Bro Girl

This is a sentimental story for those who had a childhood crush and never forgot it. For those who live in small towns that are often disregarded on maps. Somewhere there is still love and hope for everybody.

Please remember that the story shows an athletic, fit girl, because that's the type I like. There is also a scene of kissing under the influence of alcohol. You've been warned :)

Enjoy :)

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I was sitting in front of my computer, mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed, when the dull splash behind the window woke me from my trance. My heart began to race and I felt heat creep up my cheeks. It was stupid, strange, and uncalled for, but I couldn't help it. With my whole not-so-strong free will, I stopped myself from sneaking up to the window and peeking out, because I knew the sounds were coming from Jenna Kendall, my neighbor, cooling off in her pool. She had done the same yesterday, right after she had come back from college for the summer break. We could only see each other briefly in the driveway as she came in and I went out. It was the first time I had seen her since Christmas. And Jenna looked so... she was.... Oh, it's so fucking weird to even think about it!

Jenna was not only my neighbor, but also my friend since childhood. My best friend, to be exact. Our parents were close too, we were like one big family. That's why I felt weird about Jenna. I had a much better relationship with her than I did with my biological cousins. Damn, I was closer to her than I was to Sheila, my own sister.

It had always been an unusual constellation between me, Jenna, and our siblings. Jenna was only a 'year' older than me, so we were obviously close because we shared the same interests, challenges, and problems, if I may call it that way. We were basically peers because there was only a five-month age difference between us. We were just born in different years.

Sheila, my sister, was five years older than me, so I never had a close relationship with her. It's pretty obvious why. When I was still pooping in diapers, she was already finishing preschool. By the time I was ten and running around the neighborhood with stick guns, she was in high school, getting her first crush, and dating boys. Then I was in high school and she was in college. Now I was done with high school, and she was getting married soon. Probably, because I had no idea what was going on in her life since we rarely spoke. We had never been on the same page. Or, to extend that metaphor even further, we'd never even been in the same book, because just as I opened the cover, she was already putting the book back on the shelf.

The same was with Michael, little Mikey, Jenna's brother. Funnily enough, he was five years younger than Jenna. So he almost didn't exist in her life either. Or in our lives. Because Jenna and I were like a binary star system that had been orbiting each other since the beginning of time. And Sheila and Mikey were like comets that passed near us once in a hundred years, but never synchronized with us.

Jenna and Sheila did get along well up to a point, though, but then grew apart for some reason. Perhaps for the same reason, I had never established a real friendship with Mikey - I couldn't treat him any differently than I would treat a small kid.

So our closeness was the reason I started to feel weird around Jenna. To be exact, it started in high school, but I wasn't fully aware of it then. It was all because we were both growing up and there was a moment when I suddenly realized that the skinny, somewhat tomboyish girl I had climbed trees and fought nettles with was turning into a beautiful and athletic young woman, a volleyball player. There was a moment when I noticed that her legs were becoming long and shapely, nicely complemented by the slender muscles she was building up as she worked out. That her chest became full and perky. And her face was changing, too, which was hard for me to notice at first because I saw her every day and she always looked like... Jenna. But she became beautiful like an Instagram model but still with a familiar, the-girl-next-door vibe.

I think I had a highly-suppressed crush on her at the time, but it was easy to dismiss or rationalize since we were still hanging out on a daily basis. Jenna was my best homie. A friend, a homegirl. Bro girl. That's how I saw her my whole life. Until she left for college.

Only then, when for the first time in our lives, we were separated for six months, I began to realize all of that. And it sucked. The last year of high school really, truly sucked like fuck. I missed her like crazy, I felt like a craving addict. Everything was so bland as if the air had less oxygen and the sunlight was bleached. We talked online pretty often, but it wasn't the same. It was a mere substitute. I felt like our binary stars were going further and further from each other. And I didn't like it.

And while I knew why I missed her, at first, I couldn't understand why observing via social media how she was settling into college life and getting new friends made me bitter and sad. I had this feeling of missing out on everything - Jenna was experiencing adult life in Dallas, and I was this kid, left behind in Marietta, our forgotten-by-world town.

