Heart Of Gold

An Overdue Reunion

"Just go over there, Rose."

Gail lay in her bed beside Rose, gently braiding her friend's hair. "Honestly, the longer you put it off, the angrier Danny's going to be."

Rose sighed, twisting the edge of Gail's soft pink quilt. She had crashed there after the shit-show at Jake's last night, not wanting to go home to more people yelling. Danny's face had raced through her mind all night and despite her best efforts, she hadn't been able to think of anything to say that would make things better between them.

"What's the point?" she asked sadly. "He should be angry at me - what kind of person starts hanging out with another guy after the one she just hooked up with says that he loves her?"

Gail looked at her solemnly. "Do you regret meeting Jake?" she asked.

"What?" Rose's eyebrows furrowed. "No, of course not."

"Do you wish you had told Danny that you loved him back?"

"No." Rose answered with such certainty that it startled her.

"Why?"

"Because..." Rose searched for an answer. "Because it would have been a lie," she finally admitted. "I love Danny the way I love you - as friends. And yes, there was a spark, and we acted on it, but that isn't the same as being in love with someone."

She rested her chin in her hand. "I only would've ended up hurting him in the end when I realized it wasn't enough."

Gail patted Rose's hand. "You need to tell him that, Rose."

"He'll hate me." Rose's voice was small and sad, even to her own ears.

"Only for a little while," Gail promised. "Danny's proud and yeah, he'll probably think that he hates you for a bit. But he'll come back. Once the hurt goes away, he'll remember being your friend and he'll want that again."

"You think so?"

"Come on, I've known Danny forever. I probably know him even better than you!" Gail cackled. "Actually, maybe not quite so well, but still ..." She dodged the tiny stuffed rabbit Rose tossed at her face and got out of bed. "The longer you wait, the worse it'll be."

The walk to Danny's house didn't take long. He lived about fifteen minutes away from Gail in a more run-down area of the neighbourhood. White paint peeled off the worn front door of his parents' small bungalow and the plants in the window baskets were long dead.

It took a moment before Rose was able to walk the short distance up the driveway to his door. Shouts from inside the house punctuated the early morning silence. Through a sheer curtain hanging in the door's small window, Rose saw Danny's slim frame and mussed-up hair approaching the door.

Her stomach knotted the way it always used to before a school exam.

Without a glance through the window, Danny opened the door. Surprise shot across his face before he could stop it but within seconds his features were masked in a scowl.

"Hey," Rose said shyly.

"What are you doing here, Rose?" he replied, arms crossed over his chest. Danny grabbed his leather jacket from the hook by the door and slung it on, closing the door behind him.

Rose bit her lip, not sure how to begin.

"Look," she said, hesitating. "I know you're angry but we need to talk about this."

"I don't know what's left to talk about." Danny leaned against the chipped shingles lining the wall. "I told you to make a choice. You did."

"That's not it, though," Rose pressed on.