amandah's POV.
''c'mon, mandy, hurry up!'',
i heard derrick shouting up at me, from the front of my house, throwing small stones at my bedroom window. i avoided having girls as friends for as long as i could remember, and the guys always liked that. i was one of them. i was one of the boys. it was the six of us; me, derrick, ben, ryann, reece... and devon. we had all been best friends since the third grade, but just the thought of his name sent my heart racing. i opened my window and put my index finger to my lips, signaling 'shut the hell up'. derrick chuckled softly, his bass guitar dangling off of his back in its case. i quickly grabbed my guitar, my ipod, and my cell phone. i ran to my door and locked it, then quietly climbed out of my window onto the porch overhang and down the tree, something that i had done countless times before. i jumped into derrick's arms, nearly knocking him over. but luckily, he was strong, for a fifteen year old. ''you couldn't be quieter, could you?'', i said to him. derrick, knowing that my parents weren't the lightest sleepers, just laughed as he put me down. ''well i'm just lucky, now, aren't i?''.
we quickly ran down the street to ben and ryann's house. they were already sitting in their treehouse waiting for us, ryann with his small drumset and ben with his keyboard, and climbed down to meet us at the sidewalk. ''it's not even midnight yet. we have plenty of time'', said ryann, referring to the fact that we were sneaking out to play a 12 am gig at a small, 350 capacity club in downtown charlotte.
two more houses left. we all lived on the same, two-mile-long street, every house a few blocks down from another. i jumped on ben's back and we continued onto reece's house. reece took a while. derrick had to call his cell phone just to remind him that it was tonight. he rushed himself out his front door with his ''lucky'' taped-up microphone hanging halfway out of his pants pocket.
finally, one last house. devon was a deep sleeper. ''mandy, you go up there and get him'', ben poked at me. i put my stuff on the gound next to the boys and climbed up the concrete awning and into devon's unlocked window. i saw him fast asleep in his bed. it was something about this boy, something about the way he smiled at me and gave me our dumb little high-five, something about the way he headbanged to the most hardcore, thrashing metal or even the most girly, bubblegum-pop-punk music, his long, shaggy, dirty blonde hair flailing wildly, that drove me crazy about him. i tried to climb carefully into his bedroom, but instead i fell onto his bed right next to him. he rolled over, laying his head on the pillow next to mine, and put his arm across my chest, bringing me closer to him. he was probably half asleep now, considering the fact that i bounced his bed. my heart pounded faster than it ever had when i was around him. i could only hear three things; the sound of my heart nearly beating out of my body, the sound of his heart beating closely to mine, and his breath in my ear.
derrick's POV.
''what the hell is taking her so long?'', i said to the rest of the guys. they just shrugged and continued on with their little conversation. what could she possibly be doing, i thought to myself. ew. that sick thought appeared. she can't be doing that. not with devv. we have all been the closest friends since the third grade. but i met mandy first. not devon. i know that she likes him. it's that way that she looks at him when he's talking or smiling or laughing. it's the way that she smiles when one of us mentions his name. it makes me sick. it makes me think that i can't trust devon anymore, that he might ruin all of our friendships with mandy. not that i like her, but i don't want to risk losing our best friend. it's been this way since the seventh grade. since we all turned thirteen. we all started changing. i think that's when mandy discovered that she was actually a girl surrounded by best friends who are guys. it just seems so wrong.
devon's POV.
she's finally here. finally in my arms. finally with me, all alone. i know that they are all waiting for us to get out so we can go. but i don't want her to go. not now. i might never get this chance to hold her this close ever again. i don't want to lose her now. she's the only one that has ever understood me as who i really am. and here she is, as close as we probably ever will be, and she's all mine. i know that we're best friends, but it's something about this girl that makes me want to be more than best friends. i just want her to be mine.
amandah's POV.
three minutes passed quickly. he pulled me closer. i could feel his warmth, our bodies so close that it felt as if we were one. i inhaled his scent; the aroma of air fresheners clinging to his skin, to his sheets, in his bed, a place i never imagined i would be. but then i remembered the others outside. i had to wake him up, but i didn't want this moment to go. ''devv. devon, wake up,'' i whispered in his ear.
''five more minutes, love,'' he whispered back.
i knew he was awake now. he always called me that, trying to sweet-talk me, and i smiled. ''please, devv. we have to go now,'' i said, growing even more nervous. he pulled me even closer than before. he looked at me, the moonlight glistening in the blue-grey of his eyes. ''just wait,'' he said. and then it happened. our faces came closer. our noses brushed. our lips crashed into each others. i closed my eyes. my heart slowed. my thoughts came to a complete stop. my body went numb. all i could feel was devon holding me, his lips softly pressing against mine. i ran my fingers through his hair. there was no going back now. i finally had him as i always dreamed of, all for myself, nobody else around, in the safety of his arms. i didn't have a care in the world.
i finally came back to reality. i let him go, and he let me go. ''amandah, i love you. i love you more than anything in the world,'' devon said to me, trying to find my green eyes in the darkness. a small teardrop formed in my right eye. ''i love you, devon. i have always loved you so much and i never want to let you go,'' i buried my face in his chest as if i were about to cry, and he hugged me tightly. ''but please,'' i lifted my head, ''we have to go. i know the guys are suspecting something.'' he finally got up. i sat up in his bed, knocking over empty cans of red bull, and watched him search for his guitar, buried under piles of clothes, stumbling around in the dark but quietly enough as to not wake his parents. ''okay. let's go,'' he said as he climbed onto his bed to get out of the window. i grabbed his hand before he was in the others' sight and kissed him one last time. he smiled. i smiled. he climbed out of the window onto the awning and helped me out. he carefully jumped down to the ground and waited for me. i jumped down into his arms. devon was not as strong as derrick, so i knocked him onto his back. he looked up at me and we both laughed.
everything changed for me now. i wouldn't have to worry about getting nervous whenever i'm around devon. he knows how i feel, and i know how he feels. it may be too soon to tell, but i think we're in love.