And something else made me angry, even though it was hard to admit it to myself. About two months after starting college, Jenna found a boyfriend. Actually, this shouldn't bother me, since we had dated different people in high school, but it still bothered me. Because it looked serious. Too serious.

Jenna was studying health and nutrition at The University of Texas in Dallas, and that's where she met her douchebag boyfriend. Um... I don't know if he was a douche for real, I just had a feeling about him. Or I was just jealous, but I did not realize that at that moment. All I knew about him was his name, Tyler (a pretty douche name if anyone asks me), and that he was a sophomore with passion for bodybuilding. He also introduced Jenna to weightlifting.

One time, after winter break, Jenna started a bit of an awkward discussion on Messenger about Tyler, it seemed like she was about to tell me something, but for some reason I got scared. I didn't want to talk about this guy. It put me in a bad mood so I cut the conversation short for some made-up pretext. She never mentioned Tyler again, and to be honest, I was glad about that. I preferred to hear about her workouts than about some douchebag...

And since she's always been a sporty type, she clearly caught the bug and started to pump the iron. She always had an athletic silhouette, but after her first few months in college, she had incredible gains.

I remember how shocked I was when I saw her arms during winter break. They weren't outrageously big, but her biceps and triceps were well-defined, visible even when she wasn't flexing. And her shoulders were broader, which accentuated her hourglass silhouette even more and contrasted very distinctly with her narrow waist and shapely hips.

We were both quite awkward about her transformation and she jokingly asked me if I liked it. And I 'jokingly' answered that I wasn't into muscular women at all and that she needed to be careful with her workouts so she wouldn't look like a dude with tits when the summer break started. Jenna seemed to take it in stride, as she laughed and shrugged her freshly-built muscular shoulders, but I knew her through and through and sensed that my response wasn't very to her liking. Yeah, no surprise there. I guess it was a rather tremendously witty-shitty comeback from her best friend.

I don't know why I answered that way, why I lied, that I totally didn't like it. Was it out of shock or because I felt insecure or jealous or whatever? I had no idea. Jenna looked impressive then, at Christmas, even I had to admit that she put a lot of work into her body. But now, as I saw her again, I noticed she lost a bit of her buff, she was more slender, her muscles smaller but better defined, and she looked very sporty and fit. On top of that -- she was never going to look like a dude, no matter how big her muscles were. She had a very feminine face and looked like a healthy, athletic young woman. So, I felt like shit for commenting on her body like that. Like the worst friend in the world. I was supposed to support her in her passion, whether I was on board with it or not.

And I wasn't even sure I was so adamantly not into muscular chicks as I claimed. I mean, I didn't care about female bodybuilding at all and had no interest in following the sport. I wasn't into all those women, although I appreciated fit, harmonious bodies. But I guess I was into Jenna. But she was into Tyler. And we were just friends...

I heard another splash and involuntarily got up from my desk to take a look. But just before I did, I heard a whistle. It was our special signal from childhood. I was quite surprised that she decided to use it for the first time in a long time. For other people, our timing would have been more surprising, but we had this kind of thing a lot. A strange, unexplainable, almost telepathic connection.

I walked to my window and held my breath like an idiot.It's only Jenna, you moron, calm down, I told myself and opened the window. I had to squint my eyes because the sun blazed them, and then I heard Jenna before I could even make her out.

"Hey, Lane! Come out of your cave, man!" she called out energetically, and my eyes finally adjusted to the bright light so I could see her. She was floating on the green air mattress in the middle of the pool.

"Yo! What's up?!" I shouted back, looking at her closely.

She had sunglasses on her eyes, her blonde hair tied in a high ponytail, and her typical, somewhat lopsided smile. Typical Jenna. An unusual mix of confidence and shyness. I never understood where this slightly insecure part of her personality came from, though.

She wore a skimpy bikini that left almost nothing to the imagination, but with a body like hers, she could pull it off.

