Chapter Five

A FAMILY OF FRIENDS

“That escalated quickly.” Macy cringed, looking at Lou’s shocked eyes. 

“What just happened?” Lou asked, staring in the direction Elena disappeared. 

“She’s got a point, Lou. If something happens between you, you might not say it out loud but somehow she’s going to be forced to pick sides and that’s not fair to her. He’s her brother and you’re her best friend, she shouldn’t have to bear the consequences of your actions.” Susie pointed out, munching on a carrot stick. 

“I would never ask her to choose, I would never expect her to pick me over her brother.” Lou frowned, her shoulders sagging. 

“Maybe you wouldn’t, but what about him?” Lou’s frown deepened, she couldn’t decide that for him even though she didn’t see him as the type. “I’ve been there Lou, you always say you won’t make her choose, but when the time comes, it's her relationships that are never going to be the same.” Susie smiled sadly. 

“What do you mean, you’ve been there?” Macy asked, sitting down next to Lou Susie.

“Back in high school I had a best friend, Jenna and Peter dated throughout high school, but when Peter went off to college she started getting insecure. One day they had a fight so she went to a party, got drunk, and kissed another guy, I found out about it and told her that she had to come clean to him or I would, but before either of us could tell him, he found out from a friend of his that was still in town. They broke up, went their separate ways and that was also the end of my friendship with Jenna. It took years for Peter to forgive me, no matter how many times I told him that I was going to tell him, in his mind I betrayed him and he only got over it when he met his wife.” Susie’s expression spoke volumes about how much the situation affected her which left the ladies pensive. 

“What… What if we didn’t break up?” Lou asked in a lower tone of voice, hesitantly glancing at the entryway. 

“What do you mean?” Sierra enquired, joining the conversation for the first time. 

“Evan asked me to marry him…” Lou’s words shocked her friends to silence. 

“He what!” Macy whisper yelled, her eyes wide open in apprehension. 

“He asked me two weeks ago. It wasn’t like a planned thing, it was impromptu after a wild night, but he asked and I haven’t answered him yet.” Sierra stared at her friend with interest, her usual confidence was nowhere to be seen, instead, she had vulnerability written across her features. 

“Why haven’t you answered him?” Lou seemed to be expecting the question and leaned back with a huff. 

“We’ve been seeing each other for a little over a year now and at first it was just kind of on and off fun when we felt bored, but somehow it unspokenly became exclusive and I haven’t had the guts to tell Elena. I may pretend like I don’t care, but honestly, I’m terrified of losing her, and at the same time, I can’t help but feel like if I put a title on this relationship, it will start the clock ticking.” Sierra understood what she meant by that. 

“Lou, Evan’s notorious for a lot of things, and commitment isn’t one of them, but once he sets his mind on something, he goes after it and he never lets go. More importantly, he’s not Paul.” Sierra pointed out and a look of uncertainty settled on her face. 

“How do you know he won’t change his mind?” Macy walked over to her and kneeled at her feet. 

“Honey, if this man loves you as much as I suspect he does and you love him as much as is written on your face, then you owe it to yourselves to give your relationship a fighting chance and the first step to knowing whether he’s capable of changing his mind is coming clean to Elena.” Macy’s words were frank and probably not what Lou wanted to hear, but she’d been through enough in her previous relationship to suffer any more uncertainty at the hands of a man and all of her friends agreed. 

“Do you love him?” Elena’s voice broke the silence, no one had noticed her standing in the entryway with a look of concern on her face. 

“Elena, I can explain.” Lou’s eyes widened as she fumbled for words. 

“You don’t have to, just tell me if you love him.” The emotion in Elena’s voice was hard to detect, but the look in her eye pushed Lou to answer. 

“Yeah, I do love him. I don’t know how or when, but I really do.” Elena bit her lip and her hands fisted at her sides. 

“So why haven’t you said yes yet?” Lou’s eyes knitted together. 

“What do you mean?” Elena finally left her position at the entryway and approached her best friend. 

“I mean the day after Evan asked you to marry him, he told me everything. At first, I was so angry at him, I thought it was all just a practical joke to get to me, but when I saw the look on his face…” Elena closed her eyes as if recalling the memory, “Lou I’ve never seen that look in my brother’s eyes before and it terrified me even more because I watched your relationship with Peter fall apart, I saw how it broke you and when he told me that you never gave him an answer, I figured that one way or another it would end badly.” Lou’s shoulders sagged before she stood up, stepping around Macy to stand in front of Elena. 

“Elena I know I haven’t exactly been modest in terms of my relationship with your brother and while at first it was just to push your buttons, the last thing I ever wanted is for you to get caught between us, I guess that’s why I’ve always kept you at arm’s length from our relationship.” Elena shook her head. 

“I don’t care about the teasing, I care about both of you and I want you to be happy even if it’s a little weird for me, I just couldn’t handle if you guys both got hurt.” Sierra smiled slightly, the scene was like one from a movie where the protagonist and antagonist put their differences behind them and realize they’ve been on the same side the whole time. 

“I want to be with Evan more than anything, I’m just not sure I’m ready for another marriage and now that I know it’s what he wants, I feel even more insecure about it.” Lou bit her lip, the frown deepening. 

“Tell him that, I can assure you it won’t make him run for the hills,” Elena smirked, lightening the tension that had gathered in the air.