We are best friends, and he intends to stay that way. The sad thing is that I'm falling for him, and I don't know what to do. He is literally my dream guy, he checks all the boxes. His name is Nate, He has red hair, green eyes, freckles, and is 6'5. I didn't like him until what happened that fourth of July night.

Nate and I have been best friends since we can remember. Our moms are best friends so it was destined that Nate and I were going to become best friends. We grew up together and celebrated every holiday together. We are practically inseparable.

I started liking him when he kissed me on the fourth of july. The thing was I had no idea that was going to happen. His face just started getting closer and he kissed me.

"What was that for?", I asked.

"I was curious", Nate said.

"Oh, I see how it is ", I said laughing.

He laughs and gives me that affectionate look he always gives me. As we lay down on the blanket I snuggle up close to him and he wraps his arms around me.

"Can I ask you something?", I asked.

"Yeah what is it?", Nate asked

"Do you like me?", I asked.

"To be completely honest with you I have no clue", Nate said.

The rest of the night went by fast. We talked for hours, and we kissed some more. It was amazing, but eventually we just passed out on the blanket.

The next morning when I woke up I was in my bed in his hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, having no clue how or when I got here. I leaned over and checked my phone, and was greeted with a text from nate.

"Hey beautiful, hope you like my hoodie. I hope you're not mad at me for taking you to your room", Nate texted.

"I love the hoodie, it is extremely oversized yet really comfy. I don't mind you taking me to my room", I responded.

"How did you sleep?", Nate replied.

"Amazing, thanks to you covering me up in my favorite blanket, and obviously the hoodie", I responded .

The hoodie smelled like country air in the middle of a starry sky in late june. I love the way he smells.

"What about you?", I texted.

"I slept okay, I couldn't get you off my mind", Nate texted.

"Aww, that's sweet. Did you want to meet up later?", I asked .

"Yeah, how about I pick you up at 7:00 tonight? I have a big surprise ", Nate responded.

"Sure, I can't wait, I texted.

I went downstairs to eat breakfast. When deciding what I want I realized that my mom and dad left this morning to go away for two days. So knowing that they were gone for the week I just chose cereal since it made me a little sad. Then I went upstairs and layed down scrolling through tik tok. I came across a video of Nate and me dancing to some random song. Watching it made me blush.

Later on I get dressed and do my makeup. I hear Nate's horn which means I better get my butt down there, so I grab my coat, purse ,and slide on shoes and run out the door.

"Hey cutie", Nate said.

"What's up with the nicknames today", I said.

"Nothing", Nate said.

"Totally", I said while rolling my eyes.

He reaches over and turns on music and "city boys",(by burna boy) starts playing.

I laugh and ask, "So you play my favorite song on purpose?"

"Yep", Nate says.

I laugh, and start singing my song. He glances at me and laughs. I roll my eyes and ignore it. He pulls the car off to the exit to the lake.

"Are we going to the lake?", I ask.

"Maybe", Nate says.

I laugh and stare out the window. To my surprise we drive past the lake and I look at him with confusion, but I trust him so I just go along. We drive for 2 hours and we pull into a driveway.

"Where are we", I ask.

"I reserved a camping site for us", Nate says as he parks the car.

"I don't have any clothes though", I said.

"Well thank god I packed a bag for you before we left", nate said

"You little stinker", I said while laughing.

We get out of the car and walk up to the check-in desk. When we walk in we are greeted by an optimistic lady.

"Hi, how may I help you",the lady said.

"Hi, we had a reservation for Nate", Nate said.

"Oh wonderful", the lady said while giving Nate a pamphlet with some information.

"Well thank you", Nate said

We walk back to the car and drive into the site and park. We get unloaded.

"Well there we go, time to set up the tent", Nate said.

"You only brought one?"I asked, confused.

"Yeah, is there a problem?", Nate asked.

"Not everything is fine",I said.

We got set up and thankfully he brought the mattresses. By time we get set up and everything it's 10:00 and we are both exhausted. We decide to lay down and put on a movie on the laptop, and eventually pass out.

