.... but I love You..... (part 12)

**Archelle**

It is already dark when I eventually wake up. Man, did I feel so sated with hours of sleeping. It is dark here, so I gather Kendra is not back yet. I was just going to stretch when I heard a sound of humming.

Kendra is here? Why the hell she did not switch on the lamp?

I walked toward our study room and notice that Kendra indeed is sitting on her desk, doing some notes with a candlelight while humming love song that she obviously is listening to it on her mp3 player right now. I tapped on her desk, and she glanced at me, pull out her earphone from her ears and raised her eyebrow.

"What?" she demanded in an annoyed tone.

"Is electricity out of power?" I asked, calmly.

She shrugged. "No."

"Then, why the hell you did not switch on the lamp?" I shake my head while going to get my towel, and oh, not forgetting my key in case the same thing happen again. "You know it's not good for our eyes to read in dark. You should know that by now, you are medical student," I stressed out the word 'medical' purposely. She cringed a bit but manage to recover.

"Well then, sometimes I need a change in study environment," she said simply. I was just going to counter her but decided against it. The last thing I wanna do is to have another stupid argument with her. It's only 1 day and already she caused me lots of headache. I just snorted in mock agreement and leave her to take a nice, long shower.

*********

The shower is so relaxing, especially when I was so exhausted that I got sore muscles everywhere. Imagine me in Kendra's place, for sure I'll fall asleep until the next morning. Hmm, Kendra look fresh, as if she did not do anything at all, but indeed she did have finish her punishment. I was amaze of how she can manage to do that in 2 hours and still looking fresh.

I was just going to my room when a sudden thought occur to me. Good Lord, I totally forgot about Brie! She must still feel devastated after her unwelcome encounterment with Kendra. I wonder what did Kendra said to her that made her so mad. And so, with just a towel wrap on my body, I go to her room and knocked gently. The door burst open and reveal Brie who obviously just waking up herself.

"Hey Brie-Brie," I greeted her with a smile.

She has weird expression on her face. "Are you trying to seduce me?" She blinked her eyes several times.

"Huh?" I confused. Then she burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding, girl. You appear in my door with nothing but a towel on your body, it is kinda look like you are seducing me," she chuckled happily while inviting me to her room. I sat down on her chair, looked at her with concern. She notice my stare. "What?"

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked gently.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I'm okay now, after taking a long nap," she smiled a little.

"Tell me, what did Kendra said to you?"

"Nothing. She just trying to be sympathy to me 'coz I eat lunch alone..." she lowered her voice at her last word, as if she did not want me to hear me. But unfortunately, I heard it loud and clear, and it makes me feel guilty about it.

"I'm sorry, Brie. I shouldn't leave you alone," I apologized to her sincerely. She waved her hand, to dismiss it.

"Nah, things happen already. No need to dwell with the past," she said, too cheerful. I still not convince that she is okay with this.

"Tomorrow we will have lunch together okay? I pro-"

She held up her hand, stop me mid-sentence. "Don't promise something to me, Archie, 'coz it'll hurt me more if you can't keep your promise." I hung my head, sighed sadly. "Hey, it's okay Archie. I was so sensitive today, maybe it's the sign of PMS," she reassured me.

I forced a smile. "Well, at least, let's have dinner together. You can tell me about your class today."

"Oh puh-leese! Nothing to tell about it. It's boring," she yawn purposely. "I wanna know about Marcus Lawrence," she winked at me. I blushed furiously.

"Nothing to tell either," I tried to get myself out of the Marcus topic. It is enough that O'Brien make me feel shy to talk about Marcus. I don't want to have to endure it again.

"Aww man, I wanna know, I insisted!" She said with straight face, while pouting too. I sighed in defeat.

"Okay, okay. Let me get dress first, and then we go to Pizza?"

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**Brie**

Hmm, yummy! This pizza is so delicious that I ate most of the slice that we ordered. Maybe it's because I didn't eat my lunch properly? Archie just staring at me, watching me attacking those poor pizza. Who can blame me, I was so dead starved, and my mood does improve a lot ever since Archie asked me to go dinner.

