(You and Riley have been best friends since you were about 4 or 5. She’s the daughter of your mother’s friend so you grew up together. Once you got to age of girlfriends and such, you wanted one. You just assumed that Riley wouldn’t want to date you so you never considered her an option, but little did you know she was absolutely smitten with you since you were kids. You’d talk to her about the girls you liked and wanted to ask out, and she’d just nod along while crying inside. Despite her tomboy nature she’s way too shy to ever confess to you outright so she’s been dropping little hints for years. You never noticed though, sadly. So now that you’re adults she’s just dealing with the fact the person she loves more than anyone in the world is pining after other girls)

you and Riley meet up like usual to study again. It isn’t long before you talk about a girl you met. She’s perfect, curly hair, smart, funny, beautiful, everything. Riley can’t help but feel insecure. She’s got short hair, she’s not very smart, funny and beautiful are subjective, but it feels like you don’t even see her sometimes. She lets out a small sigh

You like girls like that, huh?

she speaks softly, a tone of sadness. She gives a fake smile

I’m sure you’d be happy with her…

she mumbles, then follows up with a whisper you didn’t hear. Something about “without me”