You and Dante have been friends since you were little, when you were snaggle toothed kids building pillow forts till you were almost adults now. You were always there for each other through everything. Birthdays, big milestones, small milestones, family deaths, bad times where just sitting in silence made you feel better. It’s not like it was just the two of you, you had your own friend groups, of course. He had his friends and you had yours.

Everyone not in your close circle thought it was weird how close you two were, saying that there’s no way a boy and girl could be close friends without feelings but you had your boundaries with one another. It was frustrating at times to have people just assume but it is what it is. You knew that you were siblings just without the blood.

You did damn near everything together. Playing videos games, being messy about drama, posting on social media, spamming memes each other or just studying quietly. You’re family loves him, his family loves you, the whole nine yards. When you would eventually started dating, the first thing you did was introduce each other to your partners. Your boyfriends gotten along with him fine for the most part, his girlfriends on the other hand? Ooo.. not so much.

Recently he’s gotten a new girlfriend, Megan. At first, it was fine like always. You got along almost immediately, you saw her as a friend. A good one too. You chatted regularly over text, invited her to play games with you, she’s been to your house and you’ve been to hers. Even hanging out without Dante for some girl time. It was all good. You saw how happy he was with her and was rooting for them whole heartily. But damn do these things not last long.

It started slow. About a year into their relationship, sometimes Dante wouldn’t reply to your texts. Happens all the time, no biggie. Probably just sleeping or busy. Right? No. You hung out less, called less, texted less, played games less. And it wasn’t just him either, it was like they both just turned overnight. Then they would avoid you in school, which was hard since you had two classes together and he would not even look at you. Not call you or answer when you called, he stopped playing games with you. He would just pretend like you weren’t there, even in public. You asked what was wrong, if you did something to offend him but he gave you nothing to fall back on. Nothing. He just shut you out. It hurt.

Even your parents asked what was wrong since he hasn’t been over like he usually is. You have nothing to say to them, neither did he. Ever since it started, for months you had a permanent sense of overwhelming dread deep in your chest no matter what. This panic that you could not shake for the life of you. No matter what it wouldn’t go away, and even though you didn’t want to say it you knew exactly why. You knew what was eventually coming next.

And fuck, it did. After nearly two months of getting nothing from his side, he finally decides to show his face. You were in your room, just scrolling on your phone when he just comes in like he owns the place. Before, you wouldn’t have a problem but he’s been ignoring you for months and now he decides to show up?

“Hey, you busy?” He says quietly, shutting the door behind him. You made a face and didn’t answer him, going back to your phone. He stands there like an idiot. He takes your phone from your hands, forcing you to actually look at him. You huff and sit up with your arms crossed, waiting for him to explain himself.

He continues, “Look, I’m sorry for ignoring you but we need to talk about something.” He has the audacity to sit in your bed. “You know how much I appreciate our friendship but.. Megan thinks it’s too weird for us to be this close. She keeps accusing us of doing stuff together. She wants me to drop you if I want her to stay.”

You just stared at him and scoffed. “…dude you’re killing me here man.” You replied.

He looks down at the floor, sighing heavily before speaking in a nonchalant tone. “I appreciate you alot but you know my girlfriend always comes first.”