I Fell in Love with my Best Friend

"Aspen" I hear someone whisper from faraway. I ignore it and just pass it off as the wind since I left my window open last night.

"Aspen" I hear again except it's louder this time. I ignore it again.

A couple of minutes later a sweet smell fills my nostrils. It reminds me of pineapples and vanilla.

"If you don't wake up, I'm going to burn your favorite book" I hear a familiar voice say which causes my eyes to snap open as I jolt up in bed so that I'm facing my best friend She's sitting crossed-legged on my desk chair while looking at me with amusement in her green eyes.

Great, she snuck in again.

"I swear to god, Charlotte" I say with a glare as I look at her through my mess of hair. It would be so convenient if I could wake up looking put together.

"Don't use god's name in vain" she says with a scolding tone as she stands up and dusts off the imaginary dirt from her outfit.

I subtly check out her outfit. She's wearing a white spaghetti strap tank top that's covered by a black leather jacket, she paired that with black skinny jeans and a pair of black combat boots. She kept her hair naturally wavy.

"Are you going to continue checking me out or get ready so that we're not late for school?" She asks with a smirk as she climbs onto my bed which causes me to roll my eyes and blush I uncover myself and stretch my tight bones since I feel tense before I stand up and walk towards my bathroom so that I could get ready for school.

-

"How is it possible that you take longer to get ready than me?" Charlotte complains as I walk out of my bathroom fully dressed for the day "Because your wardrobe is mostly the same stuff," I say with an eye roll as I pull my long brown hair into a high ponytail

"Can you hand me my glasses?" I say as I point towards my bedside table that has my black rimmed eyeglasses lying on top.

She grabs them off of the table and walks towards me before she opens them and places them over my eyes. She smiles at me before she kisses my cheek and grabs my wrist which causes me to blush.

She's usually never this affectionate with me.

"Come on, I can smell your mom's famous banana bread" she says as she pulls me out of my room and downstairs.

As soon as we reach the kitchen the smell of my mom's banana hits me in the face which causes me to smile in delight.

My mom is a well-known culinary chef and baker. She's been able to keep me out of the public eye since she knows what happens to some people when they get overwhelmed.

"Hey, Ms. Bailey" Charlotte says with a smile as she lets go of my hand and walks towards a barstool. My mom turns away from the oven and smiles wide when her eyes land on Charlotte.

"Charlotte, I haven't seen you around here in a while. How have you been?" My mom asks as she walks towards her and gives her a hug "I've been good" Charlotte replies as she wraps her arms around my mom in an appreciative hug.

Here's something that Charlotte will never mention or approve.

She's very emotional, but she likes to pretend that she's not. I'm lucky that she's not afraid to show her real emotions to me.

"Aspen, eat" my mom says as she points to the plate of banana bread in front of me When did that get there?

I pick up a fork and start to devour the delicious treat as my mom washes the dishes.

-

After breakfast Charlotte leads me outside towards her Audi R8. She opens the passenger side door for me which makes me smile as I slide into the seat. She closes the door behind me before she walks towards the driver’s side and starts the car.

When we arrive at school, she cuts the engine before we exit her car. People stare at her in awe as we walk past them but when they notice me, they either glare or smile.

"Charlotte, I love your jacket" one of the girls scream out but Charlotte doesn't glance at them, she doesn't even show any emotion as she continues to walk towards our class When we reach our class, all eyes immediately turn towards us and not long after that Maddie walks towards Charlotte.

"We didn't see you at the football game last night. Where were you?" Maddie asks her as she twists a strand of her black hair around her finger. Charlotte rolls her eyes before grabbing my hand and dragging me towards a lab desk in the back of the classroom.

"Are you okay?" I ask her since she looks tense. She turns her face towards me and has an emotionless expression.

Oh, she's pissed.

"Why must she always ruin my mornings? She acts like we're dating, I don't even like her" she says in a low tone since people are still watching us "Calm down, I'm sure she'll get the hint soon" I say in a calm voice as I look her in the eyes. She nods before laying her head on the desk and falling asleep.

-

It's currently second period, which I do not have with Charlotte.

I'm currently reading one of my favorite books but I can't enjoy it as much as I want to since I feel a bunch of eyes watching me. I look up and, no surprise here, I see a group of girls glaring at me.

I look down at my book and resume my reading until I'm interrupted by a guy clearing his throat beside me. I look up to meet a pair of brown eyes.

Is he new? Usually no one speaks to me besides Charlotte.

