Just friends: Part 1

"How much longer are you going to be Harry? My ass is getting numb!" I called over the finch. I was sitting on the grass just outside the paddock, watching as my best friend Harry rode his horse round and round, taking the beautiful, grey mare over many high jumps. "I'll be done soon!" he yelled back, but showed no signs of slowing down. I had been sitting here for a few hours now and even though it was fun to come down and watch from time to time I hadn't expected to be here so long. "I'm serious! I'm starving, plus it's getting dark!" I groaned as my stomach rumbled. It was nearing spring time in England and therefore the sun went down later and it was still nice and warm. If anything, it was the perfect time to ride a horse, if that was what you loved to do. The sun going down, the breeze cooling you off and the fact that the place was empty and you would have the whole riding ground to yourself. I guess that was why Harry came down here at this time so much, and while it wasn't ideal it was a beautiful scene.

I was so deep in thought that I hadn't realized Harry dismounting his horse and leading it out of the paddock. He began leading the large, muscular horse towards the stables. I scrambled to my feet and went after him. "Ice is getting better isn't she?" he said proudly as I came up behind him.

"Yeah, you guys both looked great" I replied, leaning against the wall, watching Harry get Ice ready for bed. He turned and looked at me for a while, just smiling at me, then went back to what he was doing. After what seemed like a good twenty minutes he finally announced he was finished, and with one final bolt of the stable door we began making our way back to my car. Before getting in the passenger seat Harry took off his riding hat and shook his head, throwing his short, black, messy hair back into it's usual manic spikes. He then got into the car and shut the door. "It's been a long day" I sighed, as I started the car and began driving down the country round. Harry made a small noise of disappointment, closed his blue eyes and leaned back in his seat, relaxing. I turned on the radio but only very quietly so that we could still talk properly. "If I enter a show jumping competition in the summer holidays will you come and watch?" he asked, opening his eyes and looking at me again. I glanced at him quickly.

"You know I will" I replied, chuckling.
"True, you've never missed any of my things..."
"Yep, every horse contest, every gymnastic competetion, every dance show, I wouldn't miss them for anything. Your my bestfriend and if something's important to you then it's important to me too."
"I feel bad though, i've never been to see any of your matches!" he sighed, I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and could see that he felt disappointed in himself.

"How can you? Most of my matches are after school and that gets in way of your riding or rehearsals. Plus your not going to find standing next to a muddy field in the cold watching a football or rugby game very interesting are you?" I laughed.
"All of my things can't be very interesting to you either."
"They are, as I said to you before, anything that's important to you is important to me too!"

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that most of my events are vacated with tons of fit girls that take great care of themselves?" he shot back, nudging me playfully in the arm.
"Well, there's that too!" I said, and we both burst out laughing. A few minutes went by and I noticed Harry was being extremely quiet. When I glanced over at him I wasn't surprised to see him hunched over his mobile phone texting angrily. When would this be over?

"Who you texting?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"Joe" he replied bluntly. And I knew not to say anything more. However I sighed heavily and I knew that would let him know exactly how I felt about that man. Joe was Harry's boyfriend. Yes, boyfriend. My bestfriend was gay. I had no problem with that, I hadn't since he told me about his true sexuality three years ago. I did however have a huge problem with Joe. He was four years older than the both of us, making him twenty-two. Yet he had the maturity of a fifteen year old. I disliked everything about him. Despite his obvious good looks, he walked around like he was the best thing on planet earth. His attitude stunk, he seemed to have no respect for others.

Also he was not the smartest of people yet acted as if he knew best about anything and everything. But most of all, it was the way he treated my bestfriend that made my blood boil. They were always arguing, never face to face or even over the phone though! Just by text message which showed what a coward he really was. After each argument Harry would go into this weird state sadness and wouldn't give me a straight answer about anything. It drove me mad because five hours later they would be absolutely fine. He didn't appreciate Harry at all! Harry commited himself to so many things (things Joe never even bothered to come and see) but could also be the worlds best boyfriend and an amazing friend not only to me but to many others as well. But no matter what Harry did it was never good enough in Joe's eyes, he looked down on Harry like he was something so special when even though still young, anyone could already tell that Joe was a failure.

