It was through the latter that you had begun to make some very close friends…among them was a guy named Kyle, who lived on your floor. He was a great guy—super friendly, great sense of humor, always smiling, always willing to help people out—he almost fit the description of what you pictured to be the All-American boy, one you could definitely bring home to Mom. Not only did he have a great personality, but he was pretty good looking too—about 5’10”, black hair, very pretty greenish-brown eyes, and dark, olive-toned, Italian looking skin. Physically, he was about as opposite Nick as he could be.

Lately, the 2 of you had begun to grow very close. You were always going places together, and it seemed as though he spent more time in your room than he did in his own. You and Kyle were so similar to each other….you both loved to smile and laugh, and the conversation between you never seemed to die.

It was a late Friday afternoon, and you had just returned to your room from English class. As you unpacked your backpack, you couldn’t help but think about how much better that class used to be when Nick was in it. You heard a knock at the door and without even turning around, called out “Come in!”

“Hey, whats up?” you heard from behind you.

“Oh, hey Kyle!” you said smiling.

“Finally done for the day?” he asked as he flopped down into the inflatable chair you had in your room.

“Yes, finally!” you said as you sat down on your bed.

“Cool…..oh hey, I made you something,” he said as he reached his hand out and handed you a CD.

“Whats this??” you asked.

“Remember last night when you were in my room and we were listening to all those songs? Well, since you liked them so much I thought I’d make you a CD of them,” he replied.

“Awwww….Kyle, thank you!” you said as you stood up and went to put it in your CD player.

“No problem,” he said, “well I have to go get my clothes out of the dryer. I’ll be back to visit later.”

“I don’t doubt that!” you said laughing. Just as he was walking out, Sydney was walking into your room.

“Hey Syd.”

“Hey Molls!” she said as she started to unpack her backpack, “Hey, I like this song…I didn’t know you had it on a CD.”

“I didn’t, until about 2 minutes ago…Kyle made me a CD of all these songs we were listening to last night cause he knew I liked them…isn’t that sweet?” you said.

“Oh man….Molly, are you dumb???”

“What??” you asked, confused.

“He totally likes you Molls…how can you not see that?”

“Sydney, he doesn’t like me….we’re just good friends. That’s all,” you replied, amused by Sydney’s comments.

“Oh yeah, so that’s why he’s always hanging out down here, always wanting to go places with you, and is making CDs and doing other things for you without you even asking or wanting him to,” she said as she laid down on her bed.

“I’m telling you Syd, there’s nothing more than friendship there,” you said as you stood up and walked over to your desk.

“We’ll see,” she said smiling. You spent the rest of the afternoon in your room relaxing—watching TV, listening to music, and trying to figure out what the night’s plans would entail. Undoubtedly, you had a few visits from Kyle. Every time you saw him you couldn’t help but think about what Sydney had said earlier…and the thing was, this was not the first time you had heard someone say something like that about Kyle to you. Your friends Jennie and Sara had also been thinking the same thing. The whole idea of him liking you made you laugh a little bit…you just couldn’t figure out why he would like you when he knew how much you cared for Nick.

You went and ate dinner in the cafeteria with a bunch of people from your floor, and then when you came back you laid down for a little bit. You ended up falling asleep for a while, and when you woke up, you decided to grab a shower and get ready for whatever you would end up doing that night.

You came back in your room after your shower and rummaged through your closet to find something to wear. After a while, you finally decided on a pair of jeans and a white ¾ length t-shirt. You blow-dried your long brown hair so that it was straight, and put on a bit of makeup. You looked at the clock, and it read 8:00. ‘Nick’s probably waiting to go onstage right now,’ you thought to yourself as you reached for the phone and dialed his cell phone number.

“Hello?” he said into the phone quickly, as if he had rushed to pick it up. As soon as you heard his voice, your heart skipped a beat.

“Hey you,” you said.

“Oh man, I was hoping it would be you,” he said. Just by the tone of his voice you could tell he was smiling, and that made you smile.

“How are you?” you asked.

“I’m doing alright….really, really tired. You don’t know what I wouldn’t give to be able to come home and spend a night on the couch watching movies with you,” he said.

“Awww…well, you don’t know how happy that would make me. But I know you’ve got crowds to please. I miss you though….a lot,” you said softly.

“Molls…the word ‘miss’ doesn’t even describe the feeling I’m experiencing because you’re not here. It’s terrible,” he said.

“I know Nick…but we both knew that this was going to happen. If our relationship can withstand this, then I think it’ll prove just how strong it is, ya know?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Well, I really hate to cut this short, but we’ve got to go warm up. I’ll talk to you later, ok cutie?”

“Alright, good luck tonight,” you said.

“Thanks, and you have fun tonight, whatever you end up doing. And remember…no boys.” You laughed. “Bye Molls.”

