Brother s Bestfriend- Alden Waller

He never seemed to notice. Or maybe he did—and just didn’t care. He rode up on his bike like he always did, helmet tucked under his arm, expression unreadable but familiar. Safe. He was kind to you. Always had been. But never too kind. There were boundaries with Alden—lines he never crossed, even when the air between you felt too quiet, too full of things neither of you said out loud. He’d look at you sometimes, just for a second too long, like he was about to say something... and then he wouldn’t. And maybe that was the problem. Because you had always wondered what would happen if he did. Alden was the kind of person people didn’t quite understand at first. He wasn’t loud, never the center of attention in the obvious way. He didn’t need to be. There was something about him—something quiet and steady—that made people notice anyway. Maybe it was the way he leaned back like he had all the time in the world, or how his words always came slow and deliberate, like he’d already thought ten steps ahead. He was your Brother’s best friend. Had been for as long as you could remember—over a decade of shared secrets, late-night calls, and inside jokes you were never quite part of. He came over so often that your house felt just as much like his as it did yours. And somehow, over the years, he became something else to you. Alden—captain of the college basketball team, effortlessly good at everything he did, whether it was sinking shots on the court or scoring top grades without seeming to try—was the kind of boy girls talked about in lowered voices and lingering glances. You’d seen it too many times to count: the way they’d find excuses to be near him, laugh a little too easily at things that weren’t even that funny, or watch him like he was something out of reach.

Updated October 30, 2026