Joe, even though having only met me about twice in his entire life seemed to hold this huge grudge against me. I'd never talked bad about him, I always kept my thoughts about him to myself, and it wasn't as if I was doing anything but being an amazing friend to his boyfriend. He was EXTREMELY jealous of mine and Harry's friendship and he had every right to be. He would never be as close and as much value to Harry as I was. And why should he be? I was the one who looked out for him, came to watch and support all of the activities Harry loved to participate in. Why couldn't he skip the pub one saturday night and watch one of his boyfriend's dance performances? And even though I had no problem doing it, why couldn't he wake up early on the weekend or take time out in the evening to drive Harry to stables? I always thought that Harry would end up with someone smart, with goals and dreams just like he did. But no, he ended up with some guy who was out of education, had no qualifications, no job, still lived with his mum and seemed to show no signs of changing that for a very long time to come. What annoyed me most was that Harry didn't seem to show any signs of ditching this complete loser either!

We pulled up outside Harry's house. The minute the car stopped Harry opened the door without saying a word and began to get out. I grabbed on to his arm and yanked him back inside. "That hurt" he grumbled quietly, looking at the floor.
"Yeah, and do you know what hurts even more? When you've driven your bestfriend's ass around all day and he gets out the car without saying goodbye, let alone a thank you. And all because he had yet again another fight with his irritating boyfriend!" I snapped. I was slighly shocked at myself and I could tell Harry was too. Normally I would act as if I had no idea what was going on in their relationship. It was the most I'd probably ever said about it.

"I know Jay, i'm sorry..." he whimpered, looking down at his lap.
"No Harry I don't think you are. Remember six months ago when that idiot said "You know Harry, you and Jay aren't going to be good friends for very much longer, he's straight and your gay and that will make it difficult for you guys to be close anymore", do you remember that?" I asked, I was starting to feel strangely angry. I glared at Harry and he nodded slowly. "And do you remember how you became distant from me for about three weeks until I finally got it out of you? Huh? You do?! How many more times are you going to let him get in the way of our friendship? I'd understand if you had an argument and you actually opened up and got all of your feelings off your chest but you don't. Instead you won't talk to me and you become distant and rude. Is this guy really worth your bestfriend since you were ten years old?"
"No he's not. You know he's not Jay" Harry said firmly and looked up at me.

"Good" I said bluntly and we looked at eachother for a few seconds. Before almost at the very same time we cracked a bright smile.
"Look i'm sorry. You know I appreciate you and everything you do for me. I know it's difficult for you to understand but I like Joe, and it does upset me when we fight even though deep down I know we'll be ok again the next day..." he sighed.
"It's not difficult for me to understand, when your in a relationship you argue, plain and simple."
"Listen it's valentines day in two days. I've bought him a present, i'll go over there valentines morning and make up with him properly. And i'll talk to him, i'll talk to him about how stupid the constant arguements are and that we need to sort this out because relationships are supposed to be happy and all we do is make eachother mad."

"You what they say: Valentines day is the one day couples can pretend that their relationship is perfect" I chuckled, but deep down I was still slightly annoyed that Harry was even considering making the effort to reach out to Joe in two days time. Harry laughed at my pervious statement and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Even though our relationship isn't perfect. I could still use a break from all his drama, even if it only is for one day. Oh, and what are you doing this year for Valentines day?" he asked. I was single, happily single but still had my eye on a few people.
"I might ask Tara if she wants to go on a date. If not, then it's playing on my PS3 in my underwear for the day" I replied and we both laughed. Harry took hold of my hand and squeezed it "Bye Jay, i'll see you soon yeah?" he said, smiling at me. "Yeah, see ya!" I said and started the engine. Harry got out the car and I watched as he walked up the front path and knocked on the door. Once his mum had let him in and I knew he was safe and sound I drove away.

******************

Harry.