While we were eating, she told me about Marcus, which surprisingly makes me wish that I hadn't demand her side of story. It's not that I am not interested in hearing her story, I do, believe me! But the mere mention of Marcus's name is enough to make me feel irritated for no obvious reason. She might sense my unattentiveness that she stop her story in mid sentence.

"Did I bored you?" She asked slowly. I just shrugged. She sighed deeply. "As far as I know, YOU are the one who started this conversation, and now that I shared a bit about him, suddenly you are disinterested, hmm?" She look annoy and I almost feel sorry for her, but still unable to give a satisfying response. She gets more annoyed by now, I can tell it. "Are you still angry that I had lunch with him? If that's the case, then I will never have lunch with anybody from now on."

I blinked several times, more guilty than before 'coz she make it sounds like I trapped her. "No, it's not that," I denied.

"Then what's going on? Everytime I mention Marcus's name, your expression change into bitter, don't think I did not notice it."

I sighed in exasperation. Honestly, I myself have no idea of why did I acted like this. No idea at all. I wanna said that to her but suddenly my throat is not working, so all I can do is shrug and shake my head. She just rolled her eyes and continue eat the soup without looking at me again.

Great, I ruined it again! I scolded myself in my mind. I didn't dare to look at her face again, and so I just keep eating a slice of pizza slowly while my eyes took a sudden interest in a table.

Why did Marcus keep making me feel uncomfortable? Was it because I was afraid that I might lose my best friend over him? I mean, there's nothing wrong at all for Archie to finally found a guy to talk to, so why am I acting nonsense about it? It's not like I can't get a guy for myself. In fact, I know how to approach a guy if I wanted to, but I did not want that because, you know, my past history won't allow me to make the same mistake again.

Someone's clearing throat, that makes me being pulled away from my own musing. I looked at the source of the sound and guess who's standing on our side now?

Marcus Lawrence.

I took a glance at Archie, and boy did she look so flustered and sweating. Surely this guy do have effect on her, 'coz I've known her for 5 years and she never acted like this when guy is around before. But to my surprise, Marcus has a sneer look on his face, a dislike expression shown on his face clearly. I wonder why...

"Hey Marcus," Archie greeted him with a slight tremble on her voice. Marcus didn't reply her greet, instead he just keep staring at her with weird expression on his face.

"I thought you are having dinner with few guys," he said in an accused tone. Hearing him saying that makes me wanna punch him on his nose right away. What the heck did he said for? Archie is not the kind of girl who merely just hanging out with guys easily, so who the hell is he to judge her so fast? I looked at Archie again, seeing hurt expression on her face. Gosh, I wish I could help to ease her uneasiness.

"W-what do you mean?" She stuttered, her face become pale.

"Huh, see? I knew it, I knew there's more than meet the eyes," he smirked. "I thought you are... ugh, doesn't matter. Hmm, what word can I think of to describe you well eh?" He imitated thinking of something. "Oh I know! Slut, yeah! That's the right word, isn't it, slutty girl?"

Before I realize myself, I was already swing my punch on his nose, making him fall down on his feet with blood gushing out from his nose. Everyone is scrambled about to see what is happening there. I don't care if I will embarass myself or not, all I know is that I can't stand of hearing him saying those word to Archie. I just can't!

"Brie -" Archie began but I cut her sentence immediately.

"Don't tell me to stop it, Archie, 'coz I won't! I won't let him or anybody saying that kind of word to you!" I stared down at Marcus who is still groaned in pain. Seeing his face ignited my anger more, that I added his pain some more by stepping on his chest. Archie pulled me away from Marcus. I tried to release her hold but she tightened her grip.

"Are you crazy Brie?" She hissed at my ear.

"No! Let me go! He deserve that!" I screamed on top of my lung, my anger is burning wildly now. Archie has tears flowing on her cheek now.

"What's going on?" The manager of Pizza Hut come to us, clearly irritated with us for causing riot in his place.

