Happiness Is Dry Pants - A Short Story About Why Men and Women Cannot be Best Friends

The mailbox was empty again. It was a daily occurrence that had started to bug Chris. He slammed it shut and walked back to his apartment. It had been over a week since he mailed his letter. She should have written him back by now. What the hell was wrong?

He walked back to his room. Posters of his favorite comic book characters covered the walls. Chris stared at the giant poster of the X-MEN and wondered if Cyclops had to put up with stuff like this with Jean Grey. He walked over to his desk and grabbed his cell phone.

The number he dialed rang seven times before he got to the voicemail. Every time he called, it was the same routine. He called, and the voicemail answered. Never her. And every time he did call, he wished she would answer. But she never did. Not lately, anyways.

"Hey, Amanda, its Chris. I'm just saying hello. Call me back when you can. Alright? Bye." Chris said. It was the same phrase he used every time he left a message. He sounded like a broken record.

He sat the phone on the desk and leaned back in his chair. The fact that they had been friends for over ten years ceased to amaze him. He pulled photo albums from under his bed and grabbed a large blue album. He flipped through the pages until he found pictures with he and Amanda.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked.

Chris looked up. Standing in front of him was his roommate, James.

"Just looking at my photo albums." Chris replied.

James frowned. "Again? Jeez man, you got it bad for that girl, don't you?"

Chris closed the album. "What? You're crazy man. She is my best friend."

James sauntered over to the refrigerator. Chris watched as he grabbed two bottles of water. He tossed one to Chris, who had to react fast or the bottle would have hit him in the nose.

James sat on another chair. "First off," he said. He took a sip then continued to speak. "A man and a woman, hear me now. A man and a woman CANNOT be best friends, Chris. It's just not natural."

"Yet, me and Amanda are. So what's your point?"

James stood up. Chris knew that his friend was about to go off on some rant. He decided to just let him have his say, no matter how wrong he was.