"Rini, I know that you're down there."

There had been an exasperated sigh that preceded those words. It wasn't as if I hadn't known those words were coming eventually. I knew that he'd be here at some point. Of course, he knew I was down here, where else would I go and hide? It was my usual spot. I remained quiet because I wanted to force him to come down and get me. It was a game we played sometimes.

"Seriously, we're gonna be late for school. Come on!"

"School," I snort the word.

We do this a lot of mornings. Jon wanders out onto the deck and then he yells down at me as if I might come out on my own. He calls my name and I act as if I will never leave my hiding spot. My lips nearly pull into a grin but I fight off the urge. A smile wasn't in the cards for me right now. The two of us have been best friends practically since conception. Don't go rolling your eyes at that statement, it's the truth. Our mothers have been best friends since middle school. It's kind of sickening to watch them together.

They both married their high school sweethearts and never left the city they'd lived in since birth. Oh, and let's not forget they bought houses on the same block. Insert an eye roll into any part of that you wish to. I throw about a dozen in every time they tell the story. Which, I might add, is often.

Wait, I've gotten off track, where was I? Right, our mothers. When they both got knocked up—which of course was within weeks of each other—they spent hours giggling over it. They planned out the lives of their little bundles of joy. In case you lost track, that would be me and Jon. They would sit with their bellies close together and talk about how wonderful it would be if their two little bundles of joy came out compatible and one day got married. Gag.

I suppose they got their wish, in a way. Jon and I are inseparable and have been pretty much since the start. It wasn't because we were forced together either, we sort of have this bond between us. It sounds silly and stupid but we both know it's the truth.

"Hey, Rini, you in there?" He waved a hand in front of my face. His brows were scrunched together over the deep blue of his eyes. Several strands of his blond hair fell forward over his forehead.

"Stop it, doofus, I'm fine. I was thinking, that's all." I slapped his hand away.

"Oh no, thinking now we're in trouble," he replied with a smirk as he sat down in the lawn chair beside mine.

When I shoved at his shoulder it nearly sent his lawn chair over sideways. The ground beneath the deck wasn't exactly level and the lawn chairs we had pilfered from my garage weren't top-of-the-line. They were the older kind with metal frames and that webbing stuff woven through them. My mother had gotten them at some garage sale.

"Whoa, watch it there, muscles. I almost bit the dust." He grinned at me.

"Shut up, dipwad." The insult didn't hold much weight since I was grinning at him. He could always cheer me up no matter what kind of crap was going on in my life. I reciprocated, doing the same for him when he was down. I'd crack some dumbass joke and he'd end up smiling even if he didn't feel like it.

This's how our relationship works. We were always there for one another through everything. Most people, including our parents, didn't understand our friendship.

They seemed to expect us to show up smiling widely one day, hands clasped together while we announced that we were now a real couple.

It wasn't as if we'd never discussed that but neither of us wanted that out of our friendship. We were friends and that was all we felt for one another. Dating and everything that went along with it wasn't what our friendship wasn't about. No one got that. They all believed that it was a natural progression for us to end up together or at the very least wind up in bed together at least once.

He nudged me. "Talk to me."

"Nope. Don't feel like talking."

If anyone ever got a glimpse of our texts, emails, or any other messages or notes we swapped they would instantly jump to the conclusion that we had slept together. We had the filthiest minds, probably natural considering we're teenagers. Though most people probably wouldn't expect it from a girl, I guess. It takes our conversations a very short time to drop into the gutter. Between our conversations and the exchange of porn videos, our parents would probably ground us until we were sixty. Maybe until we were dead, who knows?

I sent him a sidelong glance. Despite all of that talk, we'd never even attempted to kiss one another.

As stupid as it sounds, we're both still virgins. Seniors in high school and still pure as the day we were born. Neither of us had ever had a relationship last long enough to consider taking that step with someone. I know you're asking why that is. Because the relationships usually get fucked long before either of us does. No one understands our relationship.

My boyfriends become jealous because they believe I'm screwing Jon behind their backs. Most eventually demand that I end my friendship with him. Jon's girlfriend, well ... pretty much the same situation. Neither of us would ever ditch the other. Ever. Because of that, our relationships usually end.

This brings me to why I'm hiding today. A tiny sniffle worked its way out but I managed to stifle the sob that attempted to follow it up.

"Rini, don't," Jon's tone was full of warning.

"What?" Another sniffle.

He reached over with a sigh and hauled me from my chair into his lap. "Babe, he was an asshole. Don't waste the water your body needs to make tears on that fool. It was his fault, not yours. You and I both know that someday we'll find them. Right?"

I understood what he meant. He was telling me that someday we'd find our significant others who wouldn't give a crap that we were best friends.

They would understand us. They would understand our friendship. We'd said that to one another many times over the years. My latest boyfriend dumped me a couple of weeks ago after he demanded that I drop Jon as my bestie. It was a slightly more complicated breakup than that, but essentially that's what happened.

"I know, I'm sorry," I mumbled into his shoulder.

"Good, girl. Now, let's get out butts to school before we're late." He shoved me off his lap and I landed in the scraggly grass with a dull thump.

"Hey!" I scrambled to my feet and glared at him. He grinned back at me and leaned back in his chair. A wicked grin crept onto my face and I shoved his chair over backward before I spun away and took off running. My goal was the driveway and then his truck.

"You're going to pay for that!" he shouted.

