Sleeping with my best friend ( ON HOLD)

Best friend

Leaving home and going off to college is usually scary and nerve-wracking but for Avneet , the fact that Boston University was only 20 minutes from her house and the fact that her best friend Siddharth was going there with her made it not so scary, which was a good thing considering everything she had already been through in the last 6 months. The less stress the better.

Avneet sat cross legged on her bedroom floor with the entire contents of her closet spread out in front of her because she needed to start deciding what she was going to take with her when she left for college in a week, what was going to Goodwill and what was going in the trash.

She never realized how many clothes she had that she never wore until now. There was a pretty large pile of dresses with the tags still on them that her Mom had bought her, because she had been in complete denial that Avneet was a tomboy and not a girly girl.

The memories of the arguments she had with her Mom every time she bought a new dress went through her mind and she couldn't help but feel nostalgic, tears burning at her eyes as she picked up the pile of dresses and squeezed them to her chest. She would give anything to have her Mom back, to see her just one more time, to give her a hug and tell her how much she loved her.

She regretted every stupid argument, every wasted minute, because she had taken for granted that she'd always be there. Unfortunately she wouldn't. If she could only go back in time, it would have been so different. It's true what they say, you never know what you've got til it's gone. She wished she could go back and just wear those stupid dresses and see her Mom smile with pride. She took a deep breath in and sighed, knowing it was too late for that.

"Hey you alright?" she heard a deep voice ask and she raised her head and opened her eyes to see her best friend Siddharth standing there, wearing his black leather jacket, his tall dominating frame taking up most of her doorway, running a hand through the dark brown hair that covered his forehead, looking at her with those midnight hazel eyes that held so many memories for her.

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath in and letting it out. "Just got hit with the feels. Mom bought me these dresses," she said quietly.

Siddharth came in and sat down beside her, rubbing her back and then pulling her closer so she'd lay her head on his shoulder, giving her a look of sympathy. She got that look from people a lot these days.

"Please don't look at me like that," she sighed.

Like what?" he asked, furrowing his dark eyebrows and looking confused.

"Like everybody else does, with pity and sympathy. They can look at me like that but not you Sid . That look doesn't make me feel better. It makes me feel like shit and just reminds me that she's gone and probably never coming back. I swear if one more person asks me if I'm alright or how I'm feeling, I'm gonna scream."

"Did you make an appointment with that therapist my Mom recommended?"

She rolled her eyes and lifted her head off his shoulder. "No. I'm tough enough to get through this without a freakin' shrink. I'm not crazy. I'm just going through a hard time right now."

"Talking to a therapist doesn't mean you're crazy Avni . What you went through would be hard for anybody to deal with, especially on their own. You know accepting help doesn't mean you're not tough right?"

"What makes you think I need help?"

"Umm, how about the fact that you're having nightmares every night where you wake up screaming like you're being murdered? It's obvious you're not getting enough sleep. You always look tired," he said quietly. "Look, I'm not trying to get on your case like your Dad does. I'm just worried about you."