It was terrible that I had to say goodbye to Chris just now that we understood each other and finally confessed our feelings for each other. It was liberating, and I should have done it sooner.


    I park Julie’s car in the garage and head towards the elevator, and I am a little nervous because I have decided to tell her what is between her brother and me. I don’t know how she will react, and it makes me extremely tense with every step I take toward her apartment.


    I meet Chantal and Ronan, her new boyfriend, and say:


    ”You finally remembered you live here?”


    Sheughs and says:


    ” Look who’s in a good mood today. You look like you finally gotid.”


    I roll my eyes, and they walk away,ughing towards the stairs. I take a deep breath and head for Julie’s apartment door, which for a change, has the door unlocked. I walk in, and she turns to me smiling and asks:


    ”Are you back yet?”


    I can only answer:


    ”Yeah, I just got here.”


    She says:


    ”Great. Thanks a lot, friend.”


    She goes back to the juice she seemed to be noticing, and I approach the countertop that separates the kitchen from the living room and say:


    ”Julie, I need to talk to you.”


    She doesn’t even look at me as she tastes if the juice has enough sugar in it and says:


    ”Speak up.”


    I take a deep breath, and I don’t know if I like that she’s not making a big deal out of what I’m about to say or if I think it’s worse that she’s going to be scared or even angry with me because I broke her friends’ code of not being interested in their siblings. I close my eyes and say at once:


    ”I’ve been hanging out with Chris. ”


    She stops what she is doing and looks at me, and I am preparing myself so that she will never speak to me again. I know I will suffer and do everything to make her forgive me and…Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    She interrupts me by saying:


    ”And how are you two now?”


    What? Did she ask me that? No reaction at all to what I said before?


    She still looks at me, waiting for an answer, and I say:


    ”. We talked, and we are fine.”


    She smiles and says:


    ” Great.”


    I am still in disbelief when I see Brennane downstairs and ask Julie to make him a sandwich. He sees me and says hi, I look at him and Julie several times, and she rolls her eyes, saying:


    ”Oh,e on, Molly? Everybody knows that you and my brother were making out.”


    ”What?”


    She sees my astonished face and says to Brennan:


    ”Isn’t that right, love?”


    He shakes his head affirmatively and says:


    ”That night at the bar.”


    I am so embarrassed right now, so Juliees over and hugs meughing, and I end upughing too. Then I say:


    ” I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”


    She says:


    ”That’s okay, Molly. You don’t have to apologize for that.”


    I say:


    ” I thought you would hate it because I broke the friend code.”


    Sheughs and says:


    ” Silly What code? You’re all grown up, and I like you together. The two of you are less annoying.”


    I end upughing and say:


    ” You mean this story about Brennan being sick was a lie?”


    Heughs, and Julie says:


    ”I had to find a way for you to talk to each other. No one could stand you two almost crying all the time in front of us anymore.”


    Brennanughs even moreplex and says:


    ”True.”


    I can only say:


    ”Thank you.”


    She smiles and hands me a ss and pours me orange juice while saying:


    ”You’re wee. Chris will be back soon, and it’s just a few days.”


    I sip my juice and smile at the thought that he’ll be back to me soon. Julie invites me to stay and watch a movie with the two of them. After all, Chantal is not at home, and now I feel even more at home here, if that is possible. My heart isn’t heavy anymore, I have to wait for my best friend’s brother toe back, and I can’t wait for that to happen.


    … Epilogue…


    ”Okay. Kisses, kisses. I miss you so much.”


    Chris smiles from the other side of myptop screen, and I want to run to him now and bite that smile for one long kiss. But he is still in New York. He says:


    ” I miss you too, my beautiful.”


    I almost melt when he says these things, I’ve always thought it was a bit mushy, but when he says it to me, I’m like a fool and want him to say more, to say it all the time. To love Chris is good. To know that he loves me back is even better. I say goodbye and leave my room. He said he would be back by the weekend, and my anxiety only increased, it has been a month and a few days since he traveled, and even though we have spoken constantly, I still miss him.


    Chrismented the other day that he left his room like that and asked me if I coulde over and check it out. I don’t know if Julie has had much time to clean it out, it has been the end of the semester, and we have been very busy with college papers and exams.


    I told him I would pick one day a week to do this, and I even told him yesterday that I would do it today, so in the afternoon, I would look around to see if I needed to clean anything. I like this, and it makes me realize even more that there is only a short time left before he returns to stay with me. Even though it may not be for many days, I still like it.