I was kind of pissed at my parents. They were going out of town for a few days but that wasn't why I was annoyed. I was annoyed because they couldn't of waited for twenty minutes while I got ready so that they could give me a lift to Joe's house before they whisked off. I suppose they were just excited about their romantic break. It was kind of a struggle. Joe's presents in one hand and the heart shaped cake i'd baked for him balancing on the other. I knew we weren't on the best of terms, but it was valentines day for goodness sake! I wanted us make up and spend it together. I was also fully aware that I wasn't to blame for the arguments, that Joe was always kicking up a fuss about nothing at all. But sometimes you've got to be the one to apologize, even if you've done nothing wrong. I didn't mind saying sorry if it meant someone as stubborn as Joe would finally calm down and things could go back to the good times.

Not that we really had 'good times'. Joe and I have been dating for eight months and I can recall things being good, fun and romantic for the first month and a half. We never argued and he always took me out for dinner every weekend. Then once our relationship got past the two month mark, it all just stopped. The respect, the romance and the communication just seemed to end. We barely ever went out in public anywhere together. Infact we barely saw eachother. It was a struggle to keep a conversation going with him even by text and when he would finally start responding to my messages properly it just ended up in an argument.

After three months him taking me out anywhere seemed to draw to a hault. I even offered to pay for a night out but it never worked. About once every two weeks I would go round Joe's house (he never came to mine) and we'd sit and watch a film. Barely talking, knowing that if we did it would just turn into a massive row. Joe would often try and get me to give him a blow-job and recently has even been pushing for sex. He complained to me, telling me that all his previous boyfriends had sex with him after about two months. It wasn't the timing and it wasn't that I wasn't mentally and physically ready. It was just I wasn't emotionally there.

I'm not going to be like the other drips who claim that they: Want their first time to be special! I've never expected a candle lit room with rose petals on the bed. What I did want however was to be comfortable and at ease. To enjoy myself. To have my lover kiss me, look into my eyes and say nice things. I wanted to be able to feel that at that moment they loved me more than they had ever loved anything in their whole life. I wasn't going to get that with Joe. In his messy room that smelt faintly of sweat. With his mum downstairs watching TV. I could bet any of you five hundred pounds that Joe wouldn't even look at me during sex. I thought however, if we made up properly and agreed never to fight again, that tonight may be the night I lost my virginity to him.

I neared Joe's house and was suprised that I didn't see his mother's car parked in the driveway. "Perfect though" I thought, smiling. At least we'd have the house to ourselves. I noticed when Joe's mum had left she hadn't closed the door properly. She was a very sweet woman but didn't seem very bright, orgranised and was also very forgetful. I opened the front door and closed it slowly behind me. I could already hear Joe's shitty rap music playing from upstairs. I lightly went up until I was right outside Joe's bedroom door, holding his gifts in my hand ready to suprised him and sort out our relationship once and for all. I pushed the door open with my leg. I was completely taken back by what I saw. Joe was under the bedcovers, lying on top of someone else. When the door opened they both looked up and I saw that the guy he was lying on top of was a guy named Matthew who had been in the year above me at school.

"Oh shit!" Joe stuttered, his face had gone red and for the first time ever I saw him panic.
"Joe?" I said, I was in a state of confusion and shock.
"Umm...You said you broke up with him weeks ago? I thought Harry wasn't your boyfriend?" Matthew said, he obviously felt very awkward about the whole situation.

"Well...I'm not anymore..." I whimpered, and my body started to shake slightly. I dropped his cake and it splattered all over his bedroom floor. The present I had bought him smashed to the ground. But I didn't care about the time or money that I had spent on trying to make our relationship work. It didn't matter anymore! "Baby wait!" Joe shouted. But I was already down the stairs and heading for the front door. I yanked it open and began running down the street, allowing the tears to fall down my face and into my own mouth. They tasted bitter and disgusting, just like how I felt right now. I just wanted to go home so that I could be by myself to cry properly. I should've listened to everyone and the things they said about him. They were right! I never wanted to believe the harsh things they said, but it was true. Every single word...