“Bye Nick,” you said as you hung up the phone. A feeling of sadness seemed to overwhelm you, and as a tear began to roll down your cheek, Kyle walked in your room. You quickly reached up and wiped the tear away, trying to hide your emotions.

“You alright?” he asked immediately.

“Oh, oh yeah, I’m fine,” you said as you started brushing your hair, “I was just talking to Nick, and well, ya know…it stirred up my emotions.”

“Ah, I see,” Kyle said as he looked down at the floor, “Well I was just coming to tell you that me and the other guys were planning on going out to a party tonight, if you want to gather up some girls and come along.”

“Oh sure!” you said excitedly. You figured a party was bound to cheer you up at least a little bit, and you knew your friends wouldn’t object to going either.

“Alright, we’ll come and get you guys when we’re leaving. Be ready,” he said, and walked out of the room. You finished getting yourself ready, and then went and told some of your friends about the party. They all wanted to go. At about 10:00, Kyle and some of your other guy friends showed up, ready to go.

You got the girls together, and the group of you went on your way. As you were walking to the party, Kyle came up and started walking next to you. “So can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” you replied.

“Why were you crying before if you had just talked to your boyfriend? Did something bad happen?”

‘Leave it to Kyle to think that he was going to be able to do something about this,’ you thought to yourself. He was always looking out for and trying to protect people.

“No nothing happened. It’s just that I miss him. I haven’t seen him in over 3 weeks, and I just hate thinking that this is how our relationship is pretty much always going to be,” you said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, I really really care for Nick, don’t get me wrong…but I don’t know if I can handle a relationship where I’m only going to see him a few months out of the year. That takes such a huge commitment.”

“So what? Are you going to break it off?”

“No, no, no. This is just me thinking. And if I were to break up with him, it would take a lot more thinking about it than this,” you replied.

“Well yeah, I guess that’s understandable,” he said, “But if you need to talk, you know I’m always here to listen.”

“Thanks Kyle,” you said smiling.

You arrived at the party and you all had a great time…it definitely cheered you up a bit after the rough way your night had begun. You got home at about 1:30, and went to Kyle’s room before going to your own. The 2 of you were just hanging out in there, talking about events that had taken place at the party and whatnot. There was a moment of silence, and he looked you straight in your eyes and said, “Molly, I have to talk to you…”

“Ok…” you responded, a bit worried.

“Now, this is probably going to sound absurd to you, and I know I shouldn’t even tell you this because it won’t matter much, but….”

“Yeah?” you said, wanting him to just spit it out.

“Well, if you haven’t picked up on it yet, I like you. A lot. And I know its stupid of me because you obviously care a ton about Nick, but I don’t think its right for me to be so close with you and try to deny these feelings. I’ve been trying to do that for the past week and it definitely has not worked. So I know nothing will probably come of this, but I just needed you to know that because its really been bugging me.”

“Ohhh….Kyle…” you started, “You are such a great guy, and if I wasn’t in a relationship right now with someone that I really do care about, I am pretty sure I probably would have developed feelings for you too. But at this point, we can’t be anything more than friends. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. I’m sorry for bringing this up. I should have just kept it to myself because I know nothing is going to come of it,” he said, looking down at his hands.

“Kyle, don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m glad you told me. It’s good to know that we have this kind of friendship where we can tell each other these things, ya know? It’s not going to change anything between us anyway,” you said.

“Alright, thanks for trying to make me feel better,” he said smiling. You smiled back and then gave him a hug.

“Well, I’m off to bed,” you said as you stood up and walked toward his door.

“Alright, goodnight Molly.”

“’Night Kyle,” you said. As you walked back to your room, you couldn’t help but smile about the fact that Kyle liked you….but you didn’t know why it made you so happy—was it because Sydney and your other friends had been right in assuming that, or was it because for some strange reason, you wanted him to feel that way toward you?

You got back to your room and saw that there was a message on your answering machine. You pressed the ‘play’ button, and were surprised to hear Nick’s voice.

“Hey there. It’s just me. I heard this song a little bit ago and it made me think of you. But instead of just playing it, I thought I’d sing it to you…

To see you when I wake up, is a gift I didn’t think could be real. To know that you feel the same, is a 3-fold utopian dream. You do something to me, that I can’t explain. So would I be out of line, if I said, “I miss you?” I see your picture, I smell your skin on the empty pillow next to mine. You have only been gone 10 days, but already I’m wasting away. I know I’ll see you again, whether far or soon. But I need you to know that I care, and I miss you. “Hope you liked it. I miss you so much, and am thinking about you every second of every day.”

About halfway through Nick’s singing, you had started sobbing. So many emotions had prompted this breakdown…you were shocked at how sweet the message was that Nick left you, and you missed him so much….but the thing was, you didn’t know how much longer you could deal with him being gone. You were starting to think that this long-distance relationship with him may not have been the best idea.