Thank you for the 500k+ reads! Half a million? That's crazy!

Anyways here is a double update!

"So tell me everything, I need to know every single deta-" the loud sound of something hitting the ground boomed in the kitchen, making me instinctively turn my head to see what exactly Samira had made fall, (a handful of spoons.)"

With a small smile on my face, I looked at her, remembering something.

"I missed you, and your clumsiness," I told her truthfully, and she laughed softly while placing the spoons inside the sink.

"And I missed seeing you happy. One could think the main reason for it is Damien." She teased, trying to resume her questioning.

"Yes, yes, I will tell you, but it would be great if you could pass me one spoon by the end of this year and stop texting whoever you are texting. Wait! Who are you texting, by the way?" I asked inquisitively. She had been on her phone way more than usual and I was sure that mysterious person was a man.

"Just the guy I met last time at the club," she explained casually, way too casually, and put her phone away. She was clearly dating, but I decided to let it go.

"So? Now tell me!"

"OK, I'll tell you in the fastest and most reductive way possible" Truly I hadn't thought that talking about Damien would be bad, but that implied speaking about his capacities in bed, and though I didn't think telling her would be detrimental, because I knew Samira was no prude, she was good at bombarding you with questions, some that were way too specific for my liking.

"Oh, but-"

"Samira, do you want to know what happened or not?" I asked in a fake, intimidating voice. She muttered some under her breath and with two spoons and a plate in both hands, she came in my direction and sat down on the couch with me.

I almost forgot how comforting those Saturdays at her place were. Honestly, I forgot how beautiful many things could be.

"Damien wanted to break up, well not that, since we weren't even together. Let's just say he wanted me to date someone who wasn't him".

"And you are using 'wanted to refer to the past, right?"

"Yes."

"Meaning you told him you wanted to be with him forever and ever?" She asked with a peak of excitement in her tone.

"Not in these exact words, but yes," I confirmed, nodding.

She looked at me thoughtfully for a few seconds, but they felt like an eternity. I couldn't comprehend her state of mind. Was she annoyed? Disappointed? Delighted?

"You did what?" She asked, almost yelling.

"I made him change his min-" she interrupted me before I could ask her what was wrong.

"Elide, are you in love? I know I've asked you before, but still, just answer. I choked on my food, coughing roughly, maybe even exaggerating it so I didn't have to answer immediately, a panicked expression appeared on Samira's face that jumped up to grab me a cup of water, that she then swiftly handed it to me.

"Drink!" she said and started patting caringly my back while I gulped the water down, acting as if I hadn't been drinking in an entire decade.

"Are you okay now?"

"Uh- sure sorry I- I got distracted. What were you saying?" I mentally smacked myself because I had been actively trying to avoid that question.

"Oh, yes! I asked you if you were in love with Damien?" The risk of choking on my food had dissipated and Samira was quietly expecting me to answer, and not as vaguely as I did last time.

"What makes you keep asking this question?"

"Are you aware that you are relentlessly avoiding answering a yes or no inquiry?"

I loved him. Yeah, deep down, I knew I loved him even when I wasn't supposed to.

My heart felt just happy with him, but thinking about it was one thing, saying it aloud was another.

It was almost like I had to reveal one of my biggest secrets. Words were different when you said them out loud. They actually felt true.

"I don't know." I lied shamelessly, knowing full well she would not believe me this time.

"Yes, you do!" She scoffed. I had the impression she already had the answer. She just wanted me to say it.

"And how do you know that?" I questioned pointedly.

"Please, we may not have seen each other in a while, but I'm still your best friend. You are a good liar, but not with me." I sighed, frustrated, stuffing some food inside my mouth to savour the small instant I had before answering.

"I think so," I answered and stuffed my mouth with food once again.

"Yeah, I think that too."

"And what exactly made you think that?" I asked again.

"Because you never went out of your way to ask a man to stay, not even... well, you know who, he was always the one persuading you to keep up with the unspeakable amount of bullshit he put you through."

"Oh, I've never realised that," I said, actually thinking about it. She wasn't uttering an untrue statement.

"Okay, so what happened next?"

"Well, as I was saying, he agreed to give this a try. I spent the evening with him, doing things..." She smiled at me knowingly.

"Tomorrow we have a date," I said before she could utter one of her infamous inappropriate comments. The smirk on her face disappeared and was subsequently substituted by a glare.

"Why are you telling me this now? Elide, I know how you are. You probably don't know what dress to wear, what shoes to buy and how to style your hair!" Before I could reply, making her notice I've had my hair done recently, she resumed her rant. I couldn't even fake opening my mouth.

"No, your hair is done, but still! You will go absolutely nuts and call me at a very unreasonable hour of the day, or should I say night? And ask me to help you out. I remember all your dates befor-" she halted herself for the second time to avoid saying Andrew's name and I sighed sadly.