"Hi, I'm Kayden" he says as he offers me his hand. I look down at his hand with an unreadable expression.

Is this a joke?

"Um, okay..." he says awkwardly as he brings his hand back to rub the side of his neck nervously

"I'm new here and I thought that you looked the least intimidating in this class," he says nervously which makes me release a small laugh "You can sit down, if you want. I don't bite" I say with a smile so he doesn't think that I'm stuck up. He gives me an appreciative smile before sitting in the seat towards my right.

"My name is Aspen" I say "Since you're new, would you like it if I showed you around?" I ask him since I know how difficult it is to find your way around on your first day at a new school "Yes, that would be so helpful. Would you like to see my schedule?" He asks as he points towards his backpack. I nod which makes him smile as he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a green paper.

I grab the paper from his hands which causes him to laugh as I open the folded piece of paper. I quickly scan over the paper and smile as I hand it back.

"Lucky for you we have all the same classes," I say which causes his smile to widen. If he smiles any wider, I'm pretty sure that his face will break.

"And since we have lunch next, you can meet my best friend. If it seems like she hates you, she doesn't" I say with a reassuring smile. He gently grips my hand as he speaks.

"As long as you don't hate me, I'm okay" he says before he presses a feather light kiss onto my knuckles. I laugh awkwardly before I remove my hand and look at my book.

Okay, that was kind of weird.

-

Lunchtime.

The time everyone has been waiting for since breakfast.

They were serving pizza and mystery soup.

What is mystery soup, you ask?

That's the mystery of it.

After Kayden and I bought our food, we found an empty booth, but it was beside Maddie's table. I hope she doesn't notice me, I'm not in the mood for her crap right now.

As we're passing by her table someone sticks their foot in my path at the last second which causes me to lose my balance and drop my tray of food. I'm able to stop myself from falling on my face, but I'm unable to save my food.

Great, I'm starving.

"Oops, I'm sorry Aspen. I didn't see you there, it was almost like you were invisible" Maddie says with a smirk which causes the people at her table to snicker and laugh I huff as I quickly walk towards the booth where Kayden is sitting. As soon as I sit down, he gives me a sad smile.

"I saw what they did to you, you shouldn't let them bully you" he says which causes me to take a deep breath in and out so that I can calm my rapid breathing "It's December the first, Christmas break starts on the twentieth. I've been dealing with this since August, I can deal with it a little longer" I say calmly which causes him to frown at me but he doesn't get to speak since Charlotte sits down beside me "Who are you?" She asks with an annoyed tone. I touch her arm so that she can calm down a little.

"This is Kayden, he's new. I met him in my second period class" I say as I look between the two of them cautiously. Charlotte is glaring at him and Kayden looks confused.

"That doesn't explain why he's sitting here" she says with an impatient tone "I invited him, now be nice" I say with a stern tone since she's being ruder than normal "Whatever" She says as she pulls out a McDonalds bag from her backpack. She hands me a Big Mac and a large fry; I thank her before I devour the food. I look at her and notice that she's not eating anything.

"Where's your food?" I ask as I swallow five fries. She looks at my curious expression and smiles before responding.

"I ate it while driving back after I bought you that" she says calmly which makes me groan "I thought I told you to stop sneaking out of school" I say which causes her to roll her eyes "Relax, I snuck out after class" she says Ugh, I swear she's untamable.

I look up only to see Kayden smiling at us with a knowing look. I raise an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asks with a never-ending grin. I have a feeling that Charlotte is about to give him a sarcastic response so I answer before she can open her mouth.

"Sure" I say before I take a bite out of my Big Mac "By any chance, are you both dating?" He asks which causes me choke on the burger.

Charlotte pats my back as she hands me a bottle of water which I accept immediately and chug. When I'm recovered, I give him an incredulous look while Charlotte gives me a worried look.

"What? No, we're best friends. She's like a sister to me" I say as Charlotte's hand continues to rub circles on my back "Even if we were dating, why would it be any of your concern?" Charlotte asks him with a glare which causes him to hold his hands up in surrender. He's about to respond before Maddie comes up to our booth with her boobs popping out of her top.

"Charlotte, why are you sitting here? You should be sitting with me, where you belong" Maddie says as she slowly trails her finger up and down her arm Charlotte grabs Maddie's wrist and quickly twists it, smirking when she sees her flinch in pain.

"Wherever Aspen is, is where I belong" Charlotte responds before letting go of her wrist and walking out of the cafeteria.

