Best Friends Forever (Part Two)

By Dawn Kliest

In the Best Friends Forever collection, meet the students of Coastal Carolina University. Their lives are all completely intertwined, the good, the bad, and the hated.
Meet Hazel, the resident bad girl. She sees what she wants, takes it, and has no remorse whatsoever.
Nolan is the male equivalent of Hazel, although he's much more of a player than she is.
Upon meeting Miranda, everyone adores her good attitude and generous spirit. But looks can be deceiving.
Andre has secrets of his own, including a crush on the one girl he can't have.
Cheyanne lied years ago, forever changing the life of another BFF.
Audric. The Virgin. Enough said.
Lexi is new to the group dynamic, but she manages to get under the skin of at least one of the BFFs.

With classes, sex, and drama, this collection is the perfect read for Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill fans. Edgy romance with dark twists and plot turns.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies CLOSER.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Madison Publishing Company
• Release date: Feb 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463752227

Book preview

Part Two

2020 © Madison Publishing Company

Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without express written permission from the author/publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Terms of Endearment

Andre

One

Death is calling me.

Standing at the top of one of the hotels downtown, I look out at the ocean, ready to end this so-called life. I inhale deeply, enjoying the last few seconds of my time here. With my eyes closed, I mentally prepare to end it.

A buzz in my jeans pocket distracts me and I step back from the ledge, ready to ignore whoever it is. I slide my phone out of my jeans and glance at the caller ID.

Destiny.

Hello? I say after I slide the green bar across the screen. I didn’t mean to answer it, but it’s Destiny. She’s the one person I would do anything for.

Andre! It’s Des. I have a question for you, She sounds nervous but excited.

I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart. Sure, what’s up?

Well, I need some help with the Intro to Lit assignment. Do you think we could meet at my dorm room in an hour and you could help me? You have a much better grasp of the text than I do. I can hear the smile in her voice and my entire body reacts to it.

I step back from the ledge, back toward the light. Of course. I’ll see you there, I tell her. I turn away from the side of the building and make my way toward the door that will lead me down into the hotel.

You’re a lifesaver, Andre! I don’t know what I would do without you!

And just like that, my life isn’t a path of destruction anymore. I mumble my goodbye, but internally, I’m crumbling. Everything is different now, after hearing her say those words. She’s one of very few people who actually likes me. And even if it’s not in the same manner that I like her, I don’t mind. I’m just grateful for someone who appreciates me.

Ugh. I even sound like a loser in my own mind. How could anyone ever love a guy like me?

It’s not like I don’t have friends… Our little group is mostly supportive and friendly, but I still feel like the odd man out.

After I found myself partially naked on a beach with Hazel, I pretty much decided that I should stay out of the dating game for a while. Especially since I have a major crush on Destiny, who is thoroughly in love with Nolan.

That night on the beach was amazing, and Hazel is a great girl, but I knew, the moment I walked onto the sand, that night would be a mistake. She was just getting over a breakup with Roman, who is, in my opinion, a total ass. Add to it that I was feeling lonely after hearing that Nolan and Destiny were hitting it off, and it was an evening meant for disaster.

Luckily for me, Hazel played it cool, and we were both in agreement that it never should have happened. But secrets have a way of coming out, and ours came out a few weeks ago, letting the whole world (well, the whole school, anyway) know about our sleeping together on the beach. Hazel has been handling it well, which surprises me, since I was positive she would claim I tried to ruin her life by telling people – which I didn’t. Until it came out via text, I hadn’t told a single person.

Destiny is the one person who I didn’t want to find out about me and Hazel. She and I were friends in high school, our parents are close friends. But when the text went live, there was little I could do to stop it. To my irritation, she claimed it didn’t bother her.

Andre, I totally get why you did it. I mean, Hazel is gorgeous. She’s a bitch, but she’s really pretty, too. And I know you have a weakness for big brown eyes, she’d laughed, playfully hitting me on the shoulder.

Little does she know that it’s not brown eyes that do it for me, but rather those baby blues paired with blonde hair and a killer smile that make my knees weak. Not that I’m likely to ever tell her that.