The next morning I woke up at 8:00, and Nate was still passed out so I decided to go take a shower. Then I come to find out he forgot my hygiene so it looks like I have to use his which I really don't care. So I grabbed his hygiene stuff, along with my phone and his speaker.

I get to the wash house and look in all the showers to find the cleanest one. When I decide on the cleanest one I get in and connect my phone to the speaker and play nates and my playlist. I get in and start singing and after 30 min I get out. I feel refreshed and ready for whatever the day will bring.

When I get back to the tent I lay down and grab a book and read. Nate doesn't wake up till ten am.

"Good morning, sleepy head", I said.

"Good morning", Nate said

"So, what's the plan today?", I asked.

"I was thinking about going canoeing. What do you think?", Nate asked.

"Sounds fun, let's do it", I said.

"Okay let me go take a shower", Nate said.

"Okay, just so you know you forgot to pack my hygiene stuff so I used your's" I said.

"It's fine I really don't care", Nate said.

Nate got up and grabbed his hygiene stuff and went to the washroom. While he was gone I cleaned up a little, and read a book. While I was reading he came back from the washroom blasting "No Scrubs", by TLC. He came into the tent and started singing to it and I started singing along with him. At the end we just burst into laughter and fell on the floor.

When we finally finished laughing Nate rolled over and said "I'm glad we came here"

"Me too", I said and leaned in to kiss him, but he pushed me away.

"I just want to stay friends", he said.

"WHAT!", I said.

"What's your problem?", he said.

"What do you mean what's my problem? My problem is that just the other day you kissed me, but when I went to kiss you. You're like I just want to stay friends. That's my problem", I say furiously.

" I know I might have misled you but it was a mistake. I went home and realized that we are better off best friends", Nate said.

"Okay, whatever", I said and stormed out of the tent.

"Wait",Nate said, grabbing my arm.

"What do you want? Oh wait I know to hurt my feelings even more, and confuse me", I say, ripping my arm from his grip.

"No, I'm sorry I really am", Nate said.

"Just leave me alone", I said, turning and walking away.

I walk and find a spot by the water. I sit down, and start sobbing. I think to myself why did he have to confuse me like that. I don't deserve it. Not to mention the audacity he had to say I just want to stay friends after he just KISSED ME. I didn't kiss him he kissed me so what does he mean he just wants to stay friends.

I get up and walk back to the tent. I go in and lay down and curl up into a ball, softly crying.

"I'm sorry I really am can we just talk about this when we get back, and just enjoy this weekend as best friends. Please" Nate said with deep sincerity in his voice.

"Sure", I say, as I cave in to his words.

"Okay, thankyou Anna", Nate said

We talked for a while and agreed on going canoeing. We walked down to the river after renting canoes from the shop.

"Okay, you ready", Nate said.

"As ready as I'll ever be" I said laughing.

"Aye-aye captain", Nate said.

"Don't put me in control", I said as I started bursting out laughing uncontrollably.

"Calm down Anna", Nate said.

"Okay, okay", I said.

We push the canoe out and jump in and start pushing. We sat in silence for a while enjoying the view.

"It's beautiful out today", I said

"I know almost as beautiful as you", Nate said.

"Yeah right", I said.

Laughing I splash water in his face, and he splashes water in mine. Laughing and messing around we accidentally tip the canoe. We laugh, flipping the canoe back over, and working together to get the canoe to shore. When we get the canoe to shore we flip it and drain the water.

"Well that was fun" I said.

"Yeah it was", Nate said.

We push the canoe offshore, and get in the canoe. We continue to canoe, we talk some, but most of the time sit in silence enjoying the beauty of the river.

When we get back we take the canoe back to the shop and go and swing. We talked about the things we saw while canoeing. We swing till it starts to get dark, then make it back to the tent. We turn on the lamp and set up a changing area and get changed. Once both of us are changed we lay down and turn on a movie. We watch it all the way through, and for some reason we're still not tired so we decide to play a game, eventually we fall asleep. When we woke up we were right next to each other.

