Crushing on A Friend

It had started like a normal Saturday at PCA. The students were all out doing whatever they pleased. Most of them had gone to the beach since it was so hot.

Two students however did not go to the beach. One of these students was Zoey Brooks, who found herself too depressed to go the beach. The other was Chase Matthews who was sticking around to see what Zoey was up too.

Zoey was watching some really boring nature show in the girls lounge when Chase entered. She really wasn't paying much attention to the tv at all though. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Hey, Zoe," Chase greeted, "What's up?"

Zoey shrugged. "Not much."

"So uh, why aren't you at the beach like everyone else?"

"Just don't feel like it."

Chase sat down on the couch beside Zoey. "So..." Chase asked, "Anything good on?"

Zoey shrugged again. "Nope."

Chase found it rather awkward that Zoey wasn't saying much. Something must have been bugging her.

"Chase," Zoey asked, "You ever had a crush on one of your friends, but didn't want to do anything about it in case it ruined your friendship?"

"Yeah..."

"How'd you get over it?"

Chase shrugged. "I didn't," he admitted.

"It's really difficult huh, always wanting to move your relationship forward, but never being able to do anything about it?"

"Yeah."

"I mean, I don't want to say anything to him, well I do, but I... I just can't risk our friendship."

Chase sighed. "Life's complicated Zoe. So many times you want something you just can't have."

Zoey nodded. "I mean it's not like a lot would change if we started going out. We're pretty close right now. I know I can tell him anything."

Chase nodded. "But you want to be able to spend time alone with her when nobody else is around and not have to give a reason for it 'cause you're her boyfriend—you can do that."

"Exactly. It just seems like every time I'm alone with him somebody else comes around and messes it up, but they wouldn't do that if we were going out."

Chase nodded. "But you can't ask her out because if she turns you down you won't be able to live with yourself after making such a stupid mistake."

"And then he probably wouldn't talk to you anymore," Zoey continued, "Because you'd ruined your friendship and you just can't live without him."

"And there are days when you wonder," Chase spoke again, "If it's just a crush or if it's more than that. You wonder if you actually love her."

"But this whole time you're stuck here knowing that you can never do anything about it."

Chase sighed. "Because you're always worried that she just thinks of you as a friend and you can't risk ruining your friendship."

"And you already know he'd make the perfect boyfriend because he's already always been there for you whenever something went wrong."

Chase sighed again. "And when she's depressed about something you just want to hold her in your arms and tell her it'll be okay, but you can't because you're just her friend—not her boyfriend."

Zoey nodded.

"And occasionally you think she's letting out a sign," Chase continued, "You begin to wonder if maybe she feels the same way about you."

"But then he does something to convince you that it wasn't a sign, that he still thinks of you as just a friend."

"And it doesn't matter what you do or how hard you try...," Chase groaned, "You're always just a friend."

Zoey sighed. "Sometimes I swear I should just tell him."

Chase nodded. "But others times you're convinced that you shouldn't."

Zoey sighed again. "Chase?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"When did life get so complicated?"

"When I started crushing on you."

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A/N:

This story randomly popped into my head the other day.

Let me know what you thought of it. If enough people liked it I'll add another chapter. So review if you wanta see more.