She and Nolan seem happy in their little relationship. I’m not one hundred percent sure I believe it, given Nolan’s womanizing background, but I guess if he’s willing to stop all that in order to be with Des, I have to be happy for her, even though it makes me want to dive off that ledge.

Yet again, though, Destiny has managed to pull me back, even if she didn’t do it on purpose. During our senior year of high school, she found me in the barn behind my house, ready to hang myself. I think it scared her, but the truth is, I wasn’t going to do it. I’d already decided it would be stupid and immature of me, but she walked in just as I was stepping up on the chair to try to take the noose down.

Her reaction was mind-blowing. She went on and on for days about the importance of life and how I was meant for something great, even though she wasn’t sure what that greatness was. It was nice to hear, and since then, our friendship has grown exponentially. In all ways except the one I desire most. Her heart is just out of my reach.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to tell her the truth of how I feel, but until then, I’m just her friend.

Two

I arrive at her dorm room fifteen minutes later and knock on her door. When she flings the door open and a smile lights up her face, I struggle to contain my own excitement. Seeing her reaction causes one in me, one that I know she doesn’t feel.

Hey! she exclaims and pulls me into a hug.

I wrap my arms around her and squeeze gently. Hey yourself.

Her grin is contagious when she pulls away. So, about this homework stuff… Her face turns serious.

Yeah? I step into her room, noticing how neat and tidy it is, just like her bedroom back home.

I lied.

I whirl around. Say what?

I know. She looks at her feet. I knew it would be the easiest way to get you here, since you’re such a nerd. She laughs at her own joke, even as I chuckle along. But the truth is, I think something’s up with Nolan. He’s been acting weird and I need your help to figure out what it is."

This is it, the opportunity I was hoping for. A chance to be her knight in shining armor. Of course I’ll help. What do you mean by ‘acting weird’?

Well, I didn’t tell you, but, we slept together a few weeks ago. She doesn’t make eye contact, and even though it hurts, especially since I knew she was a virgin, it only fuels my anger toward Nolan, the lying bastard.

I kind of expected that, Des.

Yeah, well I didn’t. I managed to get through all of high school with my virginity intact, and then I gave it away to the first guy in college who showed interest. I’m disappointed in myself.

You shouldn’t be, I tell her, even though I’m disappointed in her behavior, too. People have sex all the time. It’s a part of life.

Like you and Hazel?

I glance at her, surprised. She’s already said she was okay with what happened between me and Hazel, and yet she almost sounds jealous. But maybe I’m making too much of it.

Exactly like me and Hazel. It was a heat of the moment kind of thing, and even though I wish we’d both been smarter and not used each other that way, it’s in the past. And that means we’re both okay with it, and that we aren’t going to do it again.

But with Nolan, things are different. I love him. I know he cares about me, I just wish I’d been able to hold out a little longer.

Well, you can’t change your past, Des. But you can change your future. What has he been doing lately to make you think he’s acting strange?

She sits on her bed, wringing her hands. Well, at first, I didn’t notice anything. But then there have been little clues. Like he doesn’t want to have sex. I mean, I figured there was a time in relationships that sex could get boring and tedious, but I didn’t think it happened after only a few weeks.

It doesn’t. Especially not with a girl like you, I tell her.

You’re sweet. She smiles at me. The other thing is, he showers before he comes to my room, every single time. And if I surprise him at his dorm room, he always says he has to shower before we even kiss. It’s like he’s washing someone else off him. Am I paranoid?

I don’t think so. There’s a slight possibility that he’s just a super clean guy, but that seems a little excessive. Unless he’s OCD.

He’s not. Other than the showering, he doesn’t have any weird tics or OCD behaviors, she explains.

Is there anything else he does that makes you think he’s fooling around with someone else?

Not really. It’s mostly little things. Like he looks afraid for a millisecond when I surprise him, like he’s been caught doing something. I’ve never caught him, though.

"Okay. That’s enough to make me wonder, at least. So do you want me