Better Off Friends

It gave me a lot to think about. And all those thoughts revolved around Levi. I had to talk to him. To make sure that we were still friends. That we’d still be able to be in the same room together when I got home.

Fortunately, my grandparents were out, so I was able to go right to my room and dial Levi on my laptop the second I was dropped off. I did the math and knew he would, hopefully, be getting home from morning practice. My leg was shaking by the third ring.

All I kept thinking to myself was Please be home, Levi. Please be home.

The screen lit up and I saw Levi’s naked chest in front of me.

“Um, hello?” I asked, feeling my cheeks get hot at the sight of Levi’s body.

“Hey!” He adjusted the towel around his waist. “Sorry, just got out of the shower.” He walked out of view for a few seconds and returned with a T-shirt on. His hair was wet and sticking up in different directions.

“Hey, you!” I was smiling ear to ear.

“Well, hello to you!”

“Buggy and Floyd are doing a Christmas special!” I blurted.

His eyes lit up. “Are you serious? That is bloody brilliant.” He winked at me.

“Ha. Ha.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“I see being abroad has really helped with your maturity.”

“Totally.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but then he tilted his head as if he was studying me. “Are you okay?”

It was the same question Liam had asked me not thirty minutes before. I gave him the same answer. “Yeah.”

But here was the difference between Liam and Levi: Levi knew when I was full of it.

“What’s wrong?” The genuine caring on his face almost made me cry.

“Just a little homesick,” I admitted.

I was surprised by Levi’s reaction. He smiled.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “Are you enjoying my misery?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s … you always seem so happy whenever we talk, and I want you to be happy, but I also want you to get home already. I miss having someone to laugh at my lame jokes. And, well, I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.”

There was a silence between us. Not because we were uncomfortable but because we didn’t really need to say anything else. We both felt the same thing.

I finally spoke. “But, hey, I’m sure the next three weeks will fly by.”

“Actually, it’s sixteen days,” he corrected me.

“Oh, so you’re counting?” I teased.

“Duh. It’s on my calendar. Macallan returns and life officially doesn’t suck anymore.”

“So are you saying your life would suck without me? I’m assuming you’re quoting Kelly Clarkson because you miss having such a strong, independent girl like myself around.”

“Ha! Nicely played. But of course.” He paused. “Here’s the thing, we started out friends….”

I laughed. “Wait, are you now insinuating that since I’ve been gone, you can breathe for the first time?”

“Wait, no!”

I shook my head. “You really are becoming unraveled without me.”

He had that familiar crooked smile on his face. “I know. See, you go away and I can’t think straight. It’s amazing I can even get up in the morning.”

“Oh, how I miss your dramatics.”

“Nobody else appreciates them like you do.”

“I know.”

“So let me make sure I get this,” Liam said to me as we waited in line at Murphy’s to get some ice cream a couple nights later. “Your best friend is a guy. He likes you as more than just a friend. And your response was to run away to Ireland?”

“Well, when you put it that way …” I tried to joke, but I started to feel a little silly. “There was a lot more going on.”

“Ah, right.” He nodded. “He started to hang out with his guy friends.”

“And was ignoring me,” I reminded him.

I’d decided to open up to Liam about Levi. I figured nothing was going to happen between us; we both had too much baggage. So maybe it would be helpful to get an outside opinion on the subject. But unfortunately, I had a feeling he was going to take Levi’s side.

I guess bros gotta stick with bros.

We placed our orders. Liam always got Gui

After we grabbed our cones, I decided to make one last plea for my case. “And remember, I basically don’t see him for months, then we get into a fight and then he comes over and tells me he loves me. It was so out of the blue.”

Liam took a lick of his cone. “Was it really?”

My response was to be really into eating my ice cream. Which I was, but I also didn’t have a proper response.

“But you only think of him as a friend,” Liam stated, and I could tell that he didn’t believe me. “You’re not attracted to him at all?”

“No. I mean yes. I mean, he’s Levi.”

“ ‘He’s Levi’? Is that some sort of Yank expression I’m not aware of?” he teased. “So he’s your best friend. He’s a Levi, whatever that means. I don’t really see what the problem is.”

“It’s difficult.” I began to walk faster to the harbor.

“Yes, you keep reminding me of that. But here’s the thing. It doesn’t sound that difficult. You’re only making it difficult. It sounds like there’s a lot between you. Don’t be afraid to make it even more.”

I smiled tightly, not sure if I should believe him or not. So I played it lightly. “Since when did you become some sort of relationship expert?”

He looked at me amusedly. “ ’Tis common sense, really.”

I faced the harbor, which was lined up with buses bursting with tourists. “So I better go see this dolphin.”

Ever since I’d arrived in Dingle, everybody had been asking me if I’d seen Fungie, the town dolphin. There was a statue of him right next to the information center where Gran worked. I’d gotten my picture taken with the statue my first week there but hadn’t seen Fungie yet.

“It is rather shocking that you’ve been here for six weeks and haven’t gone.” Liam took out his phone and gestured at me to pose for yet another photo by the statue. “Have some pride in Dingle, will ya?”

I sulked next to the statue. “It feels a bit touristy.”

“Right. Because you’re not a tourist.” He snapped the photo. “We’ve got to make sure to get everything in over the next few days. Because you’ll be home soon. So there’s lots to do. Including a decision that needs to be made.”

He didn’t have to remind me.

The next two weeks flew by. Gran and Gramps did everything to make sure I got to see as much as I could before I left. I was almost too tired for my farewell party, but if there was one thing I’d learned during my two months in Ireland, it was that the Irish knew how to throw a good party.

My grandparents’ backyard was transformed into an impromptu music session. We hung up fairy lights around the trees to make it even more magical. Gran and Gramps’s friends, who had become like an extended family to me, started trickling into the backyard. Some of Gramps’s musician friends brought their instruments, and music soon started to fill the cool evening.

Liam arrived with his mom. “Hey, I brought you something to remember me by,” he said. He handed me a CD; the cover was the photo of me with the Fungie statue. I opened up the case and saw a listing of Irish bands he’d introduced me to during my visit. “While I love all things American, we Irish have superior music. Not like you have any Yank bands on your iTunes, you Anglophile. So it’s time you heard some proper, non-U2 Irish bands.”

“Thanks!” I gave him a hug, grateful to have had him around during my visit.