My Best Friend ...And More

AUDREY

I barely stepped into the gigantic gate of UCLA when soft feminine hands covered my face. I smiled to myself. It could only be one person—Lislie. She loved taking me by surprise, but she had never succeeded because I had mastered her fingers and even her scent of cherry and lavender.

"Lis... What's up?" I asked.

"You know I will always know it's you."

She grunted, uncovered my face, and sidestepped me to stand in front of me, giving me a quick over-glance.

"Damn! I really missed you," she said and hugged me firmly.

"And you have grown taller." She used her hand to show how tall I had gotten. Well, I had always been taller than Lis. But, this time, it was damn noticeable.

I smiled and pinched her cheeks playfully.

"I missed you too. I hope you had fun during the summer vacation?" I asked as we walked inside the great citadel, which would be my school from now on—our school rather.

"Yep, I went to a summer camp. Liam was there..."

Liam went summer camping? Wow! I thought he said he would be spending the summer vacation with his father's brother in Beverly Hills. That explained why I had to follow my dad for a summer conference/vacation in Malibu. I figured, since my best friend wouldn't be in Los Angeles, there was no need to stay here. Somebody's definitely going to hear from me. To think he hid his location from me for the rest of the summer?

Lislie's giggles snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked forward to see what she was giggling about, and my gaze fell on Liam. Gosh! Did he go for a physique reconstruction or something?

Liam wasn't this muscular, and he didn't have biceps before the summer. Yeah, we kind of stopped seeing less of each other during the last months of our senior year because of the art workshop I attended—as a boost to my college application.

Forgive my manners; my name is Audrey O'Connor, and I am a freshman at UCLA—we all are—me, Lislie, Liam, and two other of my female friends that you will get to meet soon.

Liam had been my best friend since middle school, and we had remained buddies from then until now. Our families became closer as a result of our friendship, and people usually referred to us as siblings. My dad and his dad worked in the same company, but it was our friendship that brought them closer. Same with our mum before mine died. We usually took turns having dinner at each other's houses or going out for treats.

They let us sleep over at each other's houses, go to school together, shopping, church; we did virtually everything together. And all those years, his physical features were the least things that crossed my mind.

I mean, I had no time to be checking out my best friend. That's the job of those other girls who fall at his feet. Moreover,