My replying laughter was loud. I'd already made it around the side of the house but I knew he'd probably catch me quickly. Jon towered over my measly five-foot-absolutely-nada with his six-foot-one and his long legs could outrun me easily. He was also in much better shape than I am. I hit the mid-point on the side of the house when suddenly his arm wrapped around my waist and he yanked me to a halt and I was trapped against his chest.

"Gotcha! Pffft, bleck, your hair may be brown, babe but it does not taste like chocolate."

I chuckled as he spit out strands of my hair. "Crap, I thought I was going to make it this time!" I giggled and he let me go. We walked the rest of the way to his pickup parked at the curb in front of the house. I heard the thunk of the locks as he hit the button on the remote to unlock the car.

"Nope, never. You can never outrun me, babe. Your legs are way too short, midget," he chuckled as he climbed into the truck that he loathed. He'd wanted a sports car, anything that could be considered a muscle car. A Charger, Mustang, Camero, anything along those lines. But his dad disagreed and bought him the pickup truck as soon as he got his license. His father believed that muscle cars were wheeled death traps. The brand new Dodge pickup was his answer to Jon's request for a sports car. It was top of the line with every available feature and Jon hated it on sight.

It was something I supposed we had in common. I wanted a VW Beetle, one of the old ones. My parents refused because my father said it was too difficult to find parts for them, so he bought me one of the newer ones. It was all right but in my mind, they had no personality. Jon usually drove to school because the pickup was better than the tiny VW in both our opinions, even if he hated it.

"All right, gorgeous hold onto your socks, we're running a little behind schedule." He threw the car into gear, stomped on the gas and the truck squealed away from the curb and we were gone in an instant.

I flicked on the radio with a grin and I made it loud.

We both sang along with the music the entire way to school. He pulled into the lot and parked. As I jumped down from the truck I grabbed m backpack, stopped, and frowned at it. I'd never gone back into the house to get it. That meant ... I turned and looked at Jon as he came around the truck. "When did you put my backpack into the truck?"

He shrugged. "Before I came out to get you. I was already late getting to your place so I figured I should fetch it."

"You weren't late, Jon. So why?"

He glanced away from me. "I don't know, I just did it."

Without a thought, I leaned in and hugged him. "You just kinda knew that it was gonna be one of those days, huh?"

He relaxed and smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. Come on, let's get going."

As I pulled out of the hug and turned away to begin walking toward the school I noticed a small knot of girls standing nearby. They eyed us before they put their heads together and began whispering. I rolled my eyes. I'm sure they were discussing the possibility that Jon and I were now dating. We both had heard rumors that someone had a betting pool going on about when we'd announce we were 'going steady'. There was no proof of it but we both agreed it was likely to be true. Our school was small enough that nearly everyone knew everyone else but big enough that tracking down the source of rumors wasn't an easy thing to do.

"See ya in a bit." He left me at my locker and headed off to his further down the hallway.

I'd stayed up late last night to finish my stubborn homework and I was a little tired. A yawn escaped and I stared at my locker for a moment before I could remember my combination. I grabbed my things and slammed the locker shut. With my books clutched in my arms, I wove my way through the crowded hallway down to Jon's locker where our little group of friends gathered each morning. "Hey, guys!"I greeted everyone and received a chorus of hellos in return.

Kelly released a squeal that was in contrast to the serious look she leveled at me. "Omg, Karina you will not believe what I heard over the weekend!"

The omg was a little too cheerful for my tired brain and I cringed. I forced myself to hide a second cringe when her voice went up six octaves in her excitement. "What did you hear?"

"Shaw, you're not so awesome ex, totally asked out Tiffany Markin."

"Wow, he lowered the bar didn't he?"

Jon snorted from where he leaned against his locker beside me. "He didn't exactly lower it, babe, he let it fall into the basement. Maybe he buried it in Hell. Tiffany is a slut, that's the only reason he asked her out. He'll dump her when he gets tired of her putting out like a vending machine. She'd give it away for a small order of fries."

Everyone chortled at his joke.

His joke did make me feel better and I wanted to hug him for it but I knew that would set people to talking. I grabbed his hand squeezed it and quickly dropped it.

He smiled, winked, then focused on the others. "I heard she once did half the football team in the locker room while Coach was running drills with the other half of the team out on the field. The old guy didn't even notice half his team was off getting drilled." He grinned.

Carl did a really bad rimshot impression and we all dissolved into gales of laughter.

I loved them for lightening the mood and making me feel better. What they said wasn't far from the truth. Tiffany was kind of a slut. The girl liked attention and she'd do whatever it took to make certain everyone's focus was on her. If that was all Shaw wanted from me then she was welcome to him. I didn't want a boyfriend for that reason, I wanted a relationship. One that would last longer than it took for a guy to talk his way into my panties.

The first bell rang and we all groaned. Our shoulders slumped and we plastered theatrically appropriate pathetic looks on our faces. Jon fell to the floor as if the mere sound of the bell had killed him.

Mrs. Brenner, one of the freshman English teachers happened to be passing as he dropped to the floor. She smiled and shook her head. "Up off the floor, Mr. Hopkins, get to class."

Yes, get the laughter out now. Hardy har har, his name is Jonathon Hopkins. He has endured all of the jokes about his name and cursed his parents for it. No, he doesn't want to be a doctor and his name is spelled Jon, not John. Not that anyone made the distinction between his name and that of Johns Hopkins Medical Center. But I'm veering off track.

"Right, Mrs. Brenner, I'm getting up!" He rolled to his side and jumped to his feet.

We all separated and headed off to our respective classes. We'd catch up to one another either passing in the hallways or at lunch later.