friends?

It had been a few days since Sweet and I had a fight. On my way to Al's I stopped to help Mary with her groceries which had become my regular routine.

Mary could tell there was something on my mind. As we walked slowly to her house. Finally she asked me what was getting me down.

"Daisy you seem unhappy, how can that be last time I saw you, well you were so deliriously happy", she said softly, reassuringly resting her hand on my shoulder.

"It's nothing really", I tried to lie and pretend I wasn't unhappy but she didn't seem at all convinced.

"Alright you don't have to tell me but I'm always here to listen if you decide you want to", Mary's tone was gentle and understanding which made me feel like sharing my thoughts with her.

"Well.. me and Sweet had a fight a few days ago", I admitted feeling disappointed in my reality. It's one thing thinking about the fight it was another thing entirely to talk about it.

"Oh dear that sounds rough, can I ask what the fight was about?", she probed for more information and I was ready to tell her.

"Sweet was jealous, his friends came by, one of them was trying to flirt with me and he got super angry with him", I said as I sighed remembering how rude Alister had been. Mary nodded thoughtfully as I relayed the entire situation to her.

"We argued and we both said things we didn't mean", I explained not sharing the exact words because that felt private.

"We did talk about it and leave things okay but it feels like we didn't solve the problem", I kept talking as Mary listened paitently never once interrupting me.

"Now I'm worried he will keep getting jealous, and I don't know how to deal with that", I breathed out a long and defeated sigh, talking about all this felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

"I see", she said thoughtfully, "jealousy is a terrible beast, if left to grow it becomes all consuming and makes us act rashly", she explained tenderly.

"So what do I do Mary? How do I stop him getting jealous", I asked hoping she'd have a simple solution.

"Well, it's not that easy because the only thing you can do is have faith in him", she smiled lightly as she spoke.

"But what if he can't stop bring jealous?", I said defeatedly not wanting to consider that outcome.

"Daisy you're a smart girl, but I know when you love someone it's hard to know what to do", she reassured me, "you have to let him deal with his jealousy, as for that friend who started all this, he doesn't sound like a friend at all", she sighed with an air of disappointment at the situation.

"You're right Mary he's not a friend at all, thank you for listening I do feel a little better now", I smiled warmly at her as we reached her house. I took in her groceries and said goodbye and she waved me off as she always did. I set off to Al's and felt much lighter after my talk with Mary.

I walked slowly down the track on my way to Al's thinking to myself that I was nervous but still excited to see Sweet after our fight. I heard footsteps behind me and they were coming closer to me quickly.

"Hey Sunny! I thought that was you", a voice echoed behind me and it was definitely recognisable. Turning around I saw Alister standing there, arms folded and grinning. I stood in shock, frozen in place, not saying a word.

"Oh sorry did I scare you?, I just saw you and thought I'd say hi", his face had a confusing expression, a mix of a smile and uneasiness. I shook off my surprise and put my hands in my pockets to present a casual feeling.

"You didn't scare me, I was just surprised to see you", I said honestly, since I had never seen him on this route before.

"I'm glad I ran into you, I wanted to apologise for how I acted the other day, that wasn't me and I don't know why I did that", he admitted looking remorseful shifting his feet on the dirt road.

"I accept your apology but Ben is your friend and what you did really hurt him", I felt a bubbling of anger rearing up as I spoke. His face dropped and a look of shame covered him.

"I feel awful about it, Ben has been my best friend forever and putting the moves on his girl was not okay I get that", he looked down dropping his head in disappointment as he spoke. "The truth is Sunny, it was suppose to be a little joke but when I met you there was something about you and I couldn't help myself and took it too far", he looked up at me his blue eyes locked onto me.

"It wasn't funny Alister, you should apologise to Ben and don't do it again", I snapped at him, my face now twisted into annoyance. "Oh and don't call me Sunny anymore, unless you want to stay on Ben's bad side".