"This is weird", I said, scooting away.

"Yeah, wonder how that happened?", Nate said.

I laugh and get up and tell him I am going to go take a shower. He nodded, and I grabbed his stuff and went to the washroom, and took a shower.

When I come back Nate goes, and takes a shower. While he is showering I continue to read my book.

When he comes back we decide to go hiking. We make our way to the trail.

"Can we not stay in silence today", Nate said.

"Sure, we can talk more", I said.

"So, it's nice out today", Nate said.

"Yeah it is, I love the trees and just the vibe in general", I said enthusiastically.

"I love deciding to go on this trip with you", Nate said.

"Can I just say something?", I asked.

"Yeah, what is it?"Nate asked.

"So, why would you kiss me then tell me we're better off friends, yet you keep flirting with me. Can you please explain that to me?", I asked.

"I don't know why, okay. Im really confused, which is one of the reasons I decided to take you on this trip, so I can figure out what to do", Nate said

"Okay, so answer this question", I said.

"What?"Nate said.

"Do you ever see us as a thing, or am I just wasting my time trying to convince you that we would be good as boyfriend and girlfriend?", I asked.

"Yes, I can see us as a couple, it's just that I feel that if we do date we're never going to have this level of friendship with each other ever again", Nate said.

"Well I'll tell you something I really didn't think of you like until fourth of july night when you kissed me. Then I realized that I do like you like that. It's just that I have been denying it for awhile", I said while looking into his green eyes.

"If we were to get together, what do you think that it would look like?"Nate asked looking back into my eyes.

"I think that we would still be very close like we are now, and we would also be closer in other ways too", I said looking him directly in the eyes.

"I would really like to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but I'm scared", Nate said.

"Okay, so am I. Why don't we go into this together. If we don't we'll never know what will happen, and to be honest I would rather know what happens than to be clueless" I said with passion hoping that he would agree.

"Okay let's do this Anna", Nate said, as he leaned in to kiss me.

We shared the moment and as soon as we got back we went to the tent and laid down, and put on a movie cuddling. Sometime throughout the night we dozed off and woke up next to each other, and this time it wasn't weird.

"Good morning, beautiful", Nate said.

"Good morning, handsome", I said.

"Are you ready to get ready to go home?"Nate asked.

"Yeah, I suppose. Though I would really love to spend another night here", I said.

"Well we do have a reservation for one more night. So what do you say?"Nate asked.

"You do!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah, I do", Nate said.

"Yay", I said, doing a happy dance.

Nate laughed and said"I love when you do your little happy dances".

I laughed and we went to the cafe for breakfast. We decided to spend our last day relaxing. After we got done eating we decided to go to the spa.

"So what spa treatment should we do?"Nate asked.

"What do you think about the hot stone massage?", I asked.

"Anything you want", Nate said.

"Then a hot stone massage it is", I said.

When we finished the massage we went swimming. Nate splashed me in the face, and it led to a full on water fight. By the time we got out of the water it was 10:00pm, so we had to head back to the campsite. We put on another movie and went to bed.

The next morning when we woke up we packed up and headed home. On the way home we stopped at a coffee shop.

"What do you want?"Nate asked.

"Can I get a caramel latte with an extra shot of milk?" I asked.

"Yeah", Nate said.

He went up to the counter and ordered mine and then he ordered a mocha with an extra espresso shot. Once we got our orders we drove home.

"Were home", Nate said.

"Yay", I said.

We grabbed our bags and held hands. We opened the door to see our parents standing there with the most excited expressions on their faces.

"What are you guys so excited about?", I said.

"You guys are back", my Mom said.

"We have some exciting news", Nate said, taking my hand and spinning me towards him, then leaning down and kissing me.

"Oh my god you guys finally got together after all these years it's a dream come true!", Nate's Mom, and, Dad said.

"Oh I am so happy you guys finally decided to get together", My parents followed with the same exciting energy.

Nate and I both burst out laughing, and he kissed me again, picking me up and spinning me around with excitement.