Page 125 of Still Love You

"I think you should take next semester off, do what you can to help your parents save the business, then go back to school in the spring and summer to catch up."

"Where would I go to school?"

"UC-Berkeley. I know you wanted to get away from here but Berkeley's a really good school and I did some research and they have a great business program. And Martin could help you with the application process. He's friends with people in admissions. Plus going to Berkeley would be cheaper because you could live at home. Or with me." I threw that last part in just to see how she'd react. It's no secret I want to be with her so I might as well put it out there.

"You're moving out of your parents' house?"

"I need to save up some money, but yeah, that's the plan. Actually, Trent's uncle isn't coming back after the summer like he'd plan to, so he's looking for someone to housesit. Trent asked if I wanted to live there after he goes back to college in the fall."

"You should do it. That's a really nice house."

"We'll see. Trent and I aren't exactly on speaking terms right now."

"Because of me," she says. "So you know he came to my house."

"Yeah. He shouldn't have done it."

"He was just being your friend. He doesn't want you to get hurt again." She pauses. "Neither do I. Which is why we can't continue this, Silas. I can't keep doing this, knowing it's just going to end."

My temper flares, angry that she's making this decision now, when she's not thinking straight. She's panicking, and right now, this is the only decision that makes sense to her. It's just like when she broke up with me last time. She made the decision based on fear. Fear that she wouldn't accomplish her goals if I was in her life. Now it's her fear of the unknown causing her to push me away. She's uncertain about the future and doesn't want to keep dating me if there's a possibility she might break up with me later when she figures out what to do.

When she gets like this I can't convince her to change her mind. She has to do that on her own. So I'm not going to fight her on this. Instead, I'm going to spend my time being her friend, reminding her how good we are together. Showing her that no matter how much she fights it, she'll still love me, and I'll love her. She'll try to keep her distance from me, but that'll be hard to do given that I live down the street from her and work for her dad.

"Okay." I let go of her hand. "Anything else?"

She looks confused. "Don't you want to talk about this?"

"What's there to talk about? You broke up with me. I got it. But we're still going to be friends."

"I don't know if that's a good—"

"You need a friend right now. And since you don't seem to have any others, I'm it."

"I have friends," she insists.

"You haven't spoken to your high school friends in over a year, so I'm guessing they're probably not your friends anymore."

She doesn't respond, which means it's true. Her friends in high school weren't close friends, so I'm not surprised she didn't stay in touch with anyone.

I lean back in my seat, facing forward and lacing my hands behind my head. "So what else do you want to talk about?"

"It's late. We should go."

"I'm not ready to go." I reach behind the seat and grab the sleeping bags and blankets. "Come on."

I open my door and step out.

"Silas, no. It's cold out. We're not going back there."

"I am. If you don't want to come with me, then I guess you'll just have to wait here until I'm ready to go." I close the door and go to the back of the truck and lay out the sleeping bags and blankets.

"Silas, this isn't funny!" I hear her voice, then see her climbing up into the truck bed. "We're broken up. We're not doing this."

"Not doing what?" I lie down, gazing up at the sky.

She sits beside me. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Hot, uncontrolled, mind-blowing sex that makes you scream my name?" I smile. "Yeah, we're not doing that. Sorry, but if you want that, we have to be dating. I'm not some manwhore like Trent. I do have standards."

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