What Are Friends?

"I can't believe your Dad let us do this" Mike laughed skipping ahead of us. We were currently walking to Vic's car to go 'camping' since the guys were already at my house and we didn't have school the next day. I had to beg dad to let me go after tonight's incident.

My head is still spinning and my heart still racing from the kiss Tony and I shared. I've never felt this way towards him before and have only ever thought of him as a friend but the way he was tonight, so protective and loving made me click and I just had to kiss him. It felt right.

"Me either actually" I laughed once we reached the car. They told me it was a surprise and I couldn't know until I got there.

Butterflies whirled around my tummy when I caught Tony staring at me, he just smiled, bit his lip then looked at the ground causing me to blush. I don't know what was happening to me but I felt so happy and I couldn't help but smile like an idiot. Today I went from one extreme to another- being so sad and upset that I had no idea where I was going to being so happy I can't wipe this god damn smile off my face.

"Close your eyes!" Jaime said as Vic drove off. Tony was sitting next to me and put his hands over my eyes so I couldn't see where we were going. After about 5 minutes of bumpy driving the car came to a stop and Vic reminded me to keep my eyes shut. Tony kept his hands over my eyes and lead me out of the car.

"Open your eyes" He whispered in my ear sending a shiver down my spine as he dropped his hands from my eyes.

"Oh my- I love you guys!" I smiled pulling them in for a group hug before running off. All my childhood memories of this place running through my mind as I climbed up the wooden ladder of the tree house we built when we were 7. There were mattresses on the floor with blankets on them. In the corner on the small table there were a bunch of snacks and hanging from the roof were lanterns lighting up the whole room.

"This is amazing you guy" I smiled with tears in my eyes. These guys mean the world to me. "I can't believe you did this" I giggled falling onto the soft mattress.

"We noticed the whole notebook thing was getting you down and we wanted you to be happy because you deserve to be happy" Tony smiled.

"Thanks guys, ugh I love you so much" They all laughed and fell to the ground next to me.

We opened the snacks and got under the blankets. I was in the middle of Tony and Mike and we were all talking quietly about how much we hate 'You know who' we decided that we hated them so much that it's illegal to say their names so Mike of course said we should call them You know who. After a while conversation about them died down and we ended up talking about relationships.

"We should play this game where we talk about the person we like without saying their name" Jaime said.

"Okay dude but you go first" Mike laughed

"Thats cool. Umm well she's sweet and funny and like our personality's match and she just understands me ya know? She has the same sense of humor as me and she's just perfect" Jaime smiled. "Anyway your turn Mike"

"Well I don't really like anyone but the person I would fuck is super hot, big tits, nice ass and damn her legs..woah" I could hear the smirk in his voice

"Typical" Vic muttered. "The girl I like is really shy, she's so sweet and nice but she lets people push her down and that breaks my heart, I don't think she likes me because she doesn't even know me. I'm too nervous to talk to her, like I've said Hi a few times but I've never had a conversation with her" He sighed. "Anyway Tone, your turn"

I looked away from the ceiling and turned to face Tony but he was already facing me.

"The girl I like is beautiful, she's funny, crazy, nice, she's perfect. I've liked her forever but never said anything because I didn't want to ruin our friendship. She's the perfect women, the sorta girl you'd want to wake up next to every morning" He smiled brushing a loose strand of hair from my face.

It was silent until Mike nudged me letting me know it was my turn. "Oh uh well I never realized just how much I liked this guy until not that long ago actually. I kinda just saw him as a friend but he was so caring and protective of me I found it wildly attractive and my view on him changed just like that" I said clicking my fingers "But he's amazing, he's sweet and funny and has the sexiest smile and cutest laugh. He's smart and sensitive but not to sensitive and he's just perfect." I laughed.

"You got it bad" Jaime said while Tony and I lay there staring into each others eyes.

"I guess I have" I smiled turning away.

Over the course of the evening I somehow ended up with Tonys arms wrapped protectively around my waist and it's not like this is unusual I mean now that I think of it we're always hugging and been close with each other it just felt different you know? More intimate.

"I miss when we were younger" Mike suddenly said just as we were all drifting off to sleep.

"Me too" Jaime agreed. Mike sat up and we all followed suit.

"We were so innocent back then, I had no idea what drugs or alcohol were" Mike sighed.

"I didn't want tattoos" Jaime added.

"My parents were still together" I gave a sad smile.

