Sighing, I put down my book and looked out onto the horizon. The sky had just started to turn a soft violet color, tinted slightly by the crimson son. I stood up and walked to the wooden fence, resting my palsm on it and looking out onto the hillside.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I whipped around to see a lone figure standing behind me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, half-angry, half-confused.
“Claire called me. She said you needed someone to talk to.” I glared a Claire over his shoulder. She shrugged.
“Alex, I know you. You would have never felt any better until you talked to someone,” she said.
“That doesn’t mean you have to call him without asking my first!” I growled, narrowing my eyes. My anger didn’t bother her. It barely fazed her. She came up and laid a hand on my arm. She pulled me away from Brian, just out of hearing range.
“Talk to him. Remember how in high school you used to talk to your pictures of him and pretend they were talking back?” she said. I nodded angrily. “Remember how that used to solve all your problems? How, no matter what was going on, talking to those pictures and pretending he was working out your problems helped you?” I nodded again and sighed. “Even though it was you working them out, the two of you seem to share a close bond. Talk to him.” She pointed back towards Brian, who was just looking at us, patiently. “You’ll feel better. I know you will.” Sighing, a smiled tugged at the corners of my mouth. Claire spotted it and smiled, hugging me tightly. I hugged her back and watched as she walking inside, leaving Brian and me alone.
Slowly, I walked over to Brian, looking at the ground. He held out his hand towards me and smiled slightly. Hesitantly, I took it and we walked around the gate, out into the open field. After awhile of silence, we stopped.
I looked over at Alex. She looked different from the first time I’d seen her. Her tan had slightly faded, though the Texas sun had been burning high in the past few weeks. Her usually bright green eyes had faded to an almost greyish color. This was not good.
“So,” I said, clearing my throat, “what have you been up to?” She shrugged. “Anything new?”
“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“To talk to you,” I responded, though I knew it wasn’t the answer she’d been looking for.
“You know what I mean,” she said, looking over at me. “I asked everyone to leave me alone.” I could tell by her eyes that she was trying her hardest to be upset at me, but she didn’t have the energy. We looked into each others eyes for a few moments, then she looked down at the ground.
“You feel it, too, don’t you?” I asked. Tears welled up in her eyes. Putting a hand under her chin, I raised it so our eyes met. She nodded slightly.
"That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for the past few weeks,” she admitted.
“And what have you decided?” I asked. She looked into my eyes. What she said next, I never would have expected. Nonetheless, it was true.
“I couldn’t figure it out before,” I admitted, sitting down on the grass. Brian plopped down next to me. “But, with you just being here, it all makes sense.”
“And?” Brian said, anxiously.
“Look at us Brian,” I said, putting my hand on top of his. “When I was in high school, and if you make fun of me for telling you this, you’re dead, I used to have ‘conversations’ with you in my head.” Brian only smiled. “I knew they weren’t you, of course, but every time I had trouble with something, family, friends, or just school, I always used to talk to you, or myself, I my head and everything would be straightened out.”
“Believe it or not,” Brian said. “I used to do the same thing with someone I made up in my head.” Brian smiled shyly. “Someone I named Alex.” My jaw dropped open. Brian laughed. “Oh, don’t be so surprised. You know we have some kind of connection.” I smiled and shook my head. “So, what decision have you come to?”
“I came to the decision that if we were really I love with each other,we’re both that strong-willed that we would’ve jumped each other by now.” Brian laughed, then looked at me in thought.
“Y’know,” he said after a few minutes of deep thinking, “I think you’re right.”
“Damn straight I’m right!” I said. “I’m always right.” Brian laughed and pushed me backwards so I fell laughing onto my back. After I had calmed down, I sighed and leaned on my elbows, looking over at him. “We’ve always had some kind of connection, Bri. I used to tell people that in school, but they never believed me. Now, I know it’s true. It’s never been love, though. I know that and so do you.”
“Yeah,” he said. “A closeness, obviously, but definitely not love.” We sat there for a few moments in silence. Brian stood up and held his hand out to me. “Okay, so now that we’ve got that straightened out, can we go eat? I’m starved!” I fell back in a fit of laughter, then held my hand up to him, letting him help me up.