Friends (The Extended Version)
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About this ebook
James and Angelica have been best friends forever, only for him at least, they've never only really been besties. It's full-blown, gut-wrenching, heart-thumping, palm-sweating love with a capital L as far as he's concerned.
James has been in love with his best friend from the first moment he ever laid eyes on her but he has never known quite how to tell her. Now things have got even worse, because she's getting married to someone else and he still feels the same way...
Can he (should he?) tell her before it's too late or should he just forget all about telling her and forever hold his peace?
This version is told from both Angelica and James' side of the story.
The original short story, entirely from James' POV is included at the end.
Heather Mar-Gerrison
I love to write M/M romance and as a sucker for a HEA, you're guaranteed one in my books. #happyheatherafters
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Friends (The Extended Version) - Heather Mar-Gerrison
Friends...
(Extended Version)
Heather Mar-Gerrison
Heather Mar-Gerrison Copyright 2014
Revised 2021
Smashwords Edition
Beautiful front cover design by:
selfpubbookcovers.com/Tigerlily
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.
I’ve been asked many times if I would make ‘Friends" into a full-length novel, So, here it is… Friends, The Extended Version – I hope you like it…
If you’ve ever been ‘friends’ you’ll understand…
Chapter 1 – First Impressions
James
Okay, I admit it. I’m in love with my best friend. I’m only admitting this to you, of course. I couldn’t possibly tell her...
We’ve been best friends since high school. She was the first person I ever laid eyes on, on my first day at Horseley High School. I was kind of shy and had always been a little awkward around meeting new people.
So, I’d seen her long before she approached me; in fact, I’d spotted her as soon as I was shown to my form room. She was kind of fascinating to me. I’m not sure if it was the vibrant shade of her hair or if I was just attracted to her in general, but I’d picked her out of the whole crowd in seconds – and her hair was pretty vibrant – a mass of bright red curls. She was wearing glasses and was concentrating hard on the white board. I’d had trouble tearing my eyes away as the teacher showed me to the only available seat left in the room. Lucky for me it was near the back and gave me a perfect diagonal view across the room to my mystery red-head. Things were looking up…
It took me a while to navigate around the school, but eventually, day by day, it got slowly easier. I didn’t need to use the handy guide quite so often a week later and after another two weeks I pretty much knew my way around.
Those first couple of weeks proved to me that I was every bit as invisible as I’d been at my last school and I was bracing myself to suffer the next couple of years before I could move on to college in complete obscurity – friendless and quite likely to lose the power of speech for lack of communication when it happened…
I was leaning against the wall, enjoying the warmth of the sun, whilst waiting for break-time to end when she seemed to just appear in front of me like a vision. She was leaning against the wall opposite – alone – and I was a little startled that I hadn’t noticed her before. I was usually hyper-aware of her every movement around the place.
She was watching me, I realised with a little thrill. To my delight she pushed off from the wall she was leaning against and for want of a better way to describe the way she walked, she sashayed across the playground until she was right in front of me, sending my beating heart into complete over-drive.
Hello,
she said, smiling at me, showing braces on all of her teeth, I haven’t seen you around before. What’s your name?
I stared at her, momentarily dumbstruck at her forthright manner. No one had ever come over to check me out before. Not least, I guess, because of the way I looked. I was kind of geeky back then, with my terrible glasses and curly black hair that just sat on top of my head like some kind of bird’s nest. It just never occurred to me to do anything with it. Still, at least I no longer had the brief case…
I stammered a response – or at least I think I did. Maybe it was all in my head. Um, James,
I managed. I was so nervous it didn’t even occur to me to ask her name… and that wasn’t the worst of it, either. I totally couldn’t take my eyes off her mouth. I’d never seen braces on both top and bottom teeth before and I was kind of fascinated with the fact that she had bright purple bands holding the wires to the little clips on each of her teeth. Honestly, they kind of suited her…
Finally wrenching my eyes away from the teeth and towards the rest of her face, I remember thinking she was really rather pretty in a quirky sort of way. Like I’ve already mentioned she had (still has, mind you) shocking red hair. It was positively glowing in the sunshine too, like a halo of mist around her head. It was the sort of red hair that is always too curly and fly-away. (Not that I had any room to talk with my mop-top!) Her face was covered in freckles that kind of joined up over her cheek-bones and nose and the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. Her eyelashes were long – but so pale they were hard to see. These were teamed up with a pert little nose and rosebud lips – too pink to be natural. (Again, maddeningly, they still are!) All set in a slightly rounded face. I thought she was a goddess sent from above to rescue me.
As it turned out she wasn’t actually a goddess but she was pretty damned cool and she had a great circle of good friends that welcomed me into their fold without prejudice and they all became really good mates of mine too. They were Carry-Ann, Joshua and Kyle. It was the first time in my life that I’d had really good friends – friends I could count on – and I was happier than I’d ever been.
Amazingly we all stayed in touch over the years, all through school, college and university and not just a card at Christmas, either. I guess it made it easier that we all went to the same college – and then three out of the four of us went to the same uni…
Angelica
James. Even his name makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end with excitement – and it’s always been the same for me too. I love him. There. I’ve never admitted that to anyone else – it would be stupid to, really. We’re just mates and that’s all it’s ever been.
I remember with clarity the first time we ever set eyes on each other. He’d just started at our