COLTON

When I walked through the front door of my house my nose was immediately filled with the smell of steaks. I drop my bags by the staircase and walk into the kitchen where my parents were...dancing? Mom stood at the stove shaking her hips while my father was busting out some other weird-looking moves.

I can't wait to be this in love with someone.

"Am I, uh, interrupting something?" I curiously ask.

They immediately stop what they are doing and look at me, "Uh, yeah, you kind of are." My dad jokes.

My mother hits his arm, "No sweetie, you're just in time. Come sit."

I sit down at one of the bar stools, "Where's Emma?"

My father rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as my mother spoke, "She's out with some boy named Forest."

"Forest? What happened to Alex?" I ask.

My mom laughed, "Who knows." She uses hand gestures to tell me to move to the table. I slowly get up and sit down. "Now, how was your day?"

I groan, "I don't think I can do it anymore, ma. It's killing me seeing her with that boy."

She hands me a plate and I thank her. "Well, why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

I groan, "Mom! I've dropped so many hints. It's impossible for her to think I'm not in love with her. It's like she just doesn't want to admit it. Plus, she's dating Luke. I can't ruin her relationship."

"Just be patient. She will come around soon."

"I've been waiting over fifteen years." She chuckles and I almost throw my bread roll at her before deciding to just eat my feelings. "It's not as easy as you think. You and Dad confessed your feelings the day you met."

My dad rolled his eyes, "It was more like a month."

"It's still better than fifteen years!" My phone starts to ring and I curiously pick it up to see that it was Ivy calling. I excuse myself from the table, walk into the living room, and press answer. "Hey, Ives."

She sniffles, "Hey, can you come pick me up?"

My heart broke, I hated seeing her sad, "Yes, I'm on my way now. I'll be there soon, beautiful."

"Thank you, Colton. I love you."

"I love you too." I hung up the call before briefly telling my parents what I was doing.

Luckily Luke didn't live too far away. It took me about five minutes to get there due to my speeding. I peel the car to the curb to find Ivy sitting on the porch with her head in her hands. I quickly get out of the car and run up to her. I wrap my arms around her and she sobs into my chest. I don't say anything and I just continue to comfort her. Once I realized we were still on this prick's porch, I stood up and picked her up waking her over to my car. I put her stuff on the floorboard and put her seatbelt on.

I've seen this girl cry only a small handful of times and it kills me every time. I don't push her into telling me anything yet. I want to give her time.

I drive to my house where I walk inside and immediately go up the stairs. I set her down on my bed and then jogged down the stairs to where my parents were cuddling on the couch. "Is everything okay?" My mom asks.

I scratch the back of my head, "Not really, is it okay if Ives stays here tonight?"

My mom turns to look at my dad with that look and he shrugs, "Yeah, no funny business though."

I smile and kiss her on the cheek, "Thank you. And we will probably just talk and then go to sleep."

She nods and I walk back over to the stairs before my dad yells, "You better be at practice tomorrow."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" I sarcastically shout and dash up the stairs.

When I reached my room, I found her cuddled up on the side of my bed snuggling a pillow. She looked adorable. I kissed her forehead before heading into my bathroom to take a shower since I hadn't yet for the night.

IVY

I immediately knock on the door of Luke's home when Colton drops me off. After a few seconds, the door is swung open by the one and only. "Ivy?" He asks.

"That's me. Can we talk?" I ask. He nods opening the door wider for me to walk through. We head into his living room, so I'm guessing he is home alone.

"What's up?" He asks sitting down and patting the couch next to him.

I licked my lips before beginning to start the flame of the fight up again, "Well, I wanted to talk to you about earlier. I don't think we were done talking."

I can see his forehead start to crease, he does that when he gets mad. "Really? Did you not already discuss it with your other boyfriend?"

"No." I lied. "I just wanted to tell you again that, we are just friends!" I shouted. "I've been friends with him since I was in kindergarten, you can't just expect me to drop him for you."

"Ivy, can't you see it? It's taking me away from you. All I want to be is with you. I can't do it anymore! It's either me or him."

"You can't make me choose." I could feel the tears forming in my eyes, "What about you and Megan? Huh, you're friends with her. You stop talking to her and I'll quit talking to Colton."

He shakes his head, "That's different."

"How?"

"Because I'm not fucking flirting with her all the time." He roared. I took a step back from him not wanting to be close to him.

"I do not."

He rolls his eyes, "Really Ivy? The kissing on the cheek, the cuddling, the laughing, you mean to tell me that's just a friendly gesture?"

"We've done that since we were little. I love him. He's my best friend. If you were my boyfriend you'd trust me. Do you not trust me?"

"That's my damn point exactly! I can't trust you with him. You love him, not me! You just said it. Now Ivy do yourself a favor and get out before I say something that you don't want to hear."

"Are we broken up?" I quietly say.

He doesn't respond for a second, "I think that's best. Goodbye Ivy."

The tears roll down my cheeks as I pick up my bag and walk towards the front door. I look back one last time and see him with his head resting in his hands. I slam the door shut, sit down on the porch, and dial Colton's number. The only person I could trust.

"Hey, Ives." Colton's voice booms through my phone.

COLTON

After my shower, I join Ivy in my bed and wrap her up in my arms. She immediately turns around and snuggles into my arms. Gosh, I missed this feeling. I hadn't been able to do this with her since she started dating Luke. That wouldn't be right. Speaking of that, I'm wondering what went down between the two of them, but I just want to give her time to tell me. I stare at the ceiling, not feeling tired at all. It was almost eleven o'clock at night now. All I wanted to was lay with her, not missing a moment without her.

"Colton?" She whispers into my ear.

She's awake? "Yeah?"

She sits up, climbing out of my arms, "Do you want to know what happened?"

I prop myself up on my pillow and look at her. Even in the moonlight, she looked beautiful. "If you're ready to tell me." One thing I've learned about Ivy over the years is when she wants to tell you something, she will. Pressuring her into it won't work at all.

She sighs before wiping her fingers under her eyes, "Hang on I'm gonna go wash this makeup off. Can I borrow some clothes?"

I nod, "You know where they are."

She climbs off the bed and grabs something from my drawer before rushing into the bathroom. She comes out a few minutes later in just one of my T-shirts. Hot damn. Her legs.

Focus, Colton.

She sits on the end of my bed not daring to come close to me. "Okay well, long story short, we broke up?"

This must be the greatest day ever. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean it wasn't going to be forever anyways, I just don't love him."

"Yeah, but I love you," I say. I speak only the truth to Ivy.

She sends me a small sad smile, "Gosh, I don't deserve you, Cole."

I laugh, moving closer to her, "If anything, I don't deserve you." Now I'm sitting beside her looking into her eyes, "You still look beautiful even though you were crying."

She rests her head, "Thank you. You are the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for."

Friend.

"We should go to sleep," I comment. I couldn't be mad at her she had done nothing wrong. I'm just mad at myself for not manning up.

"Tomorrow there's a party at Claire's. Want to go?" She asks me.

"Sure," I comment, crawling inside my bed covers.

She lays down next to me and rests her head on my chest. I protectively wrap my arms around her and she sighs, "Thank you for everything, Colton. I love you."

"I love you too, Ives."

I should tell her soon.