Destiny

They were sat in the front seat of his orange Micra. Water was lashing down out of the sky, and the wipers were quickly waving as a light mist began to slowly build on the windows. The car was filled with a red glow from the streetlight they were parked under, apart from the occasional bright light from a passing car.

However, they were interested in none of that. They were too engrossed in that moment, in that car, with just the two of them. They were just frozen, staring at each other with water in their eyes.

The two of them met five years previously, at school after their respective groups of friends formed a coalition to make one large group of friends. They convened under the stairs every break and lunch, and they often just sat there making each other laugh and singing outrageously to songs they never knew the lyrics to.

At the time, they were both dating other people. Clare was with a boy she thought she really loved and had been with for over a year. Len was with a girl, pretty much just so his Facebook relationship status no longer told everyone he was ‘Single’, and needless to say, it didn’t last long. Her relationship too didn’t last much longer. Both were broken hearted, and both were there to console the other, like best friends do, and a lasting bond was formed.

Len stayed single for all those years, and was always there for Clare when yet another of her relationships failed in tears. He was falling in love with his best friend. She however, had her eye on other men, and often hankered after the popular sporting types with the chiselled chin and flat stomachs, and thought of Len as more of a brother to her.

As Len’s look continued to be fixed on Clare’s large blue eyes, he thought about all those times he listened to Maroon 5 after he had seen Clare watching one of those boys, because he could emotionally connect with their songs. He then wished he had listened to other people.

Back then, everyone could see what Len could not: that Clare was actually falling in love with her best friend. She usually tried her best to hide these feelings as much as possible, such as reassuring herself that Len was more of a brother to her. The only reason she looked at those other boys was because she was convinced that Len would never hold the same feelings for her, that she held for him. Every time someone that had stated to Clare that the two of them would have been great together, were now beginning to echo through her mind.

Often the two of them would dismiss such claims, stating that a boy and girl can be best friends without wanting anymore. They were both lying and all because they were scared of the repercussions of actually admitting their true feelings to each other.

As their large group of friends started to decrease by number, they grew closer together and their bond continued to grow stronger by the day. In fact, they no longer loved each other; they were actually in love with each other. Each day they spent separated, they spent texting the other and missing each other more than they would let on.

Then one night after a party, Len drove Clare home in silence. He tentatively drove behind a lorry which was spraying gallons of water up onto the windscreen in the absolute dark. It was like a scene from an American Hurricane movie. Then he pulled up outside her house, under a streetlight, and the as the windows began to steam up, they stared at each other – as if they both knew what the other was thinking.

“So, what was it you wouldn’t tell me earlier?” asked Clare eventually.

For some reason, Len then told everything he had been hiding away from Clare, to her. He began to weep whilst doing so, as he began to realise what it was he was actually doing. He became filled with fear of rejection at the possibility of losing his best friend and the one person that he had truly loved in his life.

While Clare listened with a grin of embarrassment consuming her face, Len began to toy with the possibility of having to get over her. Of having to watch her be with another man and be mum-to-be with someone that wasn’t him. He then turned to look at Clare.

Clare rested her forehead against his. All she could see was Len’s watery eyes merging in one. Len then put his hand to her blonde hair and gently twined his fingers in between the strands of her blonde hair. She then moved her hand to the back of his head, and went in for the kiss as they both closed their eyes.

Both of them held tightly onto the other, until in due course, a crisp sound signified the ending of their first kiss, and Len was left with the fruity taste of her lip balm in his mouth. It was the most honest either had been with the other for years.

NB: Any similarity of the characters and story in my own life, is purely accidental... Maybe...