Love in the Friend Zone

by Molly E. Lee

  Julie shook her head, popping the gum in her mouth, but didn’t take her eyes off her phone. “Brilliant. Nice one, Kennedy.”

  I sighed, my eyes softening at Kennedy’s very clear distress over letting something slip. She was such a nice girl, one who always was there for Zoey whenever she needed her, and I almost felt bad for overhearing something that was supposed to be private. But Zoey was my friend too, and if she was doing something worth hiding from me, I needed to know. Now.

  “Please, Kennedy, tell me what is going on.”

  Kennedy struggled with my plea for a few seconds before scooting to the edge of the couch, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sure Zoey would’ve filled you in on the plan…”

  I listened intently as Kennedy illustrated a plan so devious, I was having a hard time believing it came from Zoey. Especially since she hadn’t mentioned or even hinted at something this huge to me all night. She had asked me multiple times if I’d wanted in, but I’d denied because of all my Fynn drama, and I never once thought it would be this huge. I was regretting it now, because maybe if I would’ve jumped in I could’ve talked her out of it.

  “She can’t…she wouldn’t,” I said, glancing from the girls to Jade, who stood next to me with a silent shell-shocked look on her face. “Right?” I asked her for reassurance.

  “When Lennon and I were out—”

  “She’s already done it,” Julie cut Jade off, finally putting her phone away. “It’s just a matter of him finding out.”

  It was my turn to gasp. Then I got angry. I knew she was hurting over the embarrassment of the speech he gave, but this? This was over the top in all ways that wasn’t Zoey.

  “Where is she?” I demanded.

  Julie smacked her gum again and Kennedy pressed her lips together before fiddling with her iPhone. “They already left…”

  I stomped my boot against the hardwood floor, yanking out my cell and rushing toward the stairs with Jade on my heels.

  “Braylen!” Kennedy called over the railing. “Please don’t tell her we told you!”

  I ignored her pleas, dialing Zoey’s number, which went straight to voicemail.

  I searched every floor remaining in Lennon’s house, and even scanned the grounds outside it. Zoey and Gordon were nowhere to be found and she wasn’t answering any of my calls or texts.

  “Braylen,” Jade said after we’d circled the dance floor one more time in an attempt to find the two of them. “They’re gone. This was her choice.”

  “Yeah, but it’s the wrong one,” I said, sinking onto one of the opened loveseats near the dance floor.

  Jade perched on the armrest next to me. “True, but there is nothing you can do about it now.”

  I sighed, pocketing my cell. She was right. If I would’ve known her plan earlier, I could’ve easily talked her out of it. Or maybe not so easy with how hell-bent she’d been on getting major payback on Gordon—I just hadn’t realized she was capable of something like this.

  “Maybe they were over-dramatizing it,” Jade said, her voice hopeful.

  I nodded, allowing that same hope to wash over me as well. “Maybe you’re right. They tend to do that. And Zoey is too smart to do something so stupid, right?” I glanced up at Jade, who seemed to avoid looking straight at me on purpose. “Jade?”

  “Totes,” she said.

  The worry lessened, but I still fished my cell out to text her one last time. My heart jolted in my chest when I saw I had a text from Fynn.

  “What is it?” Jade asked, noting my shift in mood.

  “Fynn,” I said, breathless as I showed her the phone.

  “Read it!”

  After a deep breath, I swiped the screen. What could he possibly want?

  Fynn: The show is about to start. Will you meet me in the crowd?

  Jade squealed at my side, clapping her hands after reading over my shoulder. “Type yes!”

  I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, my crushed heart reminding me not to be excited over this. “I can’t.”

  “What?” she gawked at me. “You can. You have to.”

  “Why? Jade, I told him I loved him and he just stood there.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “No!” I snapped. “He just let me walk away to leave him with Katy.”

  “See!” Jade pushed her glasses up her nose, staring at me like I wasn’t seeing the solution to the easiest math problem ever. “He never shut you down. And the last time I saw him, he wasn’t with Katy.”

