- Eliza -

The next week and a half passed in a flash. Between working and school and whatever was going on in my brain with Maria, time went fast. I ended up hiring her and she started working at the café four days ago.

She seems a little bit out of it though. She's already shown up late once, but I told her it was alright. She comes in often with bruises on her arm and new excuses every day for them.

But she's a great waitress. She does so well with being attentive to everyone and getting everything taken care of. She's really good with the little kids that come in too, and she handles rude people well.

Currently, I was wiping down all the tables with her as we closed up the shop. I had set everything up for tomorrow already and we were almost done. I told her she could leave but she declined, saying that she'd help out for a little longer.

I got to the last table at the same time she did, not noticing she was there. We both tried to sip the same area at the same time and ended up bumping our hands into each other. I pulled mine away and looked up, color spreading across my cheeks.

"S-sorry..." she mumbled, blushing as well. I waved it off and quickly finished the table, throwing away the wipes and collecting my things.

"Bye, Maria. See you tomorrow!" I said, waving as we went out separate directions. She smiled and waved back and I got a weird feeling in my stomach from it.

I still don't understand why I feel like this every time I see her. I'm straight, I've only ever liked guys. Or... maybe not?

I sighed, feeling conflicted. This has been a feeling I've had a lot lately. I don't know what to do about all this.

My phone began to ring just before I got on the subway to head back to the dorm. I answered and sat down, looking around the empty space around me. Being in a subway car alone was always fun, because it didn't happen all that often.

"Hello?" I said. Alexanders voice came from the other end of the call, sounding odd.

"Hey... um, do you think you could come to my dorm? I need to talk to you about something." He said unsurely.

"Yeah, that's fine. Is something wrong?" I asked, concerned at the tone of my boyfriend. He sighed deeply.

"Well... I'll tell you when you get here." He said. I told him that I'd be there soon and we could talk and then we hung up.

In the past two weeks or so, even before I opened the café, it feels like Alex and I have grown apart. Our relationship seemed much more like a really close friendship at this point. Which, in all honesty, I was okay with.

When we first started dating, we were all over each other. Hanging out all the time, meeting up between classes, doing everything together. Now, we talk and meet up occasionally, but it seems so... off.

I got off the subway and walked quickly to Alex's dorm. He answered the door and it was quiet, so I figured John wasn't there.

"Liza, come in." He said, leading me to the couch. We sat down together but stayed a small distance apart.

"What's up?" I asked, meeting his eyes. He looked anxious and exhausted. Well, he was always anxious and exhausted but he just looked even more so right now.

"Um... there's actually two things. I, um, god this is overwhelming, um..." he began shakily. I put my hand on his arm comfortingly, telling him to take his time.

"I'm... I'm bi." He said after a few moments of silence. He sighed deeply as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, looking as though a thousand pounds were just lifted off his shoulders. I smiled at him.

"Oh! That's cool. I'm happy you told me and that you trust me." I said. He smiled a little bit but it faltered and dropped after a moment.

"And the other thing. Eliza, I really don't know how to say this but... I don't think we should be together. I just, I feel like we've grown apart a little bit and we'd just be better off as close friends, not dating. I'm really sorry..." He said. I was shocked that he admitted it but not upset. Much like his confession of his sexuality taking weight off him, this took weight off of me.

"Actually... I've been thinking the same thing over the past few days. But I really do think that we could be really close, but just as friends." I said, nodding. Now it was his turn to look shocked. I suppose that when someone brings up a breakup, the other person is supposed to be angry and tearful, not agreeing.

"Ok. Well then, we have a deal. Friends?" He said, smiling with his hand out. I nodded and returned his smile, shaking his hand.

"Best friends." He hugged me quickly and told me he was sorry again, which I quickly replied with the fact that he had no reason to be sorry.

I headed back to my dorm with a lighter heart and a slightly more at peace mind. That is, until I opened the door to see Angelica waiting for me.

"Heeeeey, Angie. What's up?" I laughed nervously.

I left the café way later than usual, at almost 11pm. I wanted to clean it up really well and bake muffins and stuff for the next day. And then the subway takes 10 minutes and I was at Alex's for over half an hour. Which means it's almost midnight. Two hours later than I'm usually home.

"You're a little later than usual. Why didn't you tell me you'd be home late? I was worried." She scolded. I swear, sometimes it seemed like Angie was my mother, not my sister.

"The café and then to Alex's. Oh, we broke up by the way." I said, overly causal. I walked into the dorm and put my purse aside and plugged my phone in, changing into my pajamas while Angelica stared at me in shock.

"You broke up?! Why?" She exclaimed. I shrugged.

"We're just better off as friends." I said, smiling a little bit. Angelica laughed a little and shrugged.

"I mean, ok. If that works for you. It's just unexpected, especially that you're so... okay with all of it." She said. Now it was my turn to shrug.

"It wasn't a super dramatic breakup. It was more of a mutual thing, you know? And we're still close and we'll be good friends, so it works." I said, climbing into the bed and under the covers.

"Well, if it makes you happy then I'm happy. Goodnight, Lizzie." She said, getting into her bed and switching off the lights.

"Night Ang." I replied, closing my eyes.

My dreams that night were filled with a girl in a red dress, wiping down tables and laughing with me.

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