“No, we’re good, but thanks.”

Becky looked deep in thought, then dashed into her bedroom, making some noise, and came out with several small boxes in her hands, just as I finished sweeping the last pine needles into a pile. “Let’s decorate the Christmas tree before I go.”

“Sounds good.” I steadied the broom against the wall.

Placing the boxes down, Becky went to the kitchen and brought back a bowl of water as I opened the boxes. Kneeling down, she poured it into the container surrounding the base of the tree. “There, now drink up and stop shedding your greens and make our place smell like we’re in the middle of the forest.”

“Here, you get to put up the first one,” I said, handing her an ornament. It was a frame with a picture of the two of us. We had taken it when we first moved into this apartment.

Taking it from my hand, she looked at it with soft eyes, recalling when we took it. Then, she looped the string on a section of branch. After putting the first ornament in place, we draped white lights around the whole tree. This was kind of tricky, since they always seemed to tangle. We hurriedly hung the other ornaments. We finished by placing the angel on top, and decided not to turn on the lights until tonight.

After Becky and I hugged, she went out with her workbag, while I headed straight to the computer, waiting for Max to return. While I was surfing the Internet, my phone buzzed with a text. Surprisingly, it was from Luke. Not only did he apologize again, he asked to see me. The last text I’d sent to him, I told him that I was seeing Max and that there could never be anything between us. I guess he wasn’t giving up. I didn’t know what else to do except to ignore him.

2

JENNA HAD NO IDEA how difficult it was for me to see her lying in a hospital bed, so helpless. I couldn’t blame her. She didn’t know I had lost a good friend before; a friend who just happened to have been my roommate. I was too embarrassed to tell her that Amber had been under the influence of alcohol when she was driving.

I should’ve been a better friend and forced her not to drive. Not only did she die in that accident, but she had taken someone else’s life as well. That was unforgivable, but it was not my story to share. My friend had passed away because of a terrible mistake, and I know somewhere she’s feeling a whole lot of guilt and making amends for what she had done.

Selfishly, I was glad I wasn’t the one who took someone’s life. I’m also glad my friend would never know what she had done. I don’t think she could have ever forgiven herself, so in a way, fate somehow was in her favor, but not for her parents.

That made me sober up right away. Since that day, I had never allowed any of my friends to drive drunk, even if I had to steal their car keys. I spent many days missing her and I drowned my sorrows, sometimes not in a good way. So, I decided to get a roommate, hoping that would help me move on. Not that I wanted to forget her; I just really wanted someone around. I had friends, but they were mostly party friends.

When Jenna became my roommate, her goody-two-shoes ways made me a little more conscientious of my behavior. I stopped cussing around her, because she would flinch or become edgy when I did. She was so innocent and naïve, it made me like her even more, not to mention her “goodness” rubbed off on me…somewhat. Nicole and Kate also came into our lives shortly thereafter. We ended up doing a group project together and the rest was history. We were great friends who were meant to last, even after college.

Though I still partied during our senior year, I didn’t party as hard as my junior year. I didn’t have a good reputation with the boys like Jenna did. Guys went after her, not only because she was beautiful, but also because she was not the type to go out with just any guy. She was like a trophy they would try to win, but couldn’t. So conquering her meant they would have to be someone pretty special.

As for me, I made out with enough guys to lose count, but I wasn’t a slut. I’d had two actual boyfriends, though not long term, so I was more experienced in the “making out” department than the “long-term relationship” department. I was always hoping one day, I would meet that guy who would lift me off the ground and never put me back down again. That was how Jenna told me she felt with Max. I was so happy that she found her forever—hopefully.

Starbucks was packed and the line was too long. I thought by now it would have slowed down, but since the weather was cooler, it attracted more customers. The thought of leaving entered my mind, but I realized I was practically high from the first whiff of the scent of coffee, which was so addicting. I didn’t care if I had to stand in line all day. I had to have my coffee fix. I was totally addicted to caffeine and my favorite latte.

After I picked up my drink, I headed toward the table in the corner near the front door. Since it was difficult to find a table at Starbucks no matter what time of the day, I was more than happy to find a table with two chairs. Perfect! Hopefully, nobody would sit across from me.

Taking out my laptop from my oversized bag, I opened it up and immediately clicked on the file I named “query.” I was so behind it wasn’t funny. I had put work on hold while Jenna was in the hospital. Unable to think clearly that whole week, I stopped trying to read since I couldn’t give it my full attention, and that would be totally unfair to the authors.

Before I even opened my first file, a group of women who started giggling like schoolgirls distracted me, whispering things like, “He’s hot…let’s get his attention…ask him to sit with us.”