"Okay okay, whatever you want Daisy, I'm actually on my way to talk to Ben right now", he pouted as he said my name, seeming dissatisfied with his choices. "So since we are going the same way can we walk there together?". My eyes were wide with surprise, considering walking there with Alister was a dangerous idea.

"I don't know, Ben is already mad at you, turning up to work with me might make everything a lot worse", I explained avoiding his disappointed eyes.

"I promise no funny business and as soon as we get there I'll go talk to Ben, then we can all put this behind us", he said almost pleading with me.

"Okay fine, but don't make me regret this", I felt a pang of regret hit me as soon as I had agreeded, but I pushed it out of my mind quickly.

We started to walk together slowly neither of us breaking the uncomfortable silence until he blurted out some words.

"So Sun.. Daisy, how long have you lived here", he stumbled over his words nervously.

"Almost 3 months, my mom got a job here and I decided to tag along", I said casually as he watched me speaking intently.

"That's cool, what's your favourite food?", he quizzed less nervously this time.

"Cake, Ben makes the best cakes", I said dreamily thinking of Sweet and the warmth he made me feel. A soft smile crept onto my lips as I spoke.

"Yeah that makes sense, Ben has always had girls falling over themselves for him because of his baking", he said casually sighing to himself. "Honestly I've always been jealous of that, it's always been effortless for him".

"So he's never had a problem getting a girlfriend?", I probed felling guilty that I wanted to know more.

"Not exactly, he's had girls throwing themselves at him for years but he was never interested, that is until you came along", he flashed his blue eyes to me with intensity and my heart hiccuped in reply. "So I figured you must be something pretty special to turn Ben's head", he kept his gaze on me as I blushed slightly. He saw the redness in my cheeks and smirked to himself.

"I still don't understand why you're so jealous of him", I shook my head and avoided his eyes, I looked straight ahead, feeling a little rattled.

"it's simple Ben could have any girl he wants without trying and I've always had to work to make a girl fall for me", he explained in a joking tone to hide his seriousness.

"Maybe if you didn't play so many games you'd find it easier too", I said brazenly, surprising myself I spoke so openly without thinking. He chuckled at my brutal honesty and smiled sweetly to me.

"I guess you got me there, I see why Ben likes you so much, no one has told me how it is so honestly before", he grinned as his presence felt warmer towards me.

"Sorry I have a habit of being a little brutal with my honesty sometimes", I looked down feeling disappointed in the way I had blurted out my thoughts.

"Thank you for telling me straight it's refreshing, everyone always sugar coats everything but not you", he slowed his walking to a stop and I followed his lead.

"What's up? we are almost there", I said feeling puzzled by his odd behaviour. He turned his head away and wouldn't look directly at me.

"I don't think I can go see Ben today", he said still looking away from me.

"Why not? I thought you wanted to apologise", I folded my arms in annoyance with his flip flopping ideas.

"I do still want to apologise, but I wanted to tell Ben that I was fooling around and that I'm not interested in his girl", he dropped his head in defeat as he spoke.

"So tell him that, what's the problem?", I said getting more frustrated at his confusing behaviour.

"I can't tell him that because", he shot his eyes up to me, no longer cold and striking but warm and gentle, "because it's not true anymore, I think I like you Daisy". He reached out to take my hand and for a moment I let him take it. Coming to my senses I whipped my hand away from his and took a step back.

"I'm sorry I can't, I'm with Ben and I love him", my heart was pounding and the world was crumbling beneath my feet. He stood staring at me, wounded by my words.

"Just forget what I said, I'll make up with Ben and maybe we can be friends?", his eyes begging me for a chance of redemption and I could feel my heart thumping as I looked into them.

"Alright friends, but it's only because I want you and Ben to sort this out", I agreeded tentatively not fully understanding what I had agreed to. His face lit up into a smile as I spoke and we walked the rest of the way in silence again.