Break Free

One Month Before

"Hey Sarah." Charlie walked into Sarah's room without knocking.

"Hey." Sarah looked at Charlie from over her laptop.

"Can I talk to you real quick?" Charlie made her way over the Sarah's bed and sat on it without permission.

"I guess." Sarah closed her laptop. "What's up?"

"You've been hiding up in your room for a really long time. I just want to make sure that everything is okay." Charlie missed her friend. She only saw her during house dinners and movie nights.

"I'm fine." Sarah crossed her arms. She didn't like spending time with Charlie anymore. It only reminded her of how jealous she was.

"Do you want to know something?" Charlie smiled mischievously.

"Sure." Sarah knew Charlie always had something interesting to say.

"I used to like Nick, too." Charlie whispered even though nobody else was around to hear them.

"I know." Everyone had known. The only problem was that Charlie never realized he liked her back.

"Anyways, one day, I came home from having this really great day at work. I was so happy, but as I came upstairs I could hear him making out with someone in his room." Charlie flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Gross." Sarah had experienced the same encounter with Abby and Benjamin a few times.

"So of course I just became super angry." Charlie started laughing. "I barged into his room and started shouting about how this isn't his own personal house and there were other people he needed to be considerate of."

Sarah couldn't help but smile too. Charlie's laugh was funny in itself.

"The girl he was with got scared and practically ran out." Charlie sighed. "Nick and I got into this huge argument  and we ended up not talking for two weeks."

"I remember. You wouldn't even look at him during dinner." Sarah realized what this talk was about.

"I know. It was the weirdest two weeks of my life." Charlie looked at Sarah hoping she understood where this was going.

"You guys have a different relationship than we do. It was easier for you guys to become friends again." Sarah wanted to stop feeling like she did. She felt like it was ruining everything.

"No, actually. The only reason we started talking again is because he found me crying in my car one day because my dog back home had died." Charlie could picture that day perfectly. Her mom had called to give her the news and she didn't even remember driving home. She cried in her car until Nick showed up and helped her through it. Their argument was forgotten.

"So I should start crying and he'll be my friend again?" Sarah asked sarcastically.

"No." Charlie laughed again, but then composed herself. "Don't wait until a crisis to mend your friendship."

"I've just messed up so much already. I kissed him." Sarah didn't know what she should do to fix it.

"The only thing you can do is keep moving forward. Maybe I'll take you out to look for someone else to crush on." Charlie winked at Sarah.

"I'm sorry I've been so mean to you." She was sorry she had been mean to everyone. Sarah reached over and gave Charlie a hug.

"Don't worry about it. See you at dinner?" Charlie stood and walked towards the door.

"Of course." Sarah smiled as Charlie left.

Charlie walked back to her room feeling very proud of herself. She was going to fix the rift that was between everyone. After Sarah and Nick made up, she planned to get Maya to stop getting mad at Abby for being the way she is.

Sarah opened her laptop again and closed the tab for new apartments. She didn't feel like escaping her friends like she had wanted to ten minutes ago.