Finding Forever

Chapter 21

"So, how was it?" Maisie is doing her best not to sound too nosy about my weekend while I pretend I didn't just cry an entire flight, and this emotion I've discovered called heartbreak will soon be a thing of the past.

"You can thank me later for pushing you two back together," she adds, strutting her way into the living room with a smoothie. "And because I'm the best friend ever, I deserve every dirty little detail. There is no vague summary of events this time. That means I want full-on love confessions and sexy times."

I drop my luggage to the floor and crash on the sofa, arm draped over my forehead. I heave out a sigh, unable to speak.

"Ella?" she asks, sitting beside me on the sofa's edge. She reaches over to touch my arm. "What is going on? Are you okay?"

I glance over at her, frowning. "No. I'm not okay. The weekend was a disaster. No love confessions, no more sexy times, and I'm pretty sure our friendship is over, too."

"Wait - what?" she asks, shocked.

So I tell her. I tell her about when I saw Ryan show up for the rehearsal party, how I found out he was accepted to Yale, and how he broke up with Alodie when she gave him an ultimatum. I tell her about our fantastic time together at my dad's wedding and how things seemed to shift between us. I tell her how I paced around my hotel room like a maniac, debating whether to knock on his door, only to have him knock on mine. I tell her about how we didn't have sex this time – we made love. How everything was intense yet somehow raw and easy and real; I told her about the following day and the phone call from Disney, how Ryan acted like a jealous boyfriend. And how he said we should be nothing. And when I challenged him to ask me not to accept the internship, he walked out on me.

When I look up to meet her gaze, I wince. She looks like she just witnessed a train wreck.

"Okay, let me make sure I've got this straight."

I nod, waiting for her to continue.

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong...but up until Disney called you, you and Ryan did have an amazing weekend together...including some pretty earth-shattering orgasmic sex."

I cringe slightly. "Well, technically, yes- "

She holds a hand up to stop me from finishing. "But the next morning, when he finally wanted to talk about things, like where this is going, you get the call and agree to leave for your internship immediately after graduation. Instead of the original start date, which is three months away."

I sigh heavily and nod again. "Yes, I just told you all of this."

"And to your surprise, he became upset and stormed out on you," she says, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers when she says the word surprise.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well," she replies thoughtfully, clearing her throat. "I think you two just had your first real fight."

"No. No. We fight all the time," I look up slightly at the sound of her muffled laughter. "Maisie. This is not funny."

"I beg to differ. Are you that oblivious? Even you have to see how naïve you sound. Of course, Ryan is happy you landed your dream internship; he's been rooting for you since freshman year to become this big-time animation artist. But that was before he realized he had feelings for you. Can't you see, he's terrified of losing you? You're up and leaving in three weeks just when he thought you two could finally be something for real this time. In his mind, I'm guessing he feels you dumped the idea of him when you chose to leave on a whim for an internship that could have waited. You never even allowed either of you to discuss where you stand. He's right, Ella. You are impulsive, and you never think of the consequences, which is exactly how you ended up in this situation with Ryan," she says, pausing for a beat and then heaving a breath. "Listen, you two are meant to be together, which is exactly why I told him about your dad's wedding. Without a second thought, he dropped everything, including Alodie, and booked the next flight to Oregon so he could be with you—people who love each other fight sometimes. And whether you want to accept it or not –you and Ryan shouldn't be just friends. You should be together. You need to kiss and make up and somehow work through this."