"A hot air balloon? With you?" She asked, her eyebrows raised to the point it was almost comical. 

"...Yeah." 

"Sure! When?" 

"I don't know. I'll just call you, what about that?" 

She nodded. "That works for me. My schedule is always open." She spooned another spoonful of chocolate frozen yogurt into her mouth, smiling with her mouth full. 

His smile was soft as he stared at her, unknown to her, of course. She stared off into the distance, looking at the palm trees, enjoying the pleasant buzz of San Francisco traffic (Let me tell you right now, it's not pleasant-- at least I don't think). 

It was a peaceful silence, but Soren wrung his hands around each other as he stared at her. He felt extremely guilty. He'd never really had a friend in a long time, and he didn't remember how to do this. He had known since he was 9 years old, and so his old friends had always known. However, she was different. She wasn't used to normal people, much less himself. He didn't want to stress her out, but on the other hand, he felt terrible keeping something of himself from her. He fidgeted slightly in his seat and he bit his lip. His mind raced and he tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. 

Gwen turned her head to look at him, growing increasingly concerned. "Soren?" He got the sudden urge to just go and do something. You know those days where you get a random hit of productivity? That's how he felt right now. He'd been feeling like this since a little before he met Gwen. He'd been on a random high a few days before he met Gwen. 

"Are you okay?" He looked into her brown eyes and nodded. 

"What do you want to do after this?" 

"Um, well, I don't know. What do you feel like doing?" He shrugged, smiling at the sky now. "I just feel the need to do something, you know?"

"I guess," she smiled, confused by his sudden change in mood. 

"You're so beautiful when you smile." He complimented, either unaware or not surprised by the blush that crawled up her neck and settled on her cheeks. 

"Soren, I-" 

"Do you want to go swimming?" He asked suddenly. S

he shrugged. "Sure, we just need to stop by my house so I can grab my suit." 

He nodded, filling his spoon with strawberry froyo. "Is it a one-piece?" He asked, like that wasn't the weirdest question to ask someone. 

"Um, yeah." She smiled, weirded out by the conversation but finding it funny anyways. 

"So how are your paintings, Dolly?" She shrugged. 

"They're fine. How's acting?" 

He shrugged as well. "Kind of slow right now, but I think I do have a spot on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon." He thought about it. "I don't know, Claudia would know." 

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Claudia?" 

"My assistant," He said quickly. "She's the lady you talked to on the phone the first time you called me." 

"Oh, yeah. She seemed nice." She smiled, and it was a content silence. Soren was absolutely bubbling with excitement. Once Gwen finished her froyo, he practically yanked her out of her seat and ran with her to his car, his grip on her wrist never faltering. 

"SOREN!" She screamed girlishly as they made a mad dash for his limo. 

"Isn't this fun?!" He yelled, sounding out of breath as they finally arrived at the door of the sleek, long black car. 

"Soren!" She laughed as she doubled over, clutching her knees. 

"If you thought that was fast you need to work out more, Dolly. Maybe we can go together sometime." He smiled at her she stood staring at the ground, trying to regain her breath. 

He got in the car and held the door open. "Took you long enough." He joked, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. 

She stared at his arm, but he seemed not to notice as he blabbered on and on about an actress he despised and why, seeming like he was in his normal habitat. 

"S-Soren?" He didn't hear her and continued talking about another actress that he was sure was hitting on him. "Soren?" She asked more confidently and he looked over at her, still smiling. "Yes?" 

"If you could please, er," she gestured to his arm and he pulled it off faster than you can say 'poor Soren'. 

"Oh," his cheeks tinted red. "Sorry." He bit his lip and instead opted to look out the window, as the houses blurred together. 

"Soren, it's okay." She put her hand on his shoulder, and he smiled a small smile. 

"Thank you, Dolly." She was confused what he was thanking her for, but shrugged it off. "We're here." Soren mumbled and she opened the limo door. 

"Be right back!" 

And Soren sat in the limo, alone, deep in his own thoughts. He knew he had to tell her at some point; he just hoped she didn't react like everybody else did. He had to leave Malibu because of it, and he hoped that she didn't hate him and stop hanging out with him. So many people despise him because of something he has absolutely no control over. He hoped she wasn't the same. He knew she wasn't the same. 

