Best Friends For Never

I slid the DVD into the DVD player and opened my mouth, ready to shout, "Nate! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming!" Nate's voice shouted back.

"Well, come quicker!" I shouted, already getting impatient, despite the fact that he had only left the room about a minute ago.

"You know," Nate began.

"You're the one that was hitting me until I agreed to get you some popcorn!"

I rolled my eyes. "That's because you can't watch a movie without popcorn, it's just not right," I yelled back.

Fifteen years of being best friends and he still didn't get the importance of eating popcorn while watching a movie. Even back when I forced Nate to watch Barbie with me, I would make sure that there was a bowl of popcorn somewhere. It wasn't just a tradition; it was a rule.

"Whatever you say," Nate replied, suddenly pausing as if he had just realized something.

"Talia, if you've put another chick flick on, I swear I will kill you."

I rolled my eyes again, "You love chick flicks. You just refuse to admit it."

Nate and I seemed to have the complete opposite taste in movies ever since we were younger. I would insist on Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses while he insisted on Spider-Man.

Although our taste in films had changed, not much else had.

"What teenage boy likes being forced to watch people fall in love for two hours?" Nate asked, appearing at the door, the bowl of popcorn in his hands.

A grin immediately broke out on my face at the sight of him, as it always did at the sight of my best friend, neighbor and crush.

You couldn't help but smile when you saw Nate; with his messy blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes he was definitely not easy to miss.

"Popcorn!" I screamed, running towards Nate with open arms and grabbing the bowl out of his hands, breathing in the familiar smell of my favorite butter popcorn, before grabbing a handful and shoving it into my mouth, hungrily.

"You're such a pig," he muttered, watching me

swallow the popcorn with a disgusted look on his face.

I grabbed another handful, "I am not!"

He rolled his eyes and sat down next to me on the couch, "You know we're watching Star Trek, right?"

"What, no! We are watching The Notebook!" I exclaimed, shaking my head in horror.

Star Trek?!

Was he joking? I wasn't going to watch that no matter how much he begged me.

"Not The Notebook," Nate said, looking equally as horrified.

"I can't put up with you crying every time we watch that film."

Although it was true that I cried every time I watched The Notebook, it wasn't like Nate got any less emotional when we watched Star Trek. Unlike him, I actually had a reason to cry.

"Hey! You're the one that likes to watch movies about

spaceships and black holes!" I shot back.

"I am not a nerd!" Nate objected.

Although I wasn't going to admit it, he was right. Nate was far from being a nerd; despite his good grades, he was also on the football team. Which made him pretty much the only jock in school to be excelling in both athletics and academics.

"Are too," I replied.

"Star Trek isn't just about spaceships and black holes, you know," Nate argued, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

I snorted and rolled my eyes, "Whatever, we watched Star Trek last time anyway."

"Last time, we watched Mean Girls. Which, by the way, was even worse than The Notebook!" Nate yelled.

I gasped. "Take that back!"

"Make me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Take. It. Back."

"I'm not going to."

"Fine. Your breath smells."

"You're ugly!"

"Loser."

"Freak."

"You know what?" I stood up. "Since you're being so rude and won't take it back, The Notebook it is."

"That's not fair," Nate cried, jumping up and shoving me out the way.

"It is totally fair!" I shouted, pushing him back.

Nate didn't even stumble, instead he ran towards the DVD player, with me hot on his heels.

How the hell could he run that fast?

Stupid football player.

In a desperate final attempt to stop him I jumped onto Nate's back, "We're watching The Notebook!"

"You're gonna make me fall over, you're so heavy!" Nate said, trying to get me off.

"I am not fat! You're just weak!" I shot back, slightly offended by his comment.

"Coming from the girl who failed gym twice. And we're watching Star Trek!"

While it was true that I had in fact failed gym twice, I refused to let him use this to his advantage. "I am not weak, and as if, Nathaniel!"

Nate pushed me off his back and turned to glare at me, "Don't call me that."

I smirked, knowing all too well how much Nate hated it when anyone used his full name. "I'll call you whatever I want to call you!" I yelled at him.

