“You alright, baby?” I asked, pushing the hair back off her forehead and kissing her nose. I hated to hurt her. I'd rather cut off my arm than make her feel any pain ever again. But then she smiled and began to move her hips.

“I'm wonderful,” she said, her breath hitching as we started to find a rhythm together. And then we were moving our bodies. And I swear, I have never felt anything like that in my life. I had had sex. Lots of sex. But nothing came close to the total completion I felt as I moved in and out of Rachel's body.

And when we were finished, we laid there together, wrapped up in each other and I knew there was nowhere else on this earth that I ever wanted to be. This girl was it. She was my forever. And I was on top of the clouds.

I was jarred awake by the sound of Rachel's phone ringing. We both blinked sleepily and I looked at her alarm clock and saw that it was five in the morning.

Crap! It was five in the morning! Rachel's mom would be home any minute!

“Rachel! Get that! I have to get going! Your mom will be here soon!” I said in a near panic. Rachel hopped out of bed and grabbed her phone.

“Hello?” she said in a rush. I hurried to pull on my clothes. I was tugging on my socks when Rachel's words made me stop.

“What do you mean she's gone? Please, Mrs. Young, calm down. I don't understand.” I sat down on the bed beside Rachel. Her face had gone pale and she was gripping the bed sheets in a death grip.

“I swear I haven't heard from her!” My stomach was in knots. This was obviously about Maggie. What the hell had our friend done?

“I promise! The second I hear from her, I'll call you!” Rachel's voice rose in anxiety. I put my arm around her and she leaned into me. “I know. Mrs. Young, please, that will only make it worse. Give it until this evening. I know Maggie. She will call one of us. I'll let you know as soon as I hear something.” I waited on pins and needles as Rachel hung up.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and panicked. “What is it, Rach?” I asked.

“She's gone. Maggie. She's run off. Apparently Ruby, Clay's aunt called the house this morning looking for Clay. He and his parents had an altercation last night and he took off. When Mrs. Young went to get Maggie, she wasn't there. No note, nothing. She had just taken off. So it's pretty obvious who she ran off with.” Rachel ran her hands through her hair.

I let out a breath. “Well, hell,” I muttered, not sure what to say.

Rachel got to her feet and started pulling on her clothes. “Get your phone. Let's start harassing the shit out of her until she freaking answers! I can't believe she pulled a stunt like this! She is so dead!” Rachel seethed. She was really angry.

She was furiously dialing Maggie's number when I stopped her. “Calm down, Rach. Seriously. You know Maggie. And you know how she is about Clay. You can't go all guns blazing on her. You have to hear her out. Listen. Otherwise she'll shut us out again,” I told her. Huh. When did I become the voice of reason in our relationship?

Rachel's lips quirked into a small smile. Obviously the irony wasn't lost on her either.

So together, we spent the next three hours blowing up Maggie's phone. We sent a dozen texts between us, left her countless voice mails.

Rachel's mom had come home. After explaining what was going on with Maggie, she didn't question why I was there at such an early time of the morning. So we clearly dodged that bullet. But what a crappy way to do it.

Time seemed to slow down and speed up all at the same time. Rachel heard from Maggie. She had run away with Clay. She claimed to be fine. But Rachel revealed later that Maggie had told her Clay was suffering from some major mental issues. Not that I was surprised. I knew there was something off about him. But after hearing about everything the guy was going through, even I could feel some sympathy for him.

I still wanted to kick his ass for taking off with Maggie like that. But looking at Rachel, I think I understood where he was coming from.

Love has a way of consuming you. Making you lose all focus. But it could also lift you up and make your life that much better. Make you feel like it was the only thing in the world you needed.

So I connected with Clay for a moment, knowing that was how he felt about Maggie.

Then came the call that we had to go get our best friend. Because she was stranded five hours away in some small town in North Carolina. That Clay had tried to kill himself.

And it was obvious that Clay and Maggie's love wasn't going to make things better for either of them. In fact, it had damn near destroyed them.

So Rachel and I went with Mr. and Mrs. Young to get her. Maggie looked so young in that hospital waiting room. As though she had been to hell and back. I worried like crazy that she would never come back from it.

But Rachel and I held her together as best we could. As only friends can. And together we helped Maggie pick up the pieces of her life.

And we would continue to be there. Every step of the way down that long and painful road. We would show Maggie that love didn't have to hurt. That it could be the most amazing and brilliant thing in your life. We would help her discover herself again.

And Rachel and I would continue to love each other. Support each other. Remind each other every day that love does make things better when it was done right.

And Rachel and I were doing it right, every single day.

I never wanted my feet to touch the ground again.