Her body... Now I could see her barely clothed and she looked like she came straight out of a fitness competition. Her arms were crossed behind her head, making her biceps visible. The yellow bikini top was well filled out by her medium-sized breasts. Apparently, working out the pecs was beneficial for girls, because Jenna's perky tits sat high on her chest, even higher than before. If I didn't know her, I'd say she'd done implants, but I was sure she hadn't. She just won the genetic lottery.

Then my eyes roamed over her incredible washboard abs which made me both envious and stunned. I worked out a lot at the gym (I guess, I didn't want to be left far behind her in the muscle department...), but I didn't have such a defined six-pack. Probably my secret love of Doritos had something to do with it.

Jenna's legs were almost seductively crossed and looked impossibly long. They were also muscular but in proportion to the rest of her body. She had strong thighs and stunningly sculpted calves.

"Yeah, what's up?" she repeated, laughing softly. "What are you up to? I hope not to sit inside when the weather is this nice!"

"Nah, I'm fine. You know I can't go out in the sun or I'll be red as a lobster in a second!"

"C'mon, put some sunscreen on and hop in! We haven't talked in a while, have we?"

"I can't right now, I've important things to do!" I teased, knowing she'd read through it.

"Oh, let me guess! You have to buy a WinRar license?" Just as I thought she would, Jenna immediately resorted to one of the hackneyed inside jokes we used when one of us tried to weasel out of something.

"Haha! Yeah, among other things," I replied, grinning from ear to ear. "But to be honest, I am sure my mom prepared the whole list of chores for me. You know how she is. She hates it when during summer break I try to have... a break."

What I said was true, for the most part, but the main reason I didn't want to hang out with Jenna right now was... her outfit. She just looked too hot and I didn't want to act weird around her. Even weirder than I had already done last Christmas. I felt like our separation had already done enough damage to our friendship, so I didn't want to add to it too.

"Yeah, but you know our folks are out of town for a few days? We have houses for ourselves!" Jenna said and pumped her fist in the air as if she was celebrating. Even from a distance, I could see her bulging bicep.

"They left already?" I asked, scratching my head. Jenna was right, I should come out of my 'cave' more often if I didn't even notice my parents leaving. "What about Mikey?"

"They took him with them. And hey, you should know that your mom asked me to watch over you, haha!" Jenna laughed out loud when she saw me roll my eyes.

"Like you're that responsible!" I shook my head with a smile, but then got a little more serious and said, "Listen, I'll come by later this afternoon, okay? I need to eat breakfast first."

"Breakfast? It's already past noon, Lane!" She laughed again and began paddling her arms slowly. "Alrighty then! I'll wait for you!"

"Sure thing!" I was about to close the window, but hesitated a moment and said, "Hey, Jenna?"

"Sup?"

"Glad to see big-city life hasn't turned you into a snob," I said, winking at her.

"Hah! It's also nice to see that you haven't completely moldered in this dullsville!" she replied with a big grin as well.

And that was it - basically, we said that we missed each other in a way. I closed the window and went into the bathroom. As I passed the mirror, I saw my reflection and a wide, goofy smile plastered on my mouth.

I caught myself feeling... happy. Really happy, for the first time in months. I really missed Jenna. After I realized that, a flood of less pleasant thoughts invaded my mind.

She has a boyfriend. She is my friend. She is closer to me than my sister. I couldn't have a crush on her. Was it just a crush... or even more? I wasn't sure before, but now I thought it was much more than a silly, teenage crush. And I couldn't tell her how I felt about her - it would tarnish our friendship forever. It would ruin it.

I had to get over her somehow without losing her. But how do you get over a girl you've been in love with your whole life?

***

"Jenna?! Are you there?" I called out as I walked into her house.

Of course, I used the back door because our backyards were connected - there was a gate between the fences that was forever open. To be exact, there was once a gate, but it had been so long ago that Jenna and I didn't remember it. Only Sheila knew and told us that one day our fathers drank too many Budweisers, took it off its hinges, and threw it away.

"I'm at the base!" I heard her from downstairs and went there immediately.

Base wasn't just an abbreviation of the word basement, it was literally the Base. That's what we called the one room where we used to hang out a lot. Jenna's parents had set up something like a private clubhouse for all of us. There was a ping pong table that was almost always curled up against the wall, a couch, a TV set with Playstation, and another table for board and card games.