"Samira, it's fine if you casually bring Andrew up, at the end of the day we've been together for longer than I'd like to admit, don't worry nor censor yourself around me, especially because I'm quite sure you wanted to cuss him out." She laughed at my last sentence and got up to drop the empty plates in the dishwasher.

"Okay, but now enough talking about that nobody we need to go!" I frowned at her.

"Go where?"

"To buy you a dress because I know you don't have one."

She hadn't been lying I still had to go to Andrew's house and pack all my stuff, truly I didn't want to step a single foot there yet and I didn't value anything that was in there, if I had to buy every single cloth back just to avoid that place I would have done such thing.

"You know what? If we are turning our 'chill and relaxed' Saturday into an 'unrestrained shopping' Friday, let's do it in the right way." She muttered, bringing her phone to her ear. I smiled at the horrible names she'd given a long time ago to our periodic outings.

"Who are you calling?"

"The spa, you need a massage, then we are going to get some nails done, we go shopping for dresses and lingerie you need and then we pass to the bookshop, because I need to treat myself too." She said as if a whole day in a spa was some torture, or as if she didn't plan everything just now with a big smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes at her, but knowing full well she was nothing but sarcastic; we laughed together.

"I love you Sam," I said truthfully, while hugging her.

"You too!" she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

Taking her car, our first stop was the Spa to get the message. One thing I loved about Samira was that she wasn't afraid to treat herself just right, and had no issues adopting this mentality with any of her friends, but you still had to recognize it took a long time before she realized she deserved all of it.

Our room had been papered in advance and we spent a full hour getting one of the best massages I've had in my entire life, while talking to each by the best massage therapists who by the way, were extremely nice,while talking to each other and then went to get our nails done, I opted for medium long dark red oval nails, and she went for pink coffin nails that looked absolutely fantastic after stopping to the bookshop so she could get the sequel of a romance series she had been obsessed with we finally went shopping for a dress.

We entered a boutique, owned by a really nice woman who seemed to know Samira well, she directed us to the area where all the dresses were making us aware that if we needed anything, we just needed to ask, and went to meet some other customers that needed hedresse

We started looking around, the dresses for what I understood were all made by her and her staff, with the best materials. They were spectacular.

"This would look so good on you. " I showed her the pink dress in my hand and her face lit up.

"Oh wow, you are right, but we are here for you so-"

"Stop bullshitting and go try it on. I'll buy it for you after all you paid for the nails and the massage. Don't you have a date next week with the dude you met at the club last time? This would be perfect." I dragged her into the dressing room, telling her to try it on, and while I was waiting for her, I started looking around.

As I kept glimpsing absently at the big variety of dresses, my phone rang. A smile couldn't help but form on my face when I saw Damien's name on the screen. I answered, bringing the phone to my ear, trapping it between my cheek and a slightly lifted shoulder.

"Good afternoon Elide, " He said in his deep husky voice, but I was sure he was smiling.

"Good afternoon Damien. How was your day?"

"Better now" I laughed softly at his cheesiness.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Dress scouting with Samira. I have seen nothing made for me, though," I said, sighing.

"What do you need a dress for? You have a date?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I have this date with this very attractive man who cares about me and he's always sweet. I'd like to look good, you know?"

"I am sure that this man thinks that you are always good-looking."

"You are flattering me, sir," I said jokingly, but I could hear him awkwardly cough after I uttered the sir part. I could tell he enjoyed being called that.

"So tell me, what would you want me to wear?" He asked, pulling himself together just some second after.

"Anything you like, when I say I'd think you look good with anything, I mean it, pretty girl. "

"And for lingerie?".I breathed softly.

"Just wear nothing underneath. I'd just rip it off and it would be a shame if your cute underwear would be ruined, right?"

"And what if I wanted you to ruin it?" I asked, perhaps implying also something else.

"If you don't mind, I'll do it," He admitted.

"I definitely don't. " He laughed, and I smiled. Still looking around, I halted when I saw a two-set white dress that looked flawless.

"I think I'll have to call you back."

"Fine by me, talk to you later, be safe," he said softly.

"Talk to you later. " I hung up the phone to see Samira finally exiting the dressing room with the dress on her body.

"How do I look?"

"You look so beautiful! I'll have to buy it for you. You look spectacular." I told her excitedly, she smiled and glanced at the dress in my hands.

"Yeah, but now I want to see you with that one on because it would look terrific on you I just know it!." I nodded at brought myself to the dressing room.

I examined myself in the mirror, still gripping the dress between my hands. I was happy. Elide finally had a big genuine smile on her face.

Swiftly trying on the dress, I immediately knew that this was the one I wanted to wear.

Leaving the dressing room, I let Samira get a good look at me and she instantly smiled when she saw me.

"So?"

"So wow, you look fabulous! Get that dress and these" Samira pulled out a set of violet lingerie with small pink flowers scattered on both the bra and the panties, which looked way too good.

"I want two of those"

"Uh, wh-" she halted herself, understanding immediately, and we both laughed.

Don't forget to vote!