I grab her stuff and pack up the remainder of my food before shoving it in her backpack. As I go to stand up Maddie pushes me down with a scowl.

"You've brainwashed her, if it wasn't for you, she would be dating me" she says before slapping my cheek which causes my head to jerk to the side.

I was in shock.

She's never slapped me.

She's pushed me around, but never slapped me.

I don't respond as I get up and walk out of the cafeteria. I take my ponytail out and fix my brown hair so that it's covering my red cheek before I search for Charlotte.

I don't want her asking questions when I find her.

-

I've looked in the library, gymnasium, locker room, and auditorium.

She wasn't in any of those places.

Where the heck is she?

I decide to look in the last place that I can think of...

The music rooms.

I jog down the hall towards the music room since it's my last hope at finding her before the bell rings for third period.

I walk into the music room only to see her playing a sad tune while sitting at the piano.

I lean against the doorframe and watch her play since her eyes are closed and I don't want to startle her.

"You know that you can join me, right?" She asks before she opens her eyes and turns her head in my direction I walk towards the bench which causes her to slide over so that she can make room for me. When I sit down on the bench, we both remain quiet, it was so quiet that you could hear our ragged breaths.

"Not that I hate it, but why is your hair down?" She asks in confusion which causes me to tense as I start to fidget with my hands "I, um, started to get a headache. So, I took it down" I say which causes her to scoff "I know that you're lying to me" she says with a tone that lets me know that she's smirking "I'm not lying" I say which causes her to scoff "Look me in the eye and tell me that you're not lying" she says in a challenging voice I take a deep breath in and out before I slowly turn towards her and angle my head so that she can't witness my red cheek.

She closely observes me before she reaches out to push the hair away from my cheek.

This is it.

She's going to know what has been happening since school started.

Before she gets the chance to touch my hair the bell goes off for third period which causes me to let out a breath of relief.

I quickly stand up before placing her backpack on the bench, where I was previously sitting, and running out of the music room towards my class.

Oh my god.

That was too close.

I was able to successfully avoid Charlotte for the rest of the school day, so she hasn't been able to seen my cheek.

I look at myself in the mirror behind the front door and notice that I look exhausted. I move the hair away from my cheek and notice that it's a light purple shade.

Great, now I have to hide it until it heals.

I walk into the kitchen only to stop in front of the freezer so that I can grab an ice pack.

I place the ice pack on my cheek before I jog upstairs so that I can start on my homework.

As soon as I walk into my room, I throw my backpack on the bed and walk into my closet so that I could change into a pair of comfy clothes.

I decide on an oversized black hoodie paired with white night shorts. I find a pair of white knee length varsity sock and put them on.

When I walk out of my closet, I hear my phone buzzing on my nightstand. As I walk towards it, I see Charlotte's name flashing across the street.

I grab the phone and swipe right before I place the phone near my ear and speak into it.

"Hello?" I ask in a weird voice since I forgot that I have a bruise on my face and accidentally touched the phone to my face "I'm coming over" Charlotte says which causes me to roll my eyes Usually, she just comes over without saying anything.

"You can't" I say as I sit on the bed and start to pull out my homework and textbooks "And why is that?" She asks with a curious voice "One, because it's my house" I say matter of fatly "and two, because my mom just went to work so I doubt she'd be pleased to find out that you slept over" I say "You make it seem like we've never had hangouts while your mom wasn't there," she says in a confused voice "I know that you're hiding something from me, but I don't understand why" she says with obvious disappointment which causes me to sigh "I'm just not feeling well, I'll talk to you tomorrow" I say before I hang up and stare at the wall with a frown I get snapped out of my thoughts by my phone singing from three text messages.

I immediately frown when I see who they're from.

Maddie- I hope you learned your lesson today Maddie- I see you've made a new friend, that's great.

Maddie- Now you can leave MY Charlotte alone She's been cyber bullying me ever since a month ago when she caught me and Charlotte hugging.

I honestly think it's crazy how obsessed she is with Charlotte, which is why I'm scared of what she might do if I tell someone about what she's been doing to me.

I hear a knock on the door downstairs which causes me to groan in annoyance.

Why does everyone want to bother me today.

I fix my hair so that it's covering my cheek before I pull my hood up and onto my head. I quickly make my way downstairs before opening the door only to be met with Charlotte holding a tub of ice cream.

I sigh which makes her sadly smile.

"I know that you don't want to see me right now, but I really don't feel comfortable being alone right now" she says which makes me pout as I see a tear roll down her cheek If she started with that on the phone then maybe the call would've gone a little bit differently.

