My Sunshine, My Gloom Chapter 2

When I got home, a text from him was waiting.

Greg: Chlo, I don't want to lie to you or lead you on.

Greg: We’re great as friends. I just can’t see us as anything more.

Greg and I grew up together. He was the cheerful type, always smiling, revealing two small canine teeth when he did. In elementary school, we were the two chubby kids. During jump rope, we were always the ones stuck holding the ends for everyone else. Two outcasts from different classes, we found each other. We did homework together, shared snacks.

But in middle school, he started to change. He joined the swim team and quickly shed all his baby fat. By the time we got to high school, the gap between us was a chasm. I was the slightly overweight girl with black-framed glasses who loved video games. Greg was the helpful class president, the handsome, tall campus heartthrob, the straight-A student.

His circle of friends exploded. The moment class was out, a crowd would form around him. Guys wanted him for basketball, calling him an all-star. Girls, like me, either had secret crushes on him or shipped him with someone else. Any task a teacher gave him, he’d rally a group of classmates and get it done in no time. Everyone trusted him.

I never saw him lose his temper. He was like the sun in everyone’s sky.

I thought we would drift apart, but he still treated me as his friend. Every day after school, he’d call out for me to walk home with him. He’d sling my heavy backpack over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, then turn to me.

“Mocha fudge or a chocolate crunch?”

“Mocha fudge.”

We’d walk side-by-side, each with an ice cream bar. After we finished, we’d talk about our day, the setting sun chasing our shadows. I’d sneak glances at his handsome profile. He was like a sudden gust of wind, sending ripples across the calm lake of my heart.

Everyone in our class knew we were childhood friends. But no one ever teased us about it. It was like one of those teen movies: the handsome hero, the bubbly popular girl, and the nerdy, funny sidekick.

I managed to be two of those things—the nerdy, slightly chubby, funny sidekick.

Sigh.

Whatever. Time to boot up Baldur’s Gate.