Page 5 of Face-Off with my Childhood Best Friend

A laugh rumbles in my stomach. “So you want to replace the football players with hockey players and in return I get to take you for dinner and drinks.”

“I thought it was one or the other?” She laughs.

It’s so pure and sweet, echoes through the phone, stirring a longing in my heart, and unfortunately my cock. I readjust myself as I say, “Ten hockey players. Admit it, that is a really big favor.”

“Okay. If you can get the hockey players. Dinner and drinks it is. I’ll even pay.”

“No need. I’m looking forward to catching up with you.” I smile as I stare ahead. “Don’t worry about the hockey players. I’ll make it happen,” I confidently assure her. “Consider it a done deal.”

The line remains quiet for a moment before she eventually breaks the silence. “You always had a way of making things happen. I guess some things never change.”

After hockey training, I decide to check her Instagram account and find myself captivated by the beauty of her face. Most models, I expect, have cheekbones that jut out like hangers, giving them a striking appearance. What sets her apart from most other models is the captivating sparkle in her pale green eyes, which beautifully contrast with her dark brown hair. It’s hard to believe now, but she never thought of herself as stunning before.

It took some convincing for her to believe that she was anything other than plain. Nadia was never plain. Only a lack of confidence held her back. Witnessing her transformation into the unstoppable force she became. She went from unsure and lacking confidence, but with my help, found it in her to get her portfolio done.

For five years, I wished I never played a part in it.

“You stalking her again?” Connor asks, sneaking up on me as I sit on the bench in the locker room.

“She’s my former best friend,” I reply. “I don’t stalk her. I like to know what she’s doing.”

“Mm.” Connor strolls away.

As I scroll through her carefully curated feed, I feel a pang of guilt wash over me. The memories of those days when Nadia doubted her own beauty flood back, only to knock her down with my insecurity.

Connor turns back and says, “That’s it? No history other than friends and being her stalker.” He takes my cell, scrolling through her many pictures. “She is gorgeous.”

I nod. “She is, and she was my girlfriend once, but I—” Ruined it. I can’t say it.

Nadia had always been delicate, trapped in the shadows of self-doubt. She’d shy away from compliments, dismissing them with an awkward glance at the floor rather than holding your gaze and taking it with a smile.

It bothered me to see her so oblivious to her allure, so it became my mission to help her see what everyone else saw. I became her confidant, her cheerleader, and, inadvertently, the architect of her newfound confidence.

“Does she know you’re stalking her?” he asks.

I laugh. “No.” Okay, maybe I am stalking her. “I’ve followed her for five years, while she’s traveled around the world.”

“Since you left college?”

“Yep.”

“Is she the one that got away?” he asks, dragging his sweater over his head.

Somewhere along the way, my intentions and our friendship became blurred. The line between encouragement of her future and manipulation because I wanted her for myself became blurred.

I sigh. “In the beginning, we were best friends. But my feelings for her changed in high school, but she was painfully shy.”

“Looking like that?”

“Yeah! Looking like that. And I was helping her to see her own worth. I wanted to show Nadia the beauty she was. She always compared herself to the cheerleaders.”

“Really? I doubt any of the cheerleaders are fashion models.”

“But she could never understand that... until she did.”

I never expected to lose her to her newfound confidence and I still hate the day I turned my nose up at her wish to become a model.

“I pushed her away.” My voice cracks and I clear my throat to cover it up.

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