"Sorry, sir. It won't happen again," Archie quickly apologized, then pulled me right out of here until we near her car. She then let me go and deliberately pushed me against her right side of car. "You are fucking idiot, Brie! Why would you have to punch him?" She sobbed uncontrollably. I tried to hug her but she shrugged away. "Don't even touch me! I feel bad enough, and your stupid act make it even worse!"

"I only did it 'coz of you, Archie! I can't just let him said thing that is false! He deserve more than that!! I should kill him!!!" I literally shouting now. I can feel my own tears started to fall down. "How could I let him do that to my best friend?!"

"But you shouldn't punch him, you know that's wrong, why did you still do that??!!!" She shouted at me.

"I know it, but I love you Archie, and he's a jerk!!!!" I shouted back, not realizing what I had just said, until I saw her staring back at me.

"Y-y-you love me? As in...LOVE ME?" She asked in disbelief. I gulped, suddenly lost my voice. I wanna undo it, I wanna say that what I mean is that I love my friend enough to not let anyone hurt her, but I couldn't bring myself to say it, 'coz I know deep in my heart, that is not what exactly I tried to imply.

"I can't believe this. You are my best friend, and for God's sake you are a girl! You can't love me like that!" She shook her head, unable to even look at me, which is fine by me, 'coz I also can't stand of seeing her hurt expression. "This is great, sooo great!" She said in full of sarcasm, then suddenly she enter her car, started the engine and was about to drive off when I called her name.

"Y-you can't leave me here! It'll take 1 hour to reach our dorm by walking!" I said in panicked. But she pretend as if I did not exist at all. She drove off from me in full speed, leaving me behind. By the time the tailight of her car is out of my vision, I knew deep in my heart that I just lost my best friend.

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**Archelle**

I was so furious about what happen just now, that I was driving like a maniac. Even that, I still considered about my speeding limit so as to not ended up being pull over by the police. I thought my final year here will be a blast, but instead the opposite happen.

I still can't believe that Marcus thought of me as a slut. S.L.U.T you got it right. Goddamn him to Hell! What a son-of-a bitch he is, accusing me of something that isn't true. And while I feel touch to see Brie protecting me, it crushed my heart again to know that she did it out of L.O.V.E, and guess what? She love me not as a friend, but more than that. I cannot believe, my own best friend, a girl, is falling in love with me! What the hell did I do to deserve all of this.

Yes, I love Brie too but never think of her more than that. I could never return her feeling 'coz I am damn STRAIGHT girl! And then there's this religious thing. I am a Catholic, and my religion despise homosexual. Ugh, just the thought of that H word already makes me wanna puke. I am not a homophobic, I can accept that, but when it comes to me, relating to me, that I will never accept.

I am in such a dilemma. I cannot throw away my friendship with her just because she loves me, right? But, if I stick around her, I might lead her to heartbroken, and she will suffer more than she is now. So what am I suppose to do? Brie is my only best friend that I really can count on, and trust. Just because she is abnormal doesn't mean that I should break our friendship right? Arghh, why did my life turns complicated? Why me, for God's sake?

Hmm, I guess I need some time alone. I cannot see or contact Brie at this moment, but I am worry that she might do something stupid, and that's the last thing that I want it to happen to her.

I'll ask Bella and Maria to look after her, then, just in case...

Having my decision made, I slowed my driving speed as I cruise along back to my dorm. I hope to God that Kendra is already sleeping, 'coz I am really not in the mood to 'entertain' her. I will asked either Bella or Maria to fetch Brie out there as soon as possible.

I hope she'll be okay. I'm sorry Brie, but maybe me not being around you is probably the best...

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P/S: There you go. Another new issue comes out. Brie loves Archelle, more than a friend. Big issue here haha, I like it 'coz I imagine too far. I don't really like to write normal things, so why not add spice to this? Don't worry, I won't get further with these same sex relationship, unless you can tolerate it? haha.. gimme comment if u want, any comment will trigger me to write more ;)