She sat next to him in the limo in a light blue one-piece, holding a starfish covered beach towel, smiling brightly at him. His heart pounded in his chest as he watched her with widened eyes, the sun hitting her slightly tan skin perfectly. "You ready to go?" She asked, her smile never fading. 

"Erm, y-yeah. We just have to stop by my house really quick." He stuttered out, and prayed she didn't notice the faint heat that rose to his cheeks. "Cool. I've been wondering what your house looks like, anyways." The smile still plastered to her face, she stared out of the window, thinking about the beach in which she hasn't seen in so long. 

"We're here." Soren whispered to her once they reached his mansion, which looked less like something from 100 years ago and more like a deluxe sized pool and too many windows to count. Her mouth gaped open in awe. "Oh my god... Soren..." she breathed out, staring at the colossal living arrangement. 

"You wanna come inside?" He asked, making his way out of the limo. "Sure!" She said all too excitedly. He held her hand to help her out like she was some kind of royalty. "This way, M'lady," he said in an terribly fake British accent. She laughed anyways, and continued to be led inside a mansion fit for a king. 

"So, Dolly, this is the living room," he gestured to a space the size of her house with a huge TV and a bunch of seating and plush carpeting. "This is the kitchen." A huge, retro style kitchen gleamed, winking at her as she stared at it in awe. He led her to a room right next to it. "This is the dining room." The dining room (more like dining hall) was humongous, filled with silver utensils and nearly everything was a beautiful shade of antique wood. 

"Why would you have a retro kitchen yet such a fancy dining room?" She questioned more to herself than to him. "I don't really like being like everyone else," he shrugged. "Plus, I've always liked the retro style." She nodded and followed him throughout the house. "It would take a bajillion hours to tour the entire place, so I'll just show you this." 

He opened a random door in a hallway filled with doors, and she wondered how he remembered. "This is my bedroom." He opened the door and she walked in, smiling like a goofball. It had Andy Warhol's pictures of Marilyn Monroe, 60's record albums pinned on the wall, a dream catcher attached to the window, and yet still had a modern essence to it; with black and white dressers, a black and white bed and other more modern things. 

"I change it every now and then, this is what I decided on like last week." 

He smiled at some of the albums and he pointed at Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. "This is one of my favorite albums." He said softly, looking at it with interest. "I can't say I've ever heard that album." Gwen said disappointedly, standing next to him, also looking at it. "I should show it to you sometime." He whispered. 

"Oh well, I gotta go change. Be right back." He skipped to a walk-in closet and Gwen was left to her own thoughts, in a unbelievably big bedroom. "Ah well, I can't wait for the beach." She sighed and decided to take a better look around his room. 

She flopped on his bed and turned over so she was facing his nightstand. She saw a piece of paper that looked pretty urgent. 

It was slightly crumpled and the words were only worn by the tiniest amount. 

She picked it up and saw a letter from Los Robles Regional Medical Center. 

Dear Mr. Carter, 

Your test results are back from Dr. Rosenheim. 

Through many medical procedures and many different tests, they all point to the same conclusion. Know that we have confirmed this and we did do the tests multiple times on your behalf, but I'm afraid that the information from these tests cannot be denied or counterfeit. 

Whatever it was, Gwen knew, it was serious. It didn't even cross her mind that she was invading Soren's private things, the only thing on her mind was whatever thing Soren had or has. The doctor talked about it like he had cancer and she wondered if he had cancer? Did he want to spend his last moments with her?

We regret to inform you that have manic-depressive illness or as you know it, Bipolar Disorder. Specifically, Bipolar II Disorder. 

For treatment speak to Dr. Rosenheim immediately and we'll be sure to-

Gwen froze. Except for her hands which were shaking, her whole body froze and her eyes glazed over, staring into absolutely nothing. She was lost in her thoughts. Soren had never told her? Why didn't he tell her? Did he think it wasn't important? Did he not trust her? 

Never once did she think that he could be scared of telling her. Never did she connect the dots from this note written a few years ago to Malibu, Soren's old town. 

"Yep," she heard a faint croak, and she looked up into the bright blue eyes of a Famous Bipolar. "That's the letter that ruined my life." His eyes were glassy and he didn't make eye contact with her, instead he stared intently at the letter in her hands. "The letter that ruined my life."