Alright, so it wasn't exactly the best comeback but it was pretty hard to come up with a good comeback while trying to get my balance back at the same time.

Nate narrowed his eyes and leaped towards me, wrestling me to the ground.

"Get off me, you fat idiot!" I shouted, as Nate rolled over so he was squashing me.

Nate froze. "Did you just call me fat?"

Thankfully, before he could do anything, the door opened and Nate's mom came in, raising an eyebrow at the sight of both of us on the floor.

Nate's mom, Susan, was one of the sweetest women ever; she was where Nate got his blonde hair and blue eyes from. Despite the fact that Susan looked like a snobbish beauty queen, she was anything but that, she was like a second mom to me and every time I was around she would always bake me cookies or some other delicious treat, much to Nate's annoyance.

Since Susan didn't have a daughter of her own, just two sons, I was sure she enjoyed having me around to pamper.

"What's going on here?" Susan asked, smiling knowingly.

To anyone else, seeing us rolling around on the floor like that would've been seen as inappropriate, but by now, Susan was used to this kind of behavior so she just ignored it.

"Nate won't let me watch The Notebook," I piped up, knowing that she was bound to take my side over Nate's.

"She won't let me watch Star Trek!" Nate protested, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"You watched it last time," I said, giving Susan a pleading look.

"I did not!"

"Yeah you did."

"She called me fat!"

"Not like it isn't true..."

"It isn't!"

"Hey, you called me fat too!"

Susan rolled her eyes, "Come on you two, you're fifteen now, not five."

"I know I am, but I wouldn't be so sure about him," I said, jerking my thumb in the direction of Nate.

She rolled her eyes again and turned to Nate. "You did watch Star Trek the last time Talia slept over."

I grinned victoriously. "Ha!" I cried, sticking my tongue out at Nate, who scowled back at me.

"Fine, whatever," he grunted, still scowling but finally admitting defeat.

Susan rolled her eyes, "You kids keep it down in here, okay?"

"Okay," we chorused before she left the room.

I grabbed the remote and pressed play, smirking in victory as I did so. Two hours later, my head was resting against Nate's shoulder as I balled my eyes out, "That was so..." I sniffed, "beautiful!" I

exclaimed, bursting into a fresh wave of tears.

Nate simply grunted in response and passed me another tissue.

"Aw, come on Nate, you can't deny how heart-touching that was, I mean Noah and Allie's relationship was so special!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Nate said rolling his eyes.

"Are you staying for dinner?"

I shook my head. "Mom said I had to be home for dinner tonight," I stood up and wiped my eyes with the tissue, then fixed my hair and smoothed down my crumpled clothes.

"Okay. Bye!" Nate said, looking more than glad to get rid of the tearful girl that was his best friend.

"Bye Nate, Bye Susan!" I called.

"Bye Talia!" I heard Susan shout back as I left the house, shutting the door behind me.

It was a month or so later that I began noticing that Nate was acting differently. He didn't hang out or walk home with me after school anymore.

He wouldn't reply to my texts, but when he did, his replies were always short and blunt. Whenever we sat next to each other in school he wouldn't want to have a proper conversation. He would sit with his other friends at lunch so I'd began sitting in the library instead.

I tried asking him if anything was wrong, but his answer was always vague; it didn't stop me from worrying.

One day, after classes, I spotted him at his locker and I decided it was time I confronted him. We didn't argue often and when we did there was always some kind of valid reason for it, but this time I couldn't tell what I had done wrong and it was driving me insane.

"Nate, I need to talk to you," I said, smiling awkwardly at him.

He closed his locker door and turned to look at me.

"What?"

"You've just been acting really distant lately, I just wanted to know if you were okay. If you need to talk, then I'm here," I paused, hesitantly.

"And if I've done something wrong then I'm really sorry, but please just stop ignoring me."

He sighed in annoyance. "You haven't done anything, Talia."

"Then why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what?"

"You're being distant and rude and just different..." I attempted to explain.

"If there's something going on, you can talk to me, you know."

"I don't want to talk, okay?" He scowled. "Just leave me alone."

"But Nate---" I started to say.

