My best friend growing up was a girl named Abby. Her family moved into the neighborhood when we were both in grade school, and I'd been friends with her since then. We were in my room playing video games one day when I looked over at her. She had a somewhat boyish appearance, but she was still cute as hell. Her smile made her look even cuter, and her eyes lit up whenever she laughed. Today, though, she had a slight frown on her face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
She shook her head, trying to clear it. "Nothing... It's just..." Then she sighed. "Nothing."
I decided not to press the issue but when I looked over at her again I saw something I'd never seen before. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Abby," I said, "what's wrong?"
Her shoulders started shaking. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. "I think we should break up."
I stared at her blankly for a moment, not sure how to respond.
"We've been dating for six months and we haven't done anything! You don't have any feelings for me, do you?" Abby wiped some of her tears away and glared at me.
Dating? Since when did we start dating? Abby had always just been my friend. I mean, sure, it's not like I hadn't considered asking her to be my girlfriend, but we had such a good relationship. I thought if I screwed up and she dumped me that I'd lose my best friend forever. But now I was being dumped anyway...? "What... Since when... We're dating?!"
For a moment, the two of us stared at each other, both obviously confused by the other's words. Finally, Abby collected herself enough to speak. "Yeah, I asked you out last year. You said yes, remember?"
"I don't remember this at all!" I blurted out.
Abby looked hurt. "It happened right here... I told you I liked you, and you said you felt the same way. And then you asked me out, and I accepted."
I still didn't remember this. "Of course I said I liked you, you're my best friend in the whole world! But I don't remember asking you out."
"You did, though. Remember? You said, 'Do you want to go out and see a movie with me?'" Abby nodded. "And then we went on our first date, which was to that new movie theater at the mall."
"That wasn't... I just wanted to see a movie with you. I thought we were just hanging out," I replied.
Abby looked down said nothing for a while. Then she raised her head and showed me an obviously forced smile. "Oh. I'm such an idiot." She tried hard to keep a smile on, but her expression quickly fell again, and more tears began rolling down her cheek.
What was I supposed to do in this situation? I didn't know what to say. I just sat there, dumbfounded, as Abby continued to cry. My chest hurt, and I couldn't help feeling like an asshole for hurting my best friend, even if I didn't remember actually doing it. I had to do something to make her feel better. Doing something was better than doing nothing, I reasoned, so I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to make you cry." I held her tight while her tears soaked into my shoulder. "I thought about asking you out a lot, but I didn't actually do it because I was afraid you would say no and it would hurt our friendship. I didn't want to lose you as a friend." I paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to continue. "If you're still okay with it, I want you to be my girlfriend."
Those words caused her to sob even louder and I thought I had screwed up, but then Abby put her arms around me and nodded her head against my chest. "Okay," she sniffed. "I'll be your girlfriend still."
Abby looked up at me with such a radiant smile, one like the sun coming out after a storm, that I couldn't help but smile back. I felt myself blush as she kept staring at me.
"Um, are you... Okay?" I asked.
Abby nodded. "I'm so happy. I love you, Anon."
The feel of my best friend pressing her body against mine and telling me she loved me was a surreal experience. My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty, and I had butterflies in my stomach. I had no idea how to respond, but I managed to say, "I, uh... I like you too..."
Abby smiled brightly and hugged me tighter. "I love you, Anon. I love you so much."
I didn't know what to do with those words, so I just held her and let her hold me. Our embrace lasted longer than I expected; Abby seemed to enjoy hugging me a little too much. She giggled to herself happily and pressed her body against mine, rubbing herself against me in a way that made me very aware of how soft and warm she was.
"Abs," I said in a voice I hoped sounded casual, "This is too weird."