  I squeezed the cell in my hand, staring at the open text.

  “You have something worth fighting for. It may hurt like hell, but it’s worth it.” Jade nudged my hands. “At least go see what he wants.”

  Could I? If he wanted me to meet him, was it only to give me closure on all the ways in which he didn’t reciprocate my feelings? What if he asked me there to tell me he did?

  A solid hope pulsed in my heart, begging me to take the risk to find out.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Fynn

  “We have to go bigger,” I said, out of breath after running to the dock that Lennon had turned into a stage on the water.

  “What’s that?” Lennon looked up from his guitar, twisting the tuning dials.

  “Braylen.” I shook my head. “Having you play her favorite song and saying it’s from me won’t work.”

  He set his guitar on the black stand next to him, crossing his arms over his chest. “What do you want me to do?”

  I sucked in a deep breath, my palms sweating with just the thought of what I knew I needed to do to prove to Braylen I had chosen her. Launching into my plan, I watched as Lennon went from looking at me like I was crazy to smirking as he rubbed his hands together.

  “I thought you said you would eat a live rat before baring your soul on a stage?” he asked after I’d finished.

  “After what she had to go through all night?” I swallowed a mouthful of acid. “Nothing short of this will work.”

  “I’m on your side,” Lennon said. “You know that.” Opening his arms, he gestured to the stage around him. “It’s all yours.”

  My stomach rolled but I ignored it, instead focusing on what exactly I was about to do.

  Lennon pulled his cell out of his pocket, snapping a pic of me as he shook his head. “This’ll be the before shot.”

  “Before what?” I asked, holding my stomach to try and keep from throwing up.

  “Before utter humiliation.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  He pocketed his cell. “Sorry, bro. It’s just funny as hell from where I’m standing.”

  “How much time do I have?”

  “Ten minutes till midnight.”

  Holy hell.

  The dock seemed to sway underneath my feet, my nerves threatening to turn me into a quivering, queasy mess. I snuck a glance at my cell, my heart crashing in the sea of acid that had become my stomach. Braylen still hadn’t responded to my invitation to the show. If she didn’t come, all my efforts would be for nothing.

  She’s worth it. She’s worth it all.

  “You still going to take some shots?” he asked.

  “I’ll do my best, man,” I said, glancing down at my camera around my neck. I’d seen Jade on my way to my truck to get it, but she’d refused to tell me if Braylen had gotten my text or not, despite me knowing she’d been with her outside a half-hour before. “But this is more important,” I continued. “If I don’t get the shots, you’ll understand?”

  “Sure,” Lennon said, nodding with too-knowing eyes. “I got ya, bro.”

  I paced his stage—the wooden dock hugged the edge of Lennon’s property and extended to float on the lake. Blaise was set up behind his drums, teasing the ever-growing crowd with slow beats as the rest of the band got their gear together.

  “Change your mind yet?” Lennon shouted at me to be heard over the anxious crowd, who grew louder with each riff on Blaise’s drums.

  “Not a chance.
”

  “Good man.” He clapped me on the back. “I always knew you had balls.”

  Glancing out at the hundreds of faces waiting with eager anticipation for Lennon’s band to play, my balls damn near shrank to non-existence.

  “I thought I told you to stop thinking about my balls?” I tried to joke, but the tension in my chest barely let it slide out.

  Lennon flipped me off again. “Did you see her out there?” he asked, motioning toward the crowd.

  I shook my head, wringing out my sweaty hands. “Nope. Jade wouldn’t tell me, either.”

  “You saw Jade?” His eyes lit up for two seconds before he checked himself, tossing some of his hair to cover them.

  I gestured to my camera. “On my way to get this.”

  “Right. Whatever.”

  I laughed. “Can’t wait to hear that story.”

  Lennon rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you later while we paint each other’s nails.”

  I held my hand out to him. “Thanks again for doing this.”