"I said I don't want to talk!" Nate snapped, glaring at me. "Just go away, okay?"

Pressing my lips together, I nodded. "Okay," I mumbled.

I walked home alone again that day, still just as confused as l'd been the past month.

Later that evening, there was a knock on my door.

"Are you and Nate going out today?" My mom shouted up the stairs.

"No?" I shouted back.

"Well, Nate's here..."

My eyes widened in surprise and I immediately shot up from where I was lying on the bed. I wasn't sure whether to go downstairs or not, so I stood listening for a few minutes as my mom opened the door.

"Hey, Nate. Are you here for Talia?"

"Um, yeah, actually I had to talk to her about something, is that okay?" Nate asked, I immediately picked up on the anxious tone in his voice and I frowned slightly.

He sounded a lot different than he had a few hours ago. I decided to make my way downstairs, slowly.

"Of course, come on in," My mom said, opening the door wider for Nate to come in.

When Nate walked in and saw me, he smiled. I frowned back at him, studying the smile on his face, which didn't look at all right; it looked forced and strained, even fake. He had been a little off this whole month, but now he was just acting plain weird.

My mom went back into the kitchen and I turned to Nate, cocking my head to the side.

"What did you need to talk to me about?"

Nate scratched the back of his head and stared at the floor. I immediately narrowed my eyes and eyed him from head to toe. He wasn't injured which was good, that was one possibility crossed off my list. He did look tired though.

His eyes has massive bags underneath which was surprising because I knew how much he loved his sleep.

"Nate, what is it?" I asked.

"I'm sorry for being a bit of a dick this past month," he said, running a hand through his hair.

I blinked, surprised by his sudden and rather unexpected apology. I should've been mad or at least a little upset, but his apology was sincere and I had missed him too much not to accept it.

"Hey it's okay, everybody's allowed to be a little moody from time to time."

"I wasn't just being 'a little moody' though," Nate mumbled.

"What was it then?" "There's something I've been hiding from you, Talia." He took a deep breath, "I... I'm moving."

"What?" I asked again.

"Moving, like, across town or something?"

He shook his head. "No, further away than that."

My eyes widened, "To a different state?"

He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted.

"This is bad, but we can still make things work. We can write to each other, call, and Skype. Also, we can see each other during holidays!" I blabbered, "And if we're lucky, we can even go to the same college like we planned!"

He shook his head again, "No Talia, I'm not moving to a different state. I'm moving to a different country. I'm moving to England."

I stared at him before laughing, "You're kidding right? If you're practicing for April fools then you're going to have to try harder."

Nate frowned at me, "No, I'm not kidding."

My laughter immediately dried up and the panic finally started to settle in. "When?" I asked, my voice coming out croaky and strained.

"When, what?"

"When are you leaving?"

Nate chewed on his bottom lip anxiously, "Next week."

"Wh-when did you find out you were leaving?" I stuttered.

He whispered something I couldn't hear.

"When did you find out you were leaving?" I asked again, taking a step back when he attempted to take a step closer.

"Three months ago," he whispered, this time a lot louder.

I blinked at him. "Three months ago?" I repeated, not believing the words that had come out of his mouth.

"I'm so sorry Talia, I was going to tell you but---"

"How could you hide that from me?" I asked, cutting him off. Those were the only words that came out of my mouth as I blinked at him, my mind suddenly going empty.

"We're supposed to be best friends, Nate."

"I wanted to tell you but I didn't know how, so I just started distancing myself from you. I'm so sorry, I really am."

I looked back up at him, my vision blurred from the tears. "Get out, Nate."

"Don't cry Talia, please, I'm sorry!" He said, looking distressed. "I know you're upset but it's not my choice, I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to ruin our last few months together!"

"You kept it from me," I breathed, staring at him through tear-filled eyes.

"You knew this whole time and instead of telling me,

you started ignoring me and pushing me away. We were supposed to be best friends, Nate. Didn't I deserve to know?"

I stared at him for a few seconds, before turning away and rushing up the stairs

"Talia!" Nate called. "Don't be like this!"

After that, I heard my mom's voice, "What happened?"

