Best Friends Don't Sleep Together - A.H. Series #1

Chapter 23

VIVIAN

"So, everything's ready." I exhaled loudly, sitting on my bed. This was the first time I came back home since the whole Chris drama. I didn't even want to, but I'm leaving for London tomorrow, it was impossible to delay the inevitable any further. I had to not only pack, but also make sure everything was perfect for Adam and Maggie, since they will live here while I'm gone.

Maggie is a really nice woman, but she looks so sad most of the time. The only times you see her smile, really smile, is when Adam is talking to her gently, as if comforting her. I would think she misses London, yet she never talks about her life there. I barely know how they met, they haven't said much about Maggie's family, and lately I've started wondering how come they got married here and not there, and with no one from either side.

"You sure?" Adam wondered, busy making one of his fantastic cocktails.

"Pretty sure." I bit my lips, eyeing my apartment. It held so many memories. I've been here four years, Chris and I have spent here some of the greatest days and nights of our friendship, feeling nostalgic was inevitable. I keep wondering whether I could have acted differently, whether telling him the truth years ago would have changed anything or simply shortened our bond even more.

It's not like he feels the same. When he came to me that night, I don't know whether he intended to make such revelations as the ones he did, or if they just escaped his lips, but the one certainty I have, is that he never intended to confess the same feelings I have been craving to hear him admit for so long. He admitted to knowing, he never got even close to admitting to feeling. That makes a huge difference.

This is what I've been pondering on for the past few days. As much as it pains me, the end of our bond was inevitable. My feelings had no chance of ever being reciprocated, so, beyond the original reasons for needing time away from him, I had to add further reasons to maybe never go back to him at all. It's not the impossibility to forgive him, even though I still haven't and I might not for months if not years. It's the impossibility of our love entirely.

I thought Chris saw me as a sister, but maybe it was more like some sort of property, the one person he could never lose, because I would never dare leave him, no matter what. Even in that sense of property, however, there were no romantic feelings, I have come to peace with it. And if nothing, in 20 years, has ever sparked such emotions in him, nothing ever will. I might as well accept it and move on for real.

"We can always send you whatever you need." Maggie told me with a small smile.

"Indeed." I smiled back, leaving my last suitcase on the floor. "Are you liking New York, Maggie?" I asked as I went to sit on the armchair, opposite to her – I've learnt that she prefers to keep a physical distance between herself and any other person, except for Adam. Part of me wonders if it's a character trait or trauma, but I wouldn't want to make wrong assumptions that could lead to drama.

"It is ... highly different from London." She replied, smiling politely. I don't think I've ever seen her laugh.

"It's temporary." Adam mentioned, coming to us with the drinks he'd prepared. Much to my surprise, there wasn't one for his wife.

"Temporary?" I repeated, confused, offering a sip of my cocktail to her.

"Maggie doesn't drink alcohol." He justified, coming to sit beside her.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized, because it felt like I'd offended her, somehow. "But what do you mean it's temporary, Adam?"

"We're not staying in New York." He answered a bit evasively, taking a sip of his drink. "We're considering moving to California."