TREY SONGZ - CAN'T BE FRIENDS

"and i wish i never fell so deep in love with you and now it ain't no way we can be friends."

(just in case if you guys didn't read my post on my profile, im changing john to seth!)

NICOLE

"Beep, beep, beep." I turned my alarm off once I realized it was going off. Another day another dollar. I looked to my right and Seth wasn't there next to me, as usual.

I sighed and sat up, checking a few important emails before I went straight to the shower. I stepped into the shower, letting the hot water erase the thoughts running through my head, but of course it failed.

Flashbacks of Roman and I played through my mind in this exact shower. While Seth spent time out of town getting his business right, Roman was here. I always made sure to turn the cameras off while he'd come and make an excuse about Brie wanting them off while she was over when Seth would ask.

I ran the strawberry scented shampoo in my hair as I thought again, instead of my hands doing it, it used to be Roman's. It was obvious I missed him more than I ever thought I could, but I knew I had to fight it.

There was no way in hell I could let this affect me anymore. The sex was great, but that's all we had. I didn't see a future between us, not under these circumstances.

After showering I did my hair and makeup quickly, realizing I was about to be an hour late to work. I picked out a simple black dress with white heels to go with them.

-

I headed into birdiebee office and sat down at my desk, getting straight to work. I looked up to see Brie walking in, later than me of course.

"Brought you some coffee."

"You're the best. I totally forgot about that." I sighed.

"Since when do you ever forget to grab coffee?" She raised an eyebrow. All I could do was shrug.

"What's on your mind sis?"

"What?" I looked over at Brie.

"I said what's on your mind?"

"Nothing. I'm tired." I said looking back down at my files.

"Right.." She wasn't close to convinced.

The truth was that ever since last week at the party I couldn't stop thinking about Roman.

I wanted to stop thinking about him so bad but it bothered me even more for some weird reason. I was doing just fine when he left, now that he's back I'm all screwed up again, or scared.

"It's not Roman is it?" She continued hinting until I gave up.

"It's just annoying how he's back all of a sudden. It's bothering me because he's acting like nothing happened."

"That's a good thing Nicole, he doesn't need to be reminded that you chose Seth over him."

"I wouldn't put it like that."

"Well how else would you put it? And you should be happy he's moved on and you are, because if he wasn't it would be drama and distractions that you don't need."

"You have a point." I sighed rolling my eyes.

"Maybe its a good thing you guys aren't just friends. It's better to be apart and only respectful when he's around Seth."

"Which will be all the time. I just wish things weren't different. I wish we never did anything together. So then I wouldn't have to accept the fact that we can't be friends."

"Or you can talk to him, clear the air perhaps. Meet up with him sometime."

"How the hell am I gonna do that without looking weird?"

"You're being dramatic. There's nothing wrong with having a private lunch with your fiancée's brother. If anyone asks, it was bachelor ideas."

"Maybe I'll text him."

ROMAN

"So when are you thinking of popping the question?" Seth asked me, strolling into my office.

"What question?" I chuckled sitting my phone down.

"Eva. I'm sure she's a great girl if you've been with her this long."

"Taking my time. I don't like to rush you know me."

"I guess so, I just had to swipe Nicole up. I can't see myself with anyone else and vice versa." I chuckled and nodded, feeling a bit uneasy once again when he said her name.

"How are you guys by the way?"

"We're great, she's busy with her clothing line and more while I'm just carrying on our business. We're slowly but surely trying to plan the wedding."

"That's good, and probably gonna take a while since you guys are always busy. Mom and Dad send their regards, they're coming up here soon." I told him, looking at the time on my wrist.

"Speaking of the wedding, how would you feel about being my best man?"

"No shit, really?" I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

"Yeah, man. I couldn't think of anyone else to be my best man. We've grown together since kids, so it's only right to make the best brother my best man."

"Of course I will." I got up and hugged him, still somewhat happy but feeling guilty that he had no idea I had been sleeping with his soon to be wife.

"Im gonna get out of here and get some work done, call you later." He said and walked out of my office. I let out a frustrating sigh and sat back down, picking up my phone that was vibrating.

Stephanie

meet me at the ritz at 12:30, today?

