Falling for Friendzone

Ellie's P.O.V

When Lane talked to me about what happened between him and Peyton, I cringed a bit when he told me how much they had sex. I mean, I knew that they did, but I wasn't aware that they had it that much. When he got to the end of the story though, I was just happy they broke up. Now we should be able to hang out together without worrying about her.

"Want me to help you with the project?" I asked Lane. He looked up at me, his eyes glossy, I know that even though he said that he was kind of relieved, there was always that part that strived to still have someone. Someone to hold, someone to love.

"Did you love her, Peyton?" He is surprised by my sudden outburst and opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out but a few mumbled sounds.

"Ah-uh...mm, well, we had sex, so that must mean I loved her, right?" He didn't respond to my question, he asked me my opinion on if I thought they were in love.

"Bud, I don't think you understand. I mean the mental kind of love, where you would do anything for each other, go crazy with out one another, and feel pain when your not with them. What you two had seemed entirely physical love based. And from what you tell me, it seems like that's all she cared about."

"But-" he started but didn't finish. He was silent for a minute before getting his thoughts together. "What about the first time? She told me, she told me I was different than all of her other guys in the past, that we would last!" He yelled and my heart broke for him.

"Lane, it's okay, get it all out. Yell, scream, cry, I understand." I tried to calm him down. He didn't seem to hear me, but he did continue yelling.

"What about the park! I took her to our place! We always had a great time there, it made our friendship last! What about the days where we would do nothing but hang out and cuddle! What about the damn promise you made with me, huh? Ellie, you promised me you get me her." He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face. His once crystal blue eyes were clouded with sadness. Somehow, his reasons were directed towards me now.

I felt guilty. I know he didn't mean for it to sound like it was all my fault...

"Why did you ever convince me to try so hard for her?"

...or maybe he did.

"What do you mean? You're the one that thought she was different, that she was special!" I yelled.

"But you could've convinced me to stop trying so hard!" He yelled back.

"Yeah, like you'd listen! You were so headstrong about her, that you told us she was your girlfriend before you even got a date with her!"

"Well," he snarled, "at least I can supply! You're the one who chickened out and almost got raped!" My eyes widened and so did his. We both knew that this is where he crossed the line.

I fought back the tears that threatened to spill. I grabbed my book and ran to the door.

"No, El, please!" He cried out. "I didn't mean to say that!"

"I know you didn't Lane, but you should've thought about that before you reminded me how big of a fück up I am." My voice cracked; I opened the door.

"Ellie, please! You can't go! I can't loose my best friend, I was just starting to get her back." He pleaded out quietly. Best friend, it stung now as much as ever.

I let out a small laugh, not a real one, but the kind where you loudly exhale through your nose. "That's the thing though Lane, I don't know if I could handle being just friends." With that, I walked out the door, and drove home.

***

It was happening again, the silence. Lane and I haven't spoken since I confessed to him a couple days ago. The only difference is that this time, we weren't avoiding each other, I was doing everything in my power to avoid him. Make a turn to the ladies room when he came across me in the halls, loose him in the crowded hallways in between classes, anything.

I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up though. Whether I admit it or not, he is my best guy friend, and before all this, I would tell him things I couldn't even tell the twins about. I was slowly falling into a depression without my best friend.

Katie noticed, I was hard not to. I wouldn't be as bubbly. This wasn't like the trauma I went through after Alex, but it was just a bit like mood swings. One minute I'd be fine, hours even, but as I was given time alone to think, Lane kept crawling back into my mind and caused small "sad spells" if you will.

"El, you need to talk to him." Katie was at my house and we were talking in my room. My parents had gotten home yesterday, and she was dying to see them, they were always like a second pair of parents to her, and vice-vera.

"Easy for you to say, after what I told him I don't think I can even look at him!" I whined.

She shook her head and sighed. "Ellie, I don't know what else I can say, this situation is pretty messed up. We know that you still have feelings for him, heck, he knows that you have feelings for him, but I don't know how you're going to feel the same again with out him."

She was right, I wouldn't and I couldn't feel the same with out him. Lane was a different kind of friend. You know how you only feel comfortable talking about certain topics with certain people? Well I could talk to Lane about anything, anyone.

"But, how do I bring up a conversation like that? Do I just apologize for what happened? Ugh." I whined to my friend.

"Well, I would say to meet up with him in person, but I would be nervous too if I were you, so you could just call him and take it from there." She gave me a soft smile. I took a deep breathe and nodded.

I got out my phone and found the familiar name and face to match and pressed call.

Katie's P.O.V

I sat on Ellie's bed and waited as she pressed her phone up to her ear. The room was an eerie kind of silent and I was nervous for how the conversation was going to work and-he answered!

"Hey, yeah...it's me." She shyly spoke.

"I just wanted-no go ahead," she laughed, "no-okay fine, I wanted to apologize, I shouldn't have ran out like that." Her cheeks blushed, embarrassed.

"Oh, yeah? You want to? No! I think it's a great idea! Okay, I'll see ya there." I was left confused when she hung up the phone, and immediately wanted to question her.

"Okay," she said before I could get a word in, "before you ask, when I went to apologize, he said that he wanted to talk about it in person, so I'm going to meet him at Grant Park and talk." She looked down and got red again. Being a redhead, she was constantly blushing, which is why she was so much fun to tease.

I smiled. "Want me to straighten your hair before you go and talk to him?" She nodded eagerly. For some reason, Ellie was always more confident when she straightened her hair. She hated how it was so curly, but the rest of us loved it, we just couldn't convince her to feel the same.

"Just remember, he's your best friend, you can fix this." I reasurred.