No one is ever good enough for someone close to you. In my case, Malia deserved someone so much better than David. I was the protective best friend. I wasn’t the only one though. Devin, Malia’s brother, punched David in the face. Troy, Malia’s dad, told David never to come back again. I called David an asshole straight to his face multiple times. So at the time, I didn’t feel like such a jerk, because my best friend’s whole family had my same opinion. All we knew was he partied, did stupid s*** and wasn’t what we pictured for Malia. But David kept coming back. He would not give up. He loved Malia since day one, and all of us were oblivious to the fact he was willing to completely turn his life around for my best friend.

Once I started dating Cody, about 6 months after Malia and David became a couple, was when I really changed my opinion about David. Malia knew David and I didn’t get along at all, but she wasn’t going to have her best friend and boyfriend absolutely despise each other.
“Let’s go on a double date.” Malia suggested.

“Uhhhhhhh, how about not?! I would end up punching David.” I threw an Old Navy flip flop at her face.

“Stop being such a w**** and just try it for me. Please.” She looked at me in such a way that it made me feel like this was my last chance to make this right.

That next weekend, guess what I was doing? Yup, I was sitting in a hot tub with Malia, Cody and David. That’s when absolutely everything changed.

When I got to Malia’s house with Cody, David was already there. They were sitting on the couch watching a movie. I walked in and smiled at Malia. We sat down for awhile. Cody and David reminisced about old times when they were friends in elementary school. Malia and I sat there talking about the drama going on at school at the time. I was sort of ignoring David, trying to pretend he wasn’t there. Some of the stuff he said though was hilarious. I tried not to laugh. I wasn’t going to break!

We walked out to the hot tub and it was raining insanely hard. It looked like a giant shower. We got in the hot tub. Malia and David sat in one corner, Cody and I in the other. At first it was awkward; none of us really knew what to say. But then I decided to break the tension.

“Has Malia punched you lately?” I asked David, trying to be a smartass.

We all started laughing, knowing that Malia had punched David before when they got in a fight about him going to a party.

“She is very abusive.” He responded as Malia punched him in the arm, “See?”

They turned to one another, and looked into each other’s eyes. Malia smiled ear-to-ear at him. He smiled back.

I knew I hadn’t liked and been nice to this kid, but the one thing I knew for sure was no boy had EVER looked at me like he looked at her.
Throughout the night David had an incredible amount of sarcasm. I, being one of the most sarcastic people on earth, found pure enjoyment out of his humor.

“I think you should connect your nipple rings with a chain. It would make them a lot sexier than they already are.” Once again, he and I were catching on to each other’s total lack of seriousness.

In reality though, I absolutely hated those things. I couldn’t believe my best friend was dating someone with nipple rings. I mean, really? It was ridiculous.

Despite having to stare at his nipple rings the whole time, by the end of the night, his smile was making me smile, his laugh was making all of us laugh. He and Malia held on to one another the whole night, not going ten minutes without giving each other a kiss. I found myself looking at them together and smiling. I could see how truly happy she was.

Throughout the past week and a half, it’s been more than rough, but it’s also given me a chance to reflect. I’ve had to hear my very best friend wake up screaming in the middle of night, give her endless amount of hugs as she boogers all over my shirt, and watch her heart feel completely lost in this world. David treated her exceptionally amazing. He treated her like a princess, calling her “his angel” all the time. Sure he was rough around the edges, but he cared about her more than anything on this earth. That is enough for anyone to ask of him, whether it be me, Devin, Sheri, or the one other huge man in Malia’s life, Troy.

Sometimes I think I realized all this a little late. I should’ve liked him and accepted him for the whole two years they were together instead of just the last six months of his life. But I can’t tell anyone how incredibly grateful I am to have known David. I learned a lot from him and he showed everyone how much he deserved Malia.