A black Porsche Cayenne GTS pulled up next to a medium sized house. The passenger leaned over the gear shift to peck the driver on the cheek, but the driver was too clever and moved his face so that their lips met. When the passenger pulled away from the driver she saw the smug look on his face, and just flashed him a dazzling smile. She grabbed her bag that was on the floor, and gracefully got out of the car. The boy in the driver’s seat sat there waiting until the girl was safely in the house, but once she got to the front door she stopped. She bent down and picked something up, and then opened what the boy assumed was an envelope. He watched her as she read its contents, then he saw her drop whatever was in the envelope and fall to the ground. He rushed out of the car, and to her side.
“Are you okay? Mia?” the boy asked as he looked down at the girl. She did not respond, so he crouched down so that he was at her level. He turned slightly, and picked up the thing she had read which he can now see is a letter addressed to her.
My Dearest Mia,

We have been friends for so many years, and I was…no, I am ready to take our friendship to the next level. I know I scared you the other day when I said what I did, but I meant it. And I will never take those words back. You don’t know how much I need you every day…But I guess that all doesn’t matter to you, huh? I’m just a friend. Why am I not good enough for you? I’ve always been there…Why did I do wrong?

But all these things don’t matter anymore. I’m leaving, and I’m never coming back. I can’t stand seeing you with Sean. I want to see you happy, don’t get me wrong, but I want to be the one you’re happy with. So this is the end of our friendship…forever.

Goodbye Mia….
Caleb
The boy put the letter back on the ground, and turned his attention back to Mia. She had her legs so that her knees touched her chest, and her arms locked around her legs. She had her head on her knees, and the boy could see her shoulders shaking. He moved closer to Mia, and snaked one arm on her shoulder to comfort her.
“Shh, Mia. It’s okay.” He repeated over and over into her ear. After a while, she stopped crying. Mia looked up at the boy, who wiped away the tears that were still on her face. He hated to see so much pain in her crystal blue eyes.
“Better?” he asked her.
“Not really.” She responded huskily.
“Well, let’s get you inside. I’ll make us something to eat, and we can watch a movie or something…” he stopped, studying her face before he continued. “That is unless you want me to leave.”
“Yeah. I think I would rather be alone right now.” Mia answered.
“Oh. Okay.” he said, sadness dripping from his voice.
“I’ll call you later.” She said while standing up. The boy did the same. Before Mia turned her body towards the front door, she pecked the boy on the check. “Bye, Sean. Thanks for everything.”
“No problem. Bye, Mia.” He said before walking back to his car. Mia watched him drive away from the porch. When she was sure he was gone, she walked down the steps and headed for the beach that was just a few miles away.
****
Mia stood at the end of the pier, staring out into the ocean. The cool air blew her messy, light brown hair every which way, but it didn’t seem to bother her. She was lost in thought. She brought a hand up to her face, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear unconsciously. Just then, Sean walked up to Mia and stood next to her silently. His face was scrunched up in thought, trying to find the right words to say.
“Mia?” Sean’s voice was filled with concern. “Mia, are you okay?”
“No, Sean, I’m not okay.” Mia snapped, not taking her eyes off the ocean.
“Oh,” Sean said, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Yeah.”
“What? You know I’ll do anything I can.”
“Just go, and leave me alone.” Mia said flatly.
“But...You can’t do this all on your own. No one is that strong, Mia. You don’t have to be afraid to let people help you. There’s nothing wrong with it.” Sean slid a little closer to Mia who was no longer staring out in the distance. Her head was down, and her shoulders were shaking. “Oh, Mia, are you crying?” asked Sean, wrapping an arm around Mia to comfort her.
“He’s gone.” She sobbed. “I made him leave, and he’s never coming back.”
“Oh Mia, that wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything. You shouldn’t blame yourself.”
“But I did! I made him leave! He’s gone! I did that!” Mia shouted, ripping herself out of Sean’s grasp. She faced Sean, and searched his long face. The wind whipped his too long dirty blonde hair, covering his deep green eyes. Sean locked eyes with Mia. He carefully took a step towards Mia, and placed his arms on Mia’s shoulders before he spoke.
“It was not your fault,” he said sternly, “You didn’t make Caleb leave!”
“Yes, I did,” Mia shouted back, “He left because I’m dating you!”
“What?” asked Sean, bewildered.
“Caleb told me he was in love with me… and I freaked. I ran as fast as I could. I just left him standing there.”
“When was this?”
“Right after your Halloween party. We…we were outside, just sitting on the swings, talking about random things. And…and out of nowhere he tells me he…he loves me. I got scared.”
“What happened after that?” Sean asked trying to piece it all together.
“I went home. For weeks he texted and called, but I ignored them all. I was afraid. I didn’t know what to do. And I didn’t want you to find out….Oh Sean. I didn’t want to hurt you. I thought this would upset you.” Mia looked at Sean; it was his turn to avoid eye contact. “You’re mad at me…”
“Do you love him back?” Sean asked ignoring Mia’s last comment. He didn’t take his eyes off the ocean, but Mia could hear the pain in his voice.
“I…I don’t know.” She said softly. She truly was sure how she felt about Caleb. He had been her best friend since they were in diapers, so you could say she loved him but she didn’t know if she was in love with him. She stood there on the pier staring at Sean who stared at the ocean. Both of them were silent, lost in their own thoughts. “Sean?” Mia called taking a step towards him. She linked her arm with his, and forced her hand in his. She played with his fingers as she spoke. “Caleb and I have been friends for years, and you know that. And I do love him, but I can’t say whether I’m in love with him or not because…well, I don’t know. I would tell you if I knew. I don’t want you to get hurt Sean.”
“I know,” he answered, “You know what I think?”
“What do you think?” Mia asked thoughtfully.
“I think you do love him,” he began. He held his hand up when Mia opened her mouth to protest. “I only say that because I see the way you look at each other. You may not realize it now, but you will. And when you do, I’m willing to step aside.”
“I don’t think that will ever happen. But I appreciate the thought.” Mia answered giving Sean’s hand a squeeze. “How did you find me here?” she asked suddenly, attempting to change the subject.
“I know you.” he answered simply.
“Oh.” she said. They both stood there, hand in hand, staring out at the ocean.
“I wanna wear my hair up in a mess Cut off jeans, can you get with that? Give you some like you’ve never had Cause I only wanna be wanted by you…” Mia’s phone sang her favorite song. She took her phone out of her back pocket, and read the caller ID before answering.
“Hello?” said the voice on the other end.
“Hey, Tara. What’s up?”
“Caleb,” Tara shouted into the phone, “I just saw him coming out of his father’s house.”
“What?” Mia said confusion clearly in her voice.
“I just saw him! I tried to talk to him, but I just bolted.”
Mia looked blankly at Sean, her mouth slightly open. Sean stared back in perplexity. “What is it Mia? Mia?” He took the phone from her stiff hand, and put it to his ear. “Hello? Oh, Tara. Hi, what’s going on? What did you tell Mia?” He paused to let Tara tell her story, not taking his eyes off of Mia who was still rigid with alarm. “Oh, okay. Thanks for telling us Tara. Bye.” He flipped the phone closed, but kept it in his hand. “Mia? Are you alright?”
“What?” she said shaking herself back to reality. “Oh, yeah, I’m okay. But do you think you can take me home?”
“Sure. That’s no problem at all.”
They walked to Sean’s car together, and drove to Mia’s house in silence.
****