I stared long and hard, overthinking this message in many ways as possible. At this point it could've meant anything. Eventually my curiosity got the best of me so I texted her back, agreeing to meet with her, but if it was at a hotel that could only mean one thing.

-

AUTHOR

A couple hours later, Nicole waited in the conference room for Roman to show up. Eventually a knock came to the door and she stood up, smoothed her dress before walking to the door, opening it halfway.

"I'm here to tell you that this isn't some type of hook up deal." Roman began. "We're not-

Nicole shut him up by opening the rest of the door, showing a conference table. Roman blushed and walked in, apologizing for his assumptions:

"And even if it was something like that, you could've texted but instead you showed up to tell me that." She chuckles. Roman sits down across from her and adjusts his shirt, looking directly at her.

"So what did you call me here for?"

"To finally have this conversation. Because it can't keep being tense between us, it'll raise questions."

"Stephanie, I don't know who you think I am. I haven't done anything, that's you unsatisfied with the fact that I'm fine with only talking to you around Seth."

"But I feel like we can be cool without having to fake it. I hope we can move on without being bitter about how it ended."

"I admit, I was bitter but now I don't care, because isn't this entire thing a fake? You and my brother?"

"No. I love him, that's why I had to end it with you."

"No, you felt guilty. It's not because you love him."

"The fact that you actually think we could've magically worked out if I ended it earlier with Seth shows how ridiculous you are. We would never be looked at the same."

"You'd rather suffer in silence being with someone you barely love than actually admit I made you feel so much more than what he did."

"That's not true. You can keep telling yourself that I loved you more than Seth, but I didn't love you at all." Nicole bit.

"And yeah so what if I felt guilty? It's possible. I feel guilty but don't regret sleeping with you."

"That doesn't make any type of sense. What also doesn't make sense is that you called me here to talk about this when we already established a year ago that you left me. What are you trying to do? Make me relive that rough time in my life?"

"Rough?"

"Yes. I left because I couldn't manage to see you pretend to always love him and like what we had was nothing. That was the biggest spit in my face. We both knew what we were doing, and you lied about the fact that you were actually into me. That's what pisses me off."

"Roman-

"No. Let me talk. You got the last word before. You try to have this good woman image when you're no better than me. We both fucked up, yet we don't regret it. You keep lying to yourself saying you do when you're the one that showed up to my doorstep crying because you and Seth were at rock bottom. You were the one that wanted this."

Nicole took a deep breath and looked down at her hands, and back up into Roman who had hurt and anger written all over him.

"I'm sorry I left like that. I am. But what did you expect? For us to be together? We established that it was just when we got lonely we'd look toward each other."

"Well, you should've looked for that in someone else because I actually fell for you, and the fact that you can't admit you felt the same is the reason why I can never forgive you or even take you serious." He stood up from the chair and made his way to the door.

"Roman please, all I want is for us to be friends." Nicole stopped him. He turned around, chuckling bitterly.

"Like I told you before, you're about to be my brothers wife, I will treat you as my sister in law."

Roman took another step closer to her, looking down at her worried face. He knew she was uncomfortable, she always had her left hand was rubbing against her right arm gentle but forceful. It also made him remember it's what she did when she always got around him before. Nicole was nervous. Trying to resist.

"It's too late to be friendly. We aren't friends, we can't be friends. Unless it's about Seth or your miss the way I used to bend you over and make you scream and want me to pick up where we left off, we have nothing else to talk about? Got it?"

Nicole couldn't do anything but nod and swallow, feeling weak like she always did when he would give her that look.

"Now that we've cleared things up, I look forward to being my brothers best man and making sure you two have the perfect wedding, since that's who you're so in love with."

He left her in the room dumbfounded. She could only rub her arm and let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"This is going to be so much harder than I thought.."

Authors note - OHHH OKAY! well then whew i actually sat down for once and wrote a chapter and feel great about it, it feels so weird and ancient, i haven't written or update anything in almost a year or two now, i think it's been about that im not quite sure but i do know it's been so long. i miss writing more than anything and i will try my best to make up for lost time. i hope you guys enjoyed this little bit, i plan to come on with more. thanks so much to the people for encouraging me and being patient with me through everything and not forgetting about me. much love, comments would be nice below, also let me know what you think and if roman and nicole can continue being friends or civil. once again much love, xo - RRG