As she headed down to the lake, still in a haze of lust from the actions of a mere couple of hours ago, dreading what was about to happen. She didn’t know if things would work out for the best or result in the worst thing imaginable. Jared on the other hand had no clue what he was about to be bombarded with. He was just happy he was going to have some alone time with Cayla. He was excited to see her again, excited for another chance to kiss those enticing lips of hers, another chance to touch her baby soft skin. He just had to keep in mind that they were out in the open now, not in the comfort and privacy of Cayla’s basement.

Jared was the first one to the dock, staring out at the practically empty lake, apart from a couple of distant boats. It kind of gave Jared an iffy feeling, now he wasn’t sure if why Cayla wanted to see him was for anything good. After five minutes of waiting, the suspense was beginning to kill him. He needed to see Cayla and now.

On her way down to the dock Cayla could see Jared sitting at the edge with his long legs dangling over the water. She just wanted to hug him and never let him go. She couldn’t believe she didn’t think of everything before having sex with Jared. How stupid could she have been? She couldn’t fathom the possibility of losing his friendship. Not to mention the newly discovered benefits of having him as more than a friend.

Cayla crept up behind Jared being sure not to make a sound; she wrapped her hands around his eyes and whispered down into his ear “Guess who?” Without a second thought Jared spun his body around scooping up Cayla from her waist and her knees, she was taken by surprise and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. Jared placed her on his lap and took this chance to place a sweet kiss on Cayla’s luscious lips.

“Jare…” Cayla started, pulling away and turning around resting her back into his chest to avoid him looking into her welling eyes

“What’s wrong Lah” Hearing the pain in her voice, he called Cayla by the nickname he had accidently given her when they were 6 years old

“Jare it’s just that…” Cayla began to say but got choked up and sighed deeply

“Talk to me Lah, you know I’ve always been here for you. You're my best friend. Just because Jordan is your best friend doesn’t mean you aren’t mine.” He said as he wrapped his arms around her

That was all Cayla needed to hear before the dams of her eyes crumbled. The tears would not stop flowing down her now flushed cheeks. “Red, I don’t know what last night meant. I mean I do. It was amazing no doubt. But I mean you're going to Arizona. You're leaving. And so am I. I’m going to school in Pittsburgh and I’ll be living with Jordan. I mean what does that mean for us, and for you. What did last night mean for you I mean, I really care about you an-”

Cayla hadn’t called Jared Red since they were 13; he knew this was important to her, that he needed to make her stop crying and freaking out so they could both get out what they needed to say.

She was talking a hundred miles an hour. Jared had not thought any of this out. This was the iffy feeling he had while he took his spot at the dock. He didn’t know what to say to her or how to explain things to her so he did what he knew how to do best. He kissed her quiet, her tears spotting his cheeks. He literally took the breath away from Cayla, her breathing was short and stiff from the crying and with the sudden kiss she lost her train of thought and melted in his arms. Momentarily all her worries flew out of the window. She was in Jared’s arms, where she felt comfortable and safe.

After gathering up his thoughts, Jared finally ended the kiss, hesitantly but he ended it. Jared being 6’4 and Cayla being a mere 5’6 she still had to look at him while they were sitting down. She looked up at him with wide eyes taken back by his actions, even if she did enjoy them she was taken by surprise.

“Jared…” Cayla began apprehensively

“No Cayla. I want to tell you everything.” Jared began looking down at her to make sure she was all ears. Once she locked eyes with him and stayed quiet he continued.

“Cayla last night was amazing to say the least. I mean I was hoping for something to happen between us last night, whether it was because we drank too much or even if it turned out as a dare. These feelings I have for you right now have blind-sided me. I mean, I’ve known you my entire life. We’re practically siblings. But there was something about my trip home that I anticipated. It was you. But it was a different kind of anticipation. I didn’t want to come and hang out with you like we always have, in the basement playing video games or watching movies. I wanted to come home and kiss you until I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, until my lips felt like they could fall off. I wanted to keep you in my arms as long as you would let me. Once we shared that kiss in the barn I knew I needed more of you. The kiss didn’t satisfy what I thought could just be an itch to kiss someone. I wanted you, all of you. I guess you could say the alcohol I had encouraged it but I wasn’t wasted out of my mind. I knew what I was going to your house for and I was hoping that you would have me. And when you did…” Jared paused staring out at the calm lake, reminiscing about the events of the night before, wishing he could go back and relive it. Or maybe that it could simply just happen again. Cayla just sat there trying to take all of this info in, this wasn’t what she was expecting to come out of Jared at all.

He continued, “I mean yeah I want to be with you. Of course I want to be with you, who wouldn’t? Like my feelings for you have taken me over night and now I don’t know what to do really. I don’t know the solution to everything. I mean you living with Jordan in Pittsburgh isn’t exactly something for me to be ecstatic about. It’s not like I am going to ask you to move with me, I can’t just take you away from my brother and change your schooling plans and everything. But I do want to be with you even if its not today, even if it’s not a year from now. You're going to be my girlfriend. We’re going to be happy together one day. This all just feels too right to ignore. And that leaves us to think about our families. What are they going to do when they find out? I mean I don’t know really, and I don’t exactly care all that much either but we do have to consider them into this…

Cayla cut him off with most of this sinking in she finally had something to say.

“Jare, I don’t want you worrying about that, I mean about our families. They don’t need to know what happened between us. I mean you have your career to worry about. I want you to enjoy your time in Arizona. I don’t want us to rush into a relationship. I mean we could always try a long distance thing, but I want to enjoy every moment with you actually with me. I can wait for you. You're worth waiting for. But you don’t have to wait for me; I mean we’re not exclusive. We are not even a ‘we’. We need to take this one step at a time. So now this is what I want you to think about: You are going to have girls crawling all over you in Arizona. I don’t want you to worry about hurting me. You do what you want to do, and when the time comes we will work out. Our time will come, and we will be together. Right now we have no strings attached. We have to not worry about the consequences of anything. We again, are not a ‘we’. We’re Jared and Cayla, best friends. We can date who we want and do what we want and we’ll still be best friends and not have to worry about jealousy or lying or cheating. Things will go back to how they used to be, okay.”

After saying this Cayla knew it was all a lie. She knew she would worry about Jared finding a girl out in Arizona and he would forget about her. After what happened last night she didn’t want to give him up, but she convinced herself it was for the best, the best for him, that it was what he wanted, and that she would be happy with the turnout of things. Her heart broke as the lies spilled from her mouth. All she could hope for was that one-day, maybe just maybe Jared could be all hers.

Jared couldn’t believe his ears. Cayla wanted him to be with other girls, not to worry about hurting her. He was so confused but kept quiet. He was too taken back. He wanted to be with Cayla. He wanted to make it work. He did want to take her from Jordan even if he would never admit it out loud. But if this is what she wanted, he would do anything for her. Even though he was sure no one could ever compare to Cayla. He wouldn’t admit that to her either. He just looked down at her and waited for her hypnotizing eyes to meet his.

“Love you, Cay.”

“Love you too, Jare.”

And that was the end of their serious conversation. For the next hour they spent time reliving childhood memories, high school stories, and hockey war stories. This is what they were used to. Being friends, but how long could they tuck away these feelings for each other? Only time would tell…

Notes

Sorry for such a long gap in between my writting. Im hoping to get back to regular updates. Let me know what you think about this chapter!

Thanks for reading! :)