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Holland
“I got it,”I call out to Dad when the doorbell rings. Grumbling, I make my way to the front door and swing it open, revealing Emery on the other side.
I’m so shocked I stutter, “E-m?”
She rolls her eyes and pushes past me into the house then grabs my hand and drags me behind her, so quickly I can hardly shut the door behind her. “This fight is officially over.”
And just like that, my best friend is back, doing what she does best.
“Sit,” she commands when we get into my room. Knowing how upset she is with me, I sit without another word.
“You have to go to Reed.”
Of all the things I expected her to say, this wasnotit.
“Wait, what?”
Emery huffs. “Holland, you are my best friend, and for someone so incredibly intelligent, you sure can be stupid sometimes.” She grins.
“You’re not… mad at me?”
Shrugging, she sits cross-legged next to me on my bed. “I mean, am I hurt? Hell yeah. We’ve been best friends since we were kids, Holl, and you lied to me. You purposely hid things from me with my brother.” She shudders and gags dramatically. “That hurts. I was never mad at you because you and Reed are together. I was shocked, duh. But it was more about the fact that you didn’t think enough of me to tell me.”
“Em, that’s not it at all. I just… I was so afraid to lose you. I was scared that you’d hate me and I couldn’t lose you. I remember when we first became friends, how much you hated all of the girls who used you just to be with Reed. That hurt you, Em. I never wanted to be that person, you’re my best friend. Our friendship is everything to me.”
Emery shakes her head. “Holland, I would never think that about you. I mean, yeah, those girls fucking sucked, but it was also forever ago, and since then I bossed up, grew thicker skin, and became a badass bitch. I wish we could’ve talked about it so all of this could have been avoided, babe. I’m not angry you and Reed are… a thing.”
I exhale slowly, in relief. The weight I had been carrying around for months is suddenly lifted and I can finally take a deep breath.
“I think you should go talk to Reed, though. He’s a mess, Holland. You need to talk to him.”
I exhale. “God, I screwed this all up. I pushed him away.”
She pulls me against her chest and wraps her arms around me, hugging me tightly to her.
“Smart people can be stupid sometimes, but you acted with your heart. You have the best heart of anyone I know, Holland.”
“Well, since we’re being honest, I need to tell you something else.” I sit up and take a deep breath. “I’ve had feelings for Reed… for a really long time. Like, since we were kids.”
Emery’s jaw drops. She sputters, “You have?”
I nod. “I didn’t want our friendship to end because of how I felt. And I just didn’t ever think I’d even be on Reed’s radar. He doesn’t even know how I feel. I’ve never told anyone, until you right now.”
“You have to tell him! God, Holl, this is like one of those freaking romance novels you’re constantly reading.”
It feels like it. I miss Reed, and I’ve hated every second of the past week. Being apart from him was torture, but I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want to be the reason that his relationship with Emery was strained, and Em and I weren’t even speaking.
“I told him I needed space. I didn’t know what to do, Em…” I trail off.
“Look, the thing with relationships is they aren’t perfect. Nothing about them. You’re both going to fuck up, you’re both going to make mistakes. But what does matter? It’s that you communicate and learn to work together through problems.”
“You know for a perpetually single girl, you sure do have the best relationship advice.”
Emery shrugs. “It’s a gift.”
“I promise. I never want to have an argument again. It was torture, Em. I wanted to give you space, but I picked up the phone so many times to call you and I didn’t think you’d answer, so I’ve just been sitting here, wallowing in my sorrows.”
Em lies back on my bed, staring at the stars on the ceiling, and I lie down next to her.