I wipe her tear away before I pull her into a hug.

"It's okay, I'm here for you" I say as I walk her inside and close the door Charlotte has separation anxiety.

Her parents neglected her when she was eleven and went on a trip when she was twelve.

They left her with my mom and I before they got on a plane so that they could fly to Hawaii.

They told her that they would be back whenever they felt like it and barely acknowledged us when they dropped her off.

Long story short, they never came back.

We have no clue where they are nor do we care, but when Charlotte is left alone for too long, she either gets panic attacks or she breaks down and wrecks things.

A couple of times when she's spent the night, she gets very bad nightmares. There have been countless times where I had to wake her up and calm her down.

She's been through a lot, but even through it all she tolerates hate from nobody.

"I have to do homework; I can put on a movie for you" I suggest as we walk up the stairs and towards my bedroom "No, I'll help you" she says in a small, fragile voice. I nod as she removes her shoes and climbs onto my bed.

I sit beside her and place my textbooks on my lap along with a couple of papers. She lays her head on my shoulder which makes me smile.

I'm so happy that I'm able to comfort her in these moments.

-

"Question five is wrong" she says as she continues to massage my shoulders.

I've been doing homework for two hours now. I finished everything else so now I'm working on math, which is one of my worst subjects.

Charlotte noticed that I was stressed a couple of minutes ago so she started to give me a massage which is proving to helpful since I feel more relaxed than I did an hour ago.

"Ugh, I give up. I've redone it three times already" I say which makes her laugh before she grabs my paper and finishes the rest of the equations in four minutes.

I stare at her gob smacked when she hands me back the paper with a smile on her face.

"Beauty and Brains," I say which causes her to look away from me as the tips of her ears turn pink "You're going to make one lucky guy or girl happy" I say since I don't know what team she swings for I place all of my books and supplies inside of my backpack before I place it beside my bed and get comfortable under the covers.

"Oh wait, I forgot to offer you clothes to sleep in" I say as I remove the covers from my body which causes her to grab my arm so that she can gain my attention

"It's fine, I can sleep in my clothes" she says with a reassuring smile but I just shake my head "No, I'm getting you some comfortable clothes. You can't object" I say with determination which makes her smile as I get up a walk towards my closet I pick out a pair of black leggings and a white oversized sweatshirt for her.

I walk out of my closet with the clothes only to see her removing her shirt which causes me to blush as my eyes widen.

We've never changed in front of each other.

Oh god, I shouldn't be looking at this.

When her shirt is over her head, she turns towards me and looks at the clothes in my hand with a smile.

I look down and see her perfectly toned stomach which she's gotten from going to the gym every week.

I look up and trace the contours with my eyes before they land on her beautifully sculpted chest.

Her breasts are covered by a maroon lace bra. She appears to be a B-cup maybe a C-cup.

"Hey Aspen, my eyes are up here" Charlotte say with an amused tone which causes me to blush and look down as I hand her the clothes She accepts them before walking into my bathroom and closing the door behind her.

I feel something wet on the corner of my lip so I reach my hand up and touch it.

Great, I rolled over her body.

Now she probably thinks that I'm weird.

Wait a minute, I've never had this reaction to someone before.

I shake my head to rid myself of the crazy thoughts, I'm obviously just admiring something that I though looked good.

It's no big deal.

I'm not attracted to my best friend.

I walk to my bed and place the covers over my shivering body. I lay on my back and just stare at the ceiling as I think about the day.

It feels like Maddie has been bullying me more and more each day.

At least one good this came out of today.

I met Kayden and it seems like he hasn't heard the names that everyone made up for me.

"Hey, are you okay?" Charlotte asks as she lays beside me and turns off my bedside lamp I turn onto my side so that I'm facing her before I give her a smile, which causes her to look at me with an unreadable emotion as she tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

Thank the heavens that it's my unbruised cheek.

She rests her hand on my cheek and just continues to look me in the eyes with an unreadable expression.

I'm about to ask her what she's doing when she suddenly says something that catches me off guard "You know that I care about you, right?"

"Yes, of course" I say which makes her smile before she places a kiss on my forehead I move my head so that it's laying on her chest which causes her to wrap her arms around my waist "Goodnight Aspen"

"Goodnight Charlotte"

-

I am awoken by my alarm clock blaring out an annoying ringtone.

I reach over and turn off the alarm before I stretch my arms over my head. As I go to put my arms down a pair of arms tighten around my waist which causes my breath to hitch in surprise.