Mia drove as fast as she could to Caleb’s father’s house. She had been there so many times when she was younger. They had numerous amounts of sleepovers and parties there.
After what felt like hours, Mia stopped in front of a light blue Ranch style house with a wraparound porch. She sat there in the car, watching the figures in the lit up house move around, oblivious to the fact that she was watching. She cut off the engine, and slowly got out of the car. She crossed the street, walked up the sidewalk and the steps of the house until she reached the front door. Mia took in a deep breath of air before she rang the doorbell. Right away a very tall and elegant looking woman opened the door. Mia studied the woman’s features. Her hair was platinum blonde and implausibly curly, and she had to be in her 30’s at the least.
“Hello. May I help you?” the woman asked politely.

“Um, yes. I’m looking for Caleb.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll go get him for you. Please, come inside. It’s way too cold out there.”
“Thank you.” Mia said walking into the foyer. She hadn’t realized just how wintry it was outside until she was in the house. As Mia waited, she glanced around the foyer. It was very fancy, a little too fancy for her taste, yet it still had that homey feel to it.
“Mia?” A deep voice spoke behind her. She whirled around to see Caleb standing in the doorway that connected the foyer to a hallway.
“Hi, Caleb.” she said hoping her voice didn’t give away just how nervous she truly was.
“What are you doing here?” he asked not moving from where he was.
“I came to see you.”
“Why? I came here to get away from you.” he said the words sounding harsher than he meant for them to sound.
“B-but I-I thought…” Mia trialed off not able to find the words she wanted to say. She stood in silence, trying to collect her thoughts before she spoke again. “I thought you were dead.” She finally said choking out the words. Tears swelled in the corner of her eyes.
“Oh Mia,” Caleb said walking to her, “I didn’t mean it that way. I just needed to get away. I hated seeing you with Sean. I just love you too much.”
“Why! Why do you have to love me!” she shouted capriciously filled with rage. Caleb’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at her unexpected outburst, but closed the small amount of space that was between them. He brought his smooth hand to her face, and brushed a strand of hair away before he spoke.
“I love you because you’re my best friend. We know everything about each other; there are no surprises with us. And as cliché as is sounds…everything just feels right in the world when I’m with you.”
The anger that Mia had in her body melted away, and at that moment as she looked into Caleb’s deep blue eyes she knew he was right. She now saw that she was indeed in love with her best friend.
“Mia? You there?”Caleb said waving his hand in front of her face to get her attention. An enormous smile grew on her face. “What? Did I say something funny?”
“No.” she answered as she jumped on him, wrapping her fragile arms around his neck. He did not react at first, but quickly snaked his robust arms around her waist. Caleb pulled away, and Mia shot him a baffled look. He pulled Mia’s body against his as his soft lips crashed onto hers. When they finally parted, Caleb kept Mia close and leaned his forehead on hers. Mia looked into his eyes.
“I love you.” Mia whispered.