I didn't get to hear Nate's reply because I had already slammed my door shut as loud as I possibly could.

"Talia?" My mom's voice said from behind the door,

"Come on honey, you've been in there for a whole week. Come out, please."

I sighed into my pillow, try as hard as she might, my mom just didn't get what I was going through. Nate was moving away. My best friend, my crush, my everything was moving away.

How could he just leave me like this?

Not only leave me, but also hide it from me for so long?

I lifted my head up from the pillow. "No," I buried my head back in the pillow.

"Please sweetie, come on," she pleaded.

I didn't reply.

"Nate came over again today," she said, as if it would suddenly make me jump out of bed and race out the room.

I had expected that actually, after all he had been coming to see me all week despite the fact that I had refused to see him. Nate being the persistent person that he was hadn't stopped trying to see me,

no matter how hard anyone told him it wouldn't work. We were both equally stubborn and it was always difficult for us to make up after an argument.

"He's still downstairs, you know," my mom said, causing me to lift my head back up in surprise.

"He is?" I asked, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice.

"He's leaving for England in a few hours. Just say goodbye to him sweetie, he deserves that at least," my mom said, causing me to frown.

He was leaving already?

I glanced at the calendar beside my bed and realized that my mom was right. It had been a week since he'd said he was leaving, which meant he really was leaving today.

"Does he?" I questioned.

"He didn't think I deserved to know he was leaving."

I heard her sigh from the other side of the door, "I can see why you're mad, Talia. I would be too. But that doesn't mean you can't say goodbye to him, he deserves that at least."

"If he really cared about me, then he wouldn't be leaving me. Or at the very least, he would have told me that he was leaving, but he obviously thought I didn't even deserve to know."

"Staying or leaving wasn't his decision to make and if he kept it from you then it was only because he cared about you. Think about it, Talia, he's leaving for the airport in ten minutes, he deserves a goodbye from his best friend."

I heard the sound of footsteps, then silence.

"He doesn't deserve a goodbye," I thought aloud.

Why would Nate deserve a goodbye, he was the one that had decided to move to England and only tell me a week before he left, despite the fact that he was my best friend and the only boy I had ever claimed to love since the first grade.

I glanced at the picture frame on my bedside table and my eyes were immediately brimmed with tears. The photo had been taken in third grade, at Nate's birthday party. We were both hugging each other tightly, looking into the camera with wide toothy grins.

I grinned at the memory; Nate had always been such an amazing best friend. He still was, really.

I suddenly sat up straight. Maybe I could still say goodbye to him? He did deserve that much.

I jumped off the bed and ran downstairs, "Nate?" I called out.

"He left a few minutes ago," my mom said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Run, you might still be able to catch him before he

leaves."

I raced to the door, yanking it open and ran next door. I pounded on the door, desperately hoping that they hadn't left.

When nobody answered, I knocked harder, "Open the door!" I shouted.

Nate's other neighbor came out of her house and frowned at me, "The Thompsons left about five minutes ago."

"What?" I whispered, tears filling my eyes.

"I think they went to the airport, was it important?"

I nodded, numbly.

"Sorry, honey," She said, smiling sadly at me and going back inside.

I stared after her, as the tears began to roll down my cheeks. I slumped against the wall and slowly dropped down to my knees in defeat.

"I love you Nate, I'm sorry," I whispered.

TWO YEARS LATER

TALIA'S POV

I slipped on my other shoe then stood up, checking my reflection in the mirror in front of me. I had gone for a black dress and a pair of black stilettos, nothing special, but it looked nice nonetheless. I put on some more mascara and checked my hair, before grabbing my purse and heading downstairs.

"Mom, I'm going out with Liam and Sophie. Bye!" I shouted, hoping that she wouldn't ask me any questions about where exactly I was going.

"Out?" I heard her repeat.

I turned around and mentally groaned as I saw her walk out of the kitchen, my dad by her side.

"Yes, out. Like, to a party," I quickly explained. My hand was already on the door and I was ready to leave. Too bad neither of my parents were going to let me go that easily.

"You mean 'see you at four o'clock in the morning, when I get home drunk and throw up in the plants?" My dad folded