I slowly look up only to see Charlotte's relaxed facial features.

Oh, that's right. She slept over.

Wait a second...

She didn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming from a nightmare.

That's a first.

I try to gently pry her arms off of me so that I can shower which ends up failing since she ends up tightening her arms.

I'm surprised I can still breathe since she's squeezing me really hard.

"Charlotte, let go. I need to take a shower" I say in a whiny voice since I'm becoming frustrated

It's seven in the morning and I haven't had coffee yet. She's lucky that I'm not yelling at her right now.

"Five more minutes" She grunts out before she rolls onto her back which causes me to end up straddling her waist as my head rests in between her breasts.

Our current position and proximity cause me to blush and look away.

Why have I been so awkward around her lately.

Maybe I'm just catching a cold.

I try to pry her arms off of me again which ends up being a success as I roll off of her and walk towards my bathroom.

As soon as I close the bathroom door, I move my hair behind my ear so that I can look at my cheek.

It's still the same light purple color but now it has splashes of yellow and an undertone of grey.

I hope that this fades soon.

I quickly strip out of my clothes before stepping into the shower and turning it to the hot side.

-

When I'm finished with my shower, I quickly blow dry my hair before plugging up my curling iron.

If I'm forced to hide my bruise I might as well have a little fun with it.

I pull out a tube of concealer and dab some on my bruise before spreading it over the section until it's covered.

You can still see the slight discoloration but that's only if you stare at it for a certain amount of time.

I begin to curl my hair in tight spirals so that when I brush them out, they're softer but still defined.

-

Forty-Five minutes later I finally finish curling my hair, I unplug the curling iron before I lightly brush my curls together and spray hairspray over them.

When I walk out of the bathroom, I see Charlotte leaning against my desk while scrolling through Instagram.

While she's not paying attention, I subtly check out her outfit. She's wearing a white cropped tee with black skinny jeans that have a slit in the knees. She has an unbuttoned red and black flannel covering the shirt and a pair of red and black converse. Her hair is in a cute messy bun.

Wow, she can pull off any outfit.

"Aspen? Is that you?" I hear Charlotte ask in a tone of disbelief as her eyes check me out "Like what you see?" I joke with a small laugh which causes her Adams apple to bob up and down "Well, I'm going to get dressed. I promise I won't be long" I say which causes her nose and the tips of her ears to turn red as she looks down at her feet I adjust the short white towel that's wrapped around my body before I walk into my closet and shut the door.

She was acting weird.

Maybe she's catching something too.

For my outfit I decide on a white ruffled tank top and a pair of denim ripped jeans. I chose a pair of white low-cut converse and gold hoop earrings.

When I'm finished getting dressed, I open my closet door and walk towards my nightstand so that I can put on my glasses.

"I thought you had contacts" Charlotte says from behind me which causes me to turn around and face her "No, Why? Should I get some?" I ask since I've been thinking of buying some for a while now but never went through with it since I'm afraid of what Maddie will do She might accuse me of trying to fit into her social group and continue to beat me up.

"You look good in everything, so that's your choice" she says with a smile which causes me to blush and look down.

"Let's go downstairs for breakfast" I say before I walk out of my room and down towards the kitchen where I see my mom preparing omelets "Oh, my goodness, that smells so good" I say as I sit on a barstool with Charlotte following not that far behind My mom laughs at me before greeting Charlotte and placing down two plates that have the most aesthetically pleasing omelets on them.

As soon as the bite of the omelet touches my tastebuds I immediately moan in delight.

"That good, huh?" My mom says jokingly which causes Charlotte to smirk

"Mom" I say with wide eyes and blushing cheeks.

As I'm finishing my breakfast my phone goes off alerting me of a text message. I look down at my screen which causes my stomach to instantly drop when I see the message.

Maddie- You better watch your back today Seriously?

She has to threaten me in the morning too?

"Who's that?" Charlotte asks as she tries to take a look at my phone but I quickly turn it off before she can "It's just my phone carrier sending me one of those random texts" I say with a nervous laugh before I get up and place my plate in the kitchen sink I feel someone's eyes on me as I rinse my plate. When I turn around, I see Charlotte looking at me with a look of suspicion.

I quickly look away before she can read my emotions.

She's always been able to read me like an open book.

"If we don't leave now then we'll be late," I say as I walk to my mom and give her a quick hug "love you, mom" I say before I grab Charlotte's wrist and drag her towards her car.

I have a feeling that today is going to be a long day.