I found Jenna crouching next to the game console and handling boxes. She was wearing totally casual clothes, a simple blue tank top and jean shorts, but still looked super hot. I was a lost cause. I tried to shake off my stupid thoughts and entered the room.

"What're you doing? Do you want to get destroyed in Street Fighter like in the good old days?" I asked her and she quickly turned to me.

"Ha! You wish! I can teach you a lesson later, but for now, I wanted to see if Mikey has some new games," Jenna said and stood up. She smiled, albeit a little sadly. "I have to tell you, I miss our sessions, here at the base or online. College sucks in this case. There was no one to talk to about it. And the way people looked at me when I told them about games.... like I was a total nolife! "

"But you are! Nolife for life!" I bantered with her, and Jenna giggled. I couldn't help but glance at her arms. They looked like they were swollen.

"What?" She caught me and looked at me with a smile, but also narrowed eyes.

"Nothing. Were you working out earlier?" I asked, trying to look and sound innocent.

"Yeah, about an hour ago. What? I still have the pump, right?" Jenna giggled and flexed her right arm briefly.

Her bicep almost exploded and looked rock-hard. It wasn't very big, but it looked that way because her arm lacked any fat tissue. There were even visible separations between particular muscles. I just hoped that my surprised gasp was only internal. But it probably wasn't because Jenna lowered her arm and looked at me with a somewhat awkward expression.

"Are you still gonna be weird about my muscles?" she asked, seemingly jokingly, but I felt it was a bit forced. It wasn't surprising, considering our last conversation on the subject. Of course, I didn't want her to feel that way.

"No, I won't. And yeah, the pump is still showing," I replied and laughed, also in a forceful way. I hoped she wouldn't see it.

I was about to apologize to her for my previous stupid comment, but she smiled in a completely different way and said, "Speaking of muscles... I see someone has been hitting the gym lately. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Look at those arms!" She grabbed my bicep with her hand and gave it a firm squeeze. I resisted with all my will to flex them as hard as I could.

"And those pecs, wow!" She pressed her fingers to my chest, jokingly, but she seemed genuinely surprised by my current shape.

I chuckled awkwardly, feeling my face getting red like a beet. A few years or even one year ago, I wouldn't have reacted like this to her touch, but then I hadn't considered Jenna to be something more than a friend. To my surprise, I noticed her cheeks blushed too. That was one of the most awkward yet pleasant moments I experienced. I doubted though that she saw it the same.

"What's the reason, Lane?" she asked with a bit of a mischievous smirk. Typical Jenna. "You got jealous of my guns? And you just couldn't let me be bigger than you?" she asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat. We both laughed.

"Haha! Yeah, you got me. Both reasons, plus, I had much more time to kill in the last months. Besides, the last year was really shitty, so the gym was a nice distraction..." I started and didn't finish, feeling as if I were sounding too whiny. But Jenna knew me too well and already sensed that.

"What do you mean by shitty?" Jenna asked, and her face got serious. The care she immediately showed was a not-so-pleasant reminder for me that I wasn't such a good friend as she was. At least I didn't feel like it lately.

"Uh, because it was mostly boring. You know how senior year in high school is. Suddenly I had a lot more time but no one to share it with because someone decided to conquer the fancy big world in Dallas," I finished with an attempt at a joke because I didn't want to sound like I was just complaining.

Jenna smiled and winked at me. "I get it, I missed you too."

We laughed again, though it was a somewhat awkward laugh. She had this special ability to say important things in a simple way and relieve tension quickly.

"And hey, of course, I couldn't let you be bigger. I'm the barb, you're the demon huntress, remember? That would fall out of canon," I replied, referencing our favorite characters from Diablo 3 to distract us from the muscle topic, the situation of her touching my chest and me complaining about loneliness. Or at least that's what I needed.

"That's true! Oh, by the way, have you tried Diablo 4 yet? It came out recently. Please, tell me you haven't!" Jenna got excited pretty quickly. She was such a nerd and I liked it so much.

"Of course not, I was waiting for you," I answered and we started talking about Diablo and other games.