IT'S JUST PLATONIC

Ronan West was relaxing on the leather couch that was against the one wall in the living room of the apartment he shared with his best friend and roommate Sophia. His eyes were fixated on the current soccer game when the apartment door opened and in came a struggling Sophia. She sighed when she saw her best friend on the couch, knowing he was too involved in the game that he wasn't getting up anytime soon.

"Hey Ro, I'm home," she announced loudly enough in hopes he would hear her.

Ronan snapped out of his daze thankfully, turning his head in Sophia's direction then guilt washed over him when he saw the many bags.

"Oh shit, hang on Soph I'm comin' to help," he said quickly as he hopped over the arm of the couch.

"My hero," Sophia retaliated in a sarcastic tone, rolling her eyes at him.

Ronan grabbed the heavier bags from her hands, placing a hand over his chest and feigned hurt. "Ouch Soph, trying to cut down a guy's confidence much?"

Sophia playfully shoved him. "As if, now go put those in the bedroom please."

"Of course love," he agreed before kissing her cheek gently and headed off to their bedroom.

To anyone outside of the apartment and in public, you would think that Ronan and Sophia were another young couple in love except that they weren't a couple exactly. Their relationship was completely and entirely platonic, it had been for the past three years. It started off as them being friends in the beginning and then Ronan started developing feelings for Sophia but she didn't feel as deeply the way he did so they had thankfully come to a compromise. After some time, they got into a platonic relationship and it was the best thing for their friendship. They were closer than ever and eventually had moved in together to make everything work out better. And if anyone had asked Ronan if he was in love with Sophia, he wouldn't deny it for a second. She was everything to him and more, everything he could've asked for...she was his universe and he wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

As Ronan finished putting away the bags in the bedroom, his attention was grabbed by the picture frame that sat on top of his dresser. It was a picture of him and Sophia from three years ago, he couldn't help but smile as his fingers lightly traced it. Suddenly Sophia walked into their room, seeing Ronan frozen in place and looking at the picture. She carefully walked up to him, touching his shoulder which pulled him out of his trance.

"Hey, you okay?" Sophia asked with concern. "I thought you would've just dropped the bags off in here and come right back."

A blush fell onto Ronan's face as he laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm okay. I uh I got distracted by the photo."

Sophia leaned against him, wrapping her arm around him and smiled as she joked, "yeah I can see that clearly."

"What can I say? You caught me red handed," Ronan admitted, throwing his hands into the air.

"Alright you sarcastic jerk, come on," she urged him by grabbing his hand and dragged him out of the bedroom.

Ronan nearly fell on his face when Sophia dragged me out and he laughed, "what's the rush Soph bear?"

"Dinner with my parents tonight, remember?" she reminded him, playfully pinching his cheek.

Ronan pulled away, smacking her hands. "Yeah, yeah, I remembered well okay I kinda forgot. But it'll be nice to see your parents again."

"Oh yeah totally and the entire time they'll go on and on about how we should be dating," Sophia retorted as she nailed him with a look.

Ronan stroked her cheek gently, pulling her close to his chest and wrapped both athletically toned arms around her small waist. His hazel eyes poured deep into her blue-green ocean eyes, the ocean and the sand meeting in the middle. Sophia was slightly shorter than him, looked up at him as she placed her arms over his shoulders as she felt all her worry melt away.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Ronan promised softly. "I will be right next to you the whole time and hell I'll hold your hand if you need me to. Anything you need me to do just say the word and I'll do it for you babe, you know this."

"How did I get so lucky to have a best friend like you? You always know the right thing to say when I need to hear it the most," Sophia beamed up at him as she stood on her toes to kiss his lips lightly.

"The universe works in mysterious ways I guess," Ronan shrugged.

"You're a major dope," Sophia teased.

"But you love this dope," he teased right back, sticking out his tongue.

Sophia didn't say anything, she just rolled her eyes at him but didn't say a word. Ronan was such a dork but he was her dork and she loved him for that. As she walked into the kitchen, she felt Ronan's arm around her waist almost instantly. He was always right there even when she didn't say a word, he just knew when to be there for her. And that's why Sophia loved their friendship, why she loved Ronan so much.

"So what're we making for dar old mom and dad tonight?" Ronan lightly joked as he lightly ran his fingers over her arm.

They circled each other, Sophia going towards the freezer while Ronan went to wash his hands. She opened the door, looking over what was in it before settling on the chicken. Turning around, she held it up for Ronan to see and he gave an approving nod. Without another word to each, they worked effortlessly to make dinner and finished just in time for Sophia's parents to show up. The doorbell rang, Sophia smoothed her red dress and went to open the apartment door. Harvey and Ava smiled widely when they saw their youngest daughter, giving her a tight hug as the door opened.

"Hi mom, hi daddy," Sophia greeted them happily.

"Hi baby girl," they both said, kissing either side of her head.

Ronan stood a few inches away respectfully as the family reunited but Harvey and Ava caught his eye. Harvey moved first so he could give Ronan a firm handshake which Ronan gratefully returned.

"Good to see you again son," Harvey smiled widely.

"Likewise Sir," Ronan spoke formally out of respect.

Harvey just shook his head and clapped Ronan on the back. "Ronan, you know you can call me by my first name."

Ronan slightly blushed but nodded as Ava hugged him tightly and lightly kissed his cheek like she was his own mother. After all the greetings, the four adults moved into the living room to talk and have some wine. Ronan and Sophia sat on one side of the couch closely while her parents sat on the other side.

"How's work going?" Harvey inquired curiously as he took a sip of wine.

Sophia cleared her throat before answering, "it's been pretty busy but doing really well."

Her parents nodded then Harvey asked the same to Ronan who was a self-publishing writer. Before he could answer, he felt his nerves rising so Sophia snuggled up against his side and placed her hand on his thigh to calm him down.

"Ah um well...it's going okay I guess. My um publisher wants an idea pitched by the end of the month and it's been pretty frustrating," Ronan admitted as he exhaled heavily.

"Well I'm sure that whatever you come up with will be amazing as always," Ava complimented.

"Thank you," Ronan thanked her graciously.

The four adults talked more over dinner, everything went well until the subject of Sophia and Ronan dating came up. Which they both knew was going to happen sooner or later.

"Are you two ever going to date?" Ava inquired.

Sophia nearly choked on her wine and looked at her parents. "Guys, come on you know we're just friends. It's just platonic."

Harvey and Ava shared a look but didn't press the subject any further, which Sophia and Ronan were thankful for. After dinner, her parents said goodbye to them much to their relief and finally they could be alone again.

"Thank god that's over with," Sophia breathed with relief as she slumped on the couch.

Ronan was beside her, his arm around her waist as he held her tightly. "Yeah, really though. I love your parents but uh that was a bit much."

"I'm sorry about that hun," Sophia apologized as she looked up at him from his shoulder.

He smoothed her bangs back, giving a sincere smile. "Don't worry about it baby girl, we both knew it was going to happen."

"I love you," she whispered softly before kissing his cheek.

"Love you too Soph bear," he whispered back.

No matter what they went through, they would always love each other and be there for each other even if it was just platonic...it was more than enough for both of them.