Friends Forever, huh?

Epilogue

As it turns out, senior year of high school isn't the only thing that goes quickly. Two years have passed in a flash and it's near Christmas break of my sophomore year in college.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, especially now that I'm living in New York. There's something incredibly magical about the lights strung about the city. Everything is abuzz with festivities and Christmas cheer--I can't help but get swept along in the flow of excitement.

Thanks to the encouragement of Cole and yes, Benjamin as well, I'm pursuing my dreams by attending college as an English Major. Ben, true to his word, has stuck close to our family for the past two years. Along with my mother, he saw me off to college. He gave me all the tips he knew on writing. Despite my initial apprehension, I'm starting to think of him as my father--something I swore never to do. I can't help but love him, though. In the last two years, he's managed to nearly erase the seventeen years of his absence. He's undoubtably made me feel like his daughter. I am his daughter. But it still feels weird to have a father...hence the reasoning behind me still calling him "Ben."

I place my hands on my hips, interrupting my thoughts for the time. Glaring into my closet, I announce to no one in particular, "I have nothing to wear."

My bed is cluttered with already rejected outfits--evidence that I've been at this for awhile. "What are you so worried about?" I chide myself, "It's just Cole. He sees you in sweatpants all the time."

But...Cole's been acting strange lately. So strange that it's starting to make me feel uneasy. He's jumpy, as if he's keeping something from me. He's not. Is he?

Suddenly, my overactive imagination goes into overdrive. Is he going to break up with me? Is he cheating on me? Is that why he constantly carries his phone around with him?

"Shut up!" I tell myself, now that I've successfully worked myself into a sort of panic. Oh my gosh, what if this is like Legally Blonde where she thinks the relationship is going one way but he thinks it's going the other? What if he does break up with me?

"Shut up, self!"

Twenty minutes later, I'm standing in front of my mirror staring at my reflection and trying to convince myself that nothing's wrong. This is just a normal date. Right? Right.

Maybe I just shouldn't go. And so the battle with myself commences. I swear, I should have been a lawyer because I can--logically or illogically--argue about anything.

Finally, I declare myself an idiot and head out to meet Cole. No, there is not a dragon of anxiety curled up in my stomach. Why would you ask such a thing?

"I need to tell you something," Cole says almost immediately upon seeing me, skipping the hello, "before I lose my nerve."

No, Cole, don't you dare break up with me. Not here. Not now. Not at Christmastime!

"Okay," I reply, my voice trembling slightly.

"First off, can you stop looking at me like I'm a pop quiz?"

Brows furrowed in confusion, I relax a little and ask, "What?"

He repeats his statement, then, "You should see your eyes. You look insanely nervous. Kinda the way you looked when you had that pop quiz over Shakespeare in British lit."