"My dad was still alive" I could feel Tony tense beside me so I put my hand on his lap to let him know it was okay.

"We were happier, our biggest problems were deciding what ice cream flavor we wanted" Vic added with a slight laugh.

"We were happier weren't we?" Mike asked.

"We were" I said lying back down.

We were all staring at the ceiling when Vic asked "Does that mean we're not happy now?"

"No it means that we're not as happy" Jaime exaggerated the 'as' a lot.

"What if we're never as happy as we were then?" Mike asked, his voice breaking. God this Mike kills me. When his big tough guy act falls away and you see the real him, you don't know weather to cry, smile, laugh, scream. It's beautiful yet heart breaking.

"We will be happier than that one day I promise" I said with certainty in my voice.

"Thats a hard promise to keep" Mike sighed.

"Dude have I ever broken a promise?" It was silent. "Exactly"

"I love you guys" Jaime said randomly.

"Awwwww Hime-time!" We all said in awe at how cute that was.

"Get some sleep guys we have a big day exploring the forest tomorrow" Vic laughed.

We all said goodnight to each other even though its about 2 in the morning. I snuggled closer to Tony and he put his arms around my waist while my head rested on his chest.

"Night Tone" I whispered.

"Night Am" He kissed me on the forehead and pulled me closer.

******

"Wake up" Vic hit me on the head with a pillow.

"Ouch! You idiot" I said throwing Tonys pillow at him then pulling the covers back over my head.

"Dude it's like 10am get up" He ripped the covers off me.

"First of all I don't know weather or not you noticed this but i'm not a dude. I have tits"

"Trust me, we've noticed" Mike smirked.

I glared at him and brushed his comment away "And second, it's raining out there what the hell are we gonna do?"

"This" Tony laughed grabbing my hand and pulling me up off the mattress before throwing me over his shoulder and running for the door.

"Put me down" I screamed pounding my fists against his back. All I got in return was a laugh. He carefully made his was down the wooden rope ladder making sure not to hurt me and once we got to the bottom he put me down and grabbed my hand taking off. He practically dragged me along, both of us laughing and splashing around in the puddles that formed in the early hours of the morning.

"Rawr!" Jaime screamed jumping out from behind a tree.

"Dude holy shit" Tony laughed catching his breath.

"Wanna play hide n seek?" Jaime suggested wriggling his eyebrows. Tony and I looked at each other with a grin. "Tonys it count to 20" Jaime screamed running away. I smiled at Tony and ran in the opposite direction.

I ran into Vic and Mike and told them we were playing hide n seek and they hid as well.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Tony yelled.

I quickly ducked behind a tree and stood completely still holding my breath. I heard leaves crunch under Tonys feet. His breath was quivering and I swear I could feel the warmth of it on my neck. His arms tangled around my waist as he swung me around and kissed me holding back my squeal.

"Found you" He smiled.

"I hate you"

"No you don't" He winked and pulled on my hand.

"But I should" I smirked following him.

"Shh" He placed his finger over my lips and pulled me over to him. "You need to help me find them"

I pointed to a tree and he shrugged giving me a confused look. I rolled my eyes and pointed to the ground right next to the tree where you could see someones shoes. He smirked and signaled me to go around the other side of the tree so we could gang up on them.

"Boo!" We both yelled but soon realized no one was there. "Huh?" I asked Tony confused.

"BOO!" I pair of hands grabbed my shoulders causing me to scream and Tony to jump when another set of hands grabbed him.

"Dude you scared the crap out of me" Tony playfully punched Mike in the arm.

"Dick" I muttered at Vic.

"Wait, you guys have your shoes on..so who's shoes are they" Tony asked looking at the shoes on the ground.

"Mine" Jaime landed in front of us smiling. We all looked up to see where he'd come from.

"Hey no fair!" Mike moaned

"How come I didn't think of that" Vic pouted.

"Cause you're not as brilliant as me" Jaime smirked before sitting on the leaf covered forest floor.

"Um Jaime, what are you doing?" I asked slightly confused.

"I don't wanna play anymore" He yawned stretching out on the ground.

I knelled down and touch the floor to see if it was wet from the rain, surprisingly it was only damp. The tree tops must stop a lot of water from falling onto the ground and since it was reasonably dry I decided to copy Jaime and lie on the ground. Not long after the other 3 did the same.

We lay there talking about how much we hate school and can't wait to leave. And then the shocking reality came, we need to go home to our boring lives and lame school.

Notes