The Best Friend

“Am I still allowed to join you guys?” Leon asked, trying his best to look enthused.

Both of them looked utterly bewildered at his entrance.

Laura snapped out of it first, quickly capitalizing on the unlikely situation. “Why of course you are! Sit yourself down right here,” she said, and patted the cushion next to her. Then she added, “If you want to, I mean. Sit wherever you like!”

There wasn’t much of a choice. He couldn’t really sit next to Jessie considering her condition. “Sure. This seat’s as good as any other,” he replied, and sat down beside her.

Despite her fairly long friendship with Jessie, Leon had never stopped to take a good look at Laura. He knew her skin was white and her hair was blond, but that’s about where his observations ended. Being stuck on a couch with her made it harder not to pay attention to her.

Generally - now that he thought about it - she didn’t wear revealing clothes, and today was no exception as she sat there sipping coffee in a long white blouse dress, complete with a brown vest and her work laniard hanging around her neck. If he had to pick something he appreciated her for - other than being friends with Jessie - it was that she didn’t find it necessary to flaunt her body.

Of which, he noticed as he observed her sitting next to him, there was plenty to flaunt. If he had to guess at her bra size, he’d say it was somewhere in the D range, and her hips were admirably wide and curvaceous. It was hard to tell through her clothes, but judging from the feminine doughiness of her arms, he supposed that her stomach had just enough chubbiness to add her appeal rather than detract from it.

Take into account her friendly face and outgoing personality, and you end up with a brightly attractive, beautiful woman that most men would jump at the chance to get to know.

But none of that stuff mattered to him. All she could ever be was a memory held on an SD card.

I’m here to test this bogus app, not toss out shallow character assessments and wax poetic. Focus.

“So... what are we talking about?” he asked as if his presence wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Out of pure coincidence his eyes landed on Jessie’s bare feet. She noticed right away and hastily tucked them underneath her so he couldn’t see.

Poor kid, he thought. Practically jumping at shadows.

After that awkward incident, things went surprisingly ok considering how little time he’d spent socializing since the move; though, that was thanks to Laura more than himself. She had a real knack for keeping a conversation going without being obnoxious about it.

Unlike Laura, Jessie didn’t contribute much in the way of conversation. He was surprised she stuck around instead of squirreling away to hide in her room; though her awkward fidgeting was making her bony butt dig further and further into the couch.

Pretty soon she’d have a new hiding spot somewhere underneath the surprisingly deep cushions.

By the time an hour passed, Jessie had managed to avoid being devoured by the couch, and Leon found himself developing a better impression of Laura.

She pried too much for details about him, which was annoying, but he also picked up on the way she pushed Jessie to be a part of the conversation without pushing her into an anxiety attack. He doubted anyone was more adept at gently guiding Jessie through social situations than her.

“Man, I finally get to chat with you and it’s on a day that I have a bunch of other stuff to do,” Laura complained as she got ready to leave.

“It’s a real bummer,” he said.

It wasn’t, really. Just because he had a greater appreciation for her didn’t mean he’d magically gotten over his hang-ups.

“Come by my place next time, okay? I’ll bake you my special brownies again!” Laura said, turning to Jessie.

“You better not be feeding my sister edibles.”

Laura laughed and stretched her arms over her head. “My special ingredient isn’t ****. It’s love! Undying love for this adorable little munchkin!”

Laura waltzed over to Jessie and gave her a big hug and a peck on the cheek. “Love you to the moon and back, shweetums. Text me tonight, okay? We totally need to talk about...”

They both cast curious glances in Leon’s direction, which he pretended not to see.

“Mhm. I will. Drive safe please. Love you, Ra-Ra.”

“Ooooo you’re too cute,” Laura exclaimed, squeezing Jessie so hard he worried she might break something .

“Would the gentleman be willing to walk the lady to her car?”

He didn’t really want to, but he’d already come this far. Walking down a few flights of stairs wouldn’t kill him.

“I suppose I could. You ready to go?”

“Not one bit. But I gotta. Bye Jessie!”

“Bye Ra-Ra,” Jessie replied with a sad little wave.

On the way down to her car, Laura seemed determined to emulate molasses with her slow, deliberate steps.

“I know it’s not my place to tell you what to do—like, at all—but you should spend more time with her,” she finally said as they walked past the out-of-order elevator.

“True. It’s not your place.”

Laura sighed. “Ice me out all you want, but don’t do it to her. She loves you.”

“Does she? I’m not so sure she’s capable of loving anything with a penis, and I don’t blame her.”

“It’s true that she’s petrified around guys—including you. But she doesn’t want to be. Can’t you just meet her halfway?” Laura asked.

“Why do you care what happens between us?”

The slow-motion footfalls behind him ceased. Turning around, he was greeted by the sight of her standing a few steps above him, hands at her curvy hips.

“Because she’s my best friend, and that makes her happiness my problem. Yours too, by association.”

There was something she wasn’t saying, hiding behind that chipper tone of hers, but he didn’t see the point of prying into it.

They resumed walking, this time in unbroken silence.

I shouldn’t have bothered with this Mission thing. All it did was make things complicated when they didn’t need to be.

It felt like an eternity had come and gone by the time they reached the ground floor landing.

“I’ll fly solo the rest of the way. Think about what I said, would you?”

Leon simply nodded in reply.

He planned to let her go without another word, but when her hand touched the door he found himself calling out, “Thanks for being her friend. I’m glad she found you.”

Laura looked back over her shoulder with a mysterious smile before waving and walking out the door.