  He shook it. “No worries, man. I’ll get you a backstage pass to my next show for the shots. Tonight is about you finally getting the girl.”

  “If.”

  “When,” he said, waggling his eyebrows as he sauntered toward the lead mic.

  The crowd erupted into a torrent of cheers and screams and whistles as Lennon fist bumped the air.

  “Thanks for coming out,” he said once they’d quieted. “There are two things that need addressing before the show starts.” He glanced over his shoulder, smirking at me.

  My heart stuttered in my chest as if it couldn’t decide to launch itself into my throat or shoot itself out of my ass.

  “First.” He pointed toward the line of cars off in the distance. “There is a Ford Focus who left their lights on all night like a dumbass.” A round of laughter filtered through the crowd, who ate up every one of Lennon’s words. “And two.” He motioned behind him, waving me up.

  Fuck me. Here we go.

  “Fynn has something he needs to say.”

  I slowly made my way to the mic Lennon held out for me, taking it from his hands with shaking fingers. I held it close to my face, staring at the sea of faces before me. Half of them booed and begged Lennon to start playing.

  Shit, how does Lennon do this without breaking a sweat? Who would ever want to do this more than once?

  My cell vibrated in my pocket, and I took a fast peek, shocked as hell when it was Zoey and not Braylen like I’d hoped.

  Zoey: Braylen is in love with you. Get your head out of your ass. XOXO

  I clenched my eyes shut, pocketing my cell, laughing and resisting the urge to scratch my head at the same time. I didn’t have a clue what that was about, but it was the reminder I needed that the humiliation I was about to endure was worth everything.

  The band behind me slowly opened with Braylen’s favorite song. The melody I knew by heart, but I missed the cue Lennon had prepped me on, so they started over, repeating the opening like the song was on a loop.

  One deep breath and I forced out the words that were stuck in my throat.

  I can’t see you,

  But I feel you coming down.

  I can’t hear you,

  But your touch is louder than sound.

  Don’t you know

  That I’m desperate to be found?

  I crooned out the opening lines of Braylen’s favorite song, trying to picture myself on any given Saturday morning in her bedroom as she blared it from her Jambox.

  And you’re the only one

  I trust to do it right.

  Lennon stepped up beside me, the secondary mic in his hand. “I can’t believe you know the words to this song,” he spoke directly into my ear before he joined me in singing the chorus. His voice was smooth where mine was a crackling mess, but my entire heart was in the words, my only hope she could hear my plea in them.

  Bring on the Night…

  Bring on the Night…

  Bring on the Night…

  The hushed crowd whistled and cheered as we nailed the chorus and launched easier into the second verse, my nerves fading the more I lost myself to the music.

  ‘Cause don’t you know, don’t you know

  Our lives can start right now

  Oh, baby, please tell me you’ll show me how

  Bring on the Night…

  Let’s win this fight

  Don’t you know, baby, don’t you know

  We’ve got to Bring on the Night…

  Bring on the Night…

  Bring on the Night!

  Lennon’s and my voice blended as we killed the last note of the song, the crowd screaming and jumping on the ground below us. Blood raced through my veins so fast it made me dizzy and my hands trembled around the mic, but I took a deep breath and pressed on.

  “Braylen,” I finally said after the cheers and claps had died down. “If you’re listening…God, I hope after all that you were listening…” A few laughs rang up from the crowd, who were surprisingly no longer pissed as they’d been before I started singing. “You know how hard that was for me.” I shrugged, pacing the stage.

  “Of course you know, because you know everything about me. You know that I hate speaking in front of people and the thought of singing like I just did literally makes me want to get run over by a car. You know I prefer to stay behind the camera, or hide behind it most of the time, and you know how I can’t function properly if I’m caught without it.” I tapped the camera on my chest as I searched the crowd for her face.

  “But let me tell you about some things you don’t know.” I squinted, still trying to lock onto her brown eyes but unable to find her among the wide array of faces in the crowd.

