I first met Laura when I was 13 years old. She was new to the city, and lived just a few houses down from me. My parents, being the welcoming people they were, dragged me along to meet our new neighbors. A woman with long brown hair answered the door, and my parents introduced themselves. I was barely paying attention as the adults talked, upset that I had to stop playing my video games for this.
"And this is our son, Sean." Luckily I heard just enough to smile at the woman and wave. "He'll be going into the 8th grade in the fall, at the junior high school just down the road."
"Well nice to meet you Sean," the woman said. "My daughter, Laura, will actually be attending the same school. Maybe you'll have some classes together. Laura, come here sweetheart."
I watched as a girl with long blonde hair, tan skin, and deep blue eyes appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a pink spaghetti strap shirt and jean shorts. I gave a quick hello, which was returned by the sweetest smile I ever saw. Sure I was only 13, but in that moment I knew Laura would be a very special girl in my life.
For the next two months, Laura and I saw each other almost every day. We enjoyed the same hobbies, like playing video games or playing basketball, which was new for me since I'd never been close friends with a girl before. I felt as though I had known her for years.
The night before the first day of school, I had eaten dinner at Laura's house. We were sitting in the living room watching a movie, when I noticed that Laura had become unusually quiet.
"Everything alright?" I asked as I put down my bowl of popcorn and pressed paused. After a short pause, Laura finally looked at me and sighed.
"It's just that, I'll be the new girl at school tomorrow. I don't know anyone. What if I don't make any friends? Or people think I'm not cool? Ugh." Laura looked away as she finished talking.
I'd never seen her so shy and unsure of herself before. Laura was usually so fun and outgoing. So I knew that she was really nervous about tomorrow.
"You'll know me!" I said with a smile as Laura rolled her eyes. "Don't worry so much. Just be yourself, and I'm sure you'll fit right in. Trust me."
Laura smiled slightly. "Trust you, huh? And why should I do that?"
I looked at her, pretending to be offended. "Well excuse me. I thought we had a good friendship going on, but I guess not!"
Laura began to laugh as she grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it at me. "Oh shut up! You know I was just playing". I laughed as I threw some popcorn back.
"But no, seriously. You're a pretty cool person. You're easy to talk to, fun, and pretty. You'll have no problem making friends."
"Aww Sean, you think I'm pretty?" She was messing with me now, as she usually did whenever I gave her a compliment. But I knew deep down that she enjoyed it when I made comments about her looks.
"Whatever," I said as I pressed play on the remote.
Laura only smiled and turned back towards the tv. "Thanks for cheering me up, Sean."
We continued to watch the movie, and Laura returned to her usual outgoing self. It felt good knowing that I was able to make her feel better. We had become very close over the summer. Ir was safe to say that she had become my best friend.
********Senior year********
Laura and I remained friends throughout high school, although there was no more playing video games. During our sophomore year, Laura decided to join the cheerleading squad and turned into a girly-girl right in front of my eyes. By senior year, she had become cheer captain and one of the most popular girls in school. I wasn't a jock or anything like that, but I did make a good name for myself being involved in multiple clubs and activities throughout the years. It didn't hurt that Laura was always around me either.
It had actually become quite distracting seeing Laura in her cheerleading uniform during various school functions. We were 18 now. While I had grown taller and gained more muscle from playing sports, Laura had become more developed in other areas. And my friends made sure I knew it...
"Damn Sean, I don't know how you do it," said Tucker during one of the schools pep rallies.
"What do you mean?" I already knew where this conversation was going, seeing as how we've had it a hundred times before.