouldn't bat an eyelash?" She questioned me seriously. Her tears were gone, but the scarlet hue of her cheeks gave them away.

Hearing those words made my heart skip a beat and the unwanted butterflies in my stomach went haywire at the mention of her lips on mine.

I wanted to beg for her to finally, after all these years, kiss me just once, but I remained calm and looked away for a while before clearing my throat and returning to her.

"Yeah, right like that'll ever happen." I rolled my eyes and played it cool. On the inside, I was a fumbling mess.

"Come on. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it.” She teased; her feather-like hands gripped my face. Having her hands placed on me in this way felt close to heaven. I’m usually the touchy friend, but now she was making moves I didn’t know would happen so soon.

I have thought about it every night since we've met each other. I've planned our wedding and how our future kids will turn out.

I've seen us building multiple lives with each other and in every single one of them we are married because without her, I don't know who I would be.

"Maybe" was my single response. I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want to tell her the truth and freak her out either. I don’t know if she’s just messing around with me or if she is being true. This is Amaya we are talking about. She’d have you believing her pet dog died, and she never had one in her life.

"Kiss me" my heart dropped, my mouth hanging slightly open at her request. I wanted to smash my lips into hers, so badly it hurt, but I refused to be some joke to her, not when my feelings were heavily involved..

What should I do?!

I leaned forward slowly and watched her eyes close. Her plump pink lips were on full display awaiting my own to meet her own.

Before I knew it, I was inching closer by the second until I could feel her breath on my face.

Should I kiss her?