  “You don’t know how beautiful you are when you first wake up in the morning after we’ve pulled an all-nighter trying to get these people their news—which you’ve always made the perfect combination of information and entertainment. You don’t know how your laugh makes my heart swell in my chest and yet makes room for me to breathe air I didn’t know I was missing. You don’t know how it feels when I’m forced to watch a new episode of the Walking Dead without you—it’s the worst because I can’t appreciate the show without your non-stop running commentary.

  “You don’t know how it feels when I have to make pancakes in a normal shape because you’re not there to force me to turn them into Yoda.” I chuckled to myself, my stomach twisting the longer I spoke. “And you definitely don’t know how shitty I feel for what I put you through tonight…hell, for years. I didn’t know. I’m the photographer who sees every angle, but I didn’t see you, Braylen. Not like I should have.” I licked my lips, stopping dead in my tracks as I saw the crowd parting until she stopped at the edge of the water. I sighed, my breath audible to everyone as I locked eyes with her.

  I glanced at Lennon who was behind me, telling me to carry the mic down to her. He gave me a nod and I spoke as I walked.

  “You don’t know this, but I could never forget the kiss we were forced into at that party freshman year.” I laughed again, glancing at the sky. “Thanks for that, Zoey.”

  I came to a halt before Braylen, her eyes glittering with tears. I cupped her cheek but still held onto the mic with one hand, wanting my declaration to be full and heard. “You don’t know this…but I should’ve never stopped kissing you.”

  I raised my eyebrows in a silent question, inching my lips toward hers. A few seconds and a wide grin later, she nodded. I crushed my lips onto hers, stealing her breath and her mouth in one motion. Tossing my camera to my back, I wrapped both my arms around her waist, pulling her up to my level so I could kiss her harder.

  Her feet dangled off the ground as I held her to me, claiming her mouth in a way I should’ve done years ago. The nerves, and doubts, and worry vanished with each swipe of her tongue against mine and I forgot everything outside of her touch, her scent, her taste. The way her body felt against mine—warm and soft and perfect.

  Unti
l a loud as hell round of applause roared around us.

  Braylen pulled back an inch, laughing so hard her body shook against mine. I set her gently on her feet, pressing my forehead to hers, and left the mic down, electing to whisper in her ear instead.

  “Northwestern.”

  She tilted her head, her eyes flying wide.

  “You’re there, I’m there.” I kissed her quickly before pushing her hair behind her ear. “Right?”

  She interlocked her fingers in my free hand. “Right.”

  I turned to where Lennon waited at the edge of the stage and tossed the mic back up to him. He caught it with ease.

  “Let’s give it up for Fynn one more time!” Lennon shouted into the mic. “Giving bros hope everywhere because he found love in the friend zone!” Applause and cheers and laughter rolled through the crowd and I beamed down at Braylen as I tucked her under my arm.

  “Let’s go,” I said, ready to take her somewhere we could talk.

  “Not yet,” she said, eyeing my camera. “You should take some pictures. This is like the last small show he’ll ever play.”

  “You sure?”

  She smiled, squeezing me. “Absolutely.”

  The girl was perfect on every level, and I loved that I finally saw it.

  Lennon launched into a succession of incredible songs, giving me an array of shots and angles to work with as I snapped photos. It was the one time in my life I’d had a hard time focusing on what was in front of the camera because Braylen couldn’t help but sing along to all her favorite songs, jumping and dancing too. And watching her do that, knowing she was now mine, was a new kind of bliss.

  After Lennon had made it through half his set list, I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Now, you want to get out of here?” I had enough shots of the band and was ready to have Braylen all to myself.

  “Yes,” she said, grinning up at me.

  “You sure?” I asked. “We can stay for the end of the show if you want.”

  “I’m sure,” she said. “This party has lasted long enough for me.”

  I pulled her through the crowd until we’d cleared it. “Oh, and Braylen,” I said as I opened her door when we’d reached my truck.