Alone With Ross

•94•

"I keep shitting myself when I wake up to see that damn ceiling." I muttered and Keith laughed at me, I could see his wife in the background, they were doing a painting session for the hell of it, I felt bad for interrupting but Keith and Noöra didn't mind, they loved talking to me.

And the feeling was mutual.

"It must be very strange for you." Noöra's accent was thicker than Keith's. "Are you anxious over there?" She seemed genuinely concerned and it warmed my heart.

"Of course I am." I said quietly, and Keith looked at me in surprise, usually he'd have to prod for hours to get me to spill my guts. "Every second there's just more drama sitting around the corner, I can't believe I lived through stuff like this as I was going to school."

"And how about you know who?" Keith look at me worriedly and I sighed.

"You can say his name, he's not the dark lord." I mused before my smile faded. "It's difficult." I continued readying my face in the mirror as we have rehearsal dinner tonight. "Ross is engaged to Danielle." They both gasped, and Noöra dropped a glob of pain on her shirt causing her to cuss in Swedish. I nodded my head somberly. "And I still have very serious feelings for him."

Noöra grabbed the phone. "Well you must tell him! You guys are made for each other!" Keith took the phone back.

"What do you mean you still have feelings for him? You just spent what felt like a lifetime trying to get over him! Don't forget all the pain you went through!" They were on opposing sides and I couldn't help but smile at how invested they were in my pathetic love life.

Just as I was about to assure them there was a knock at my door. "Caspian?" Ross asked.

"You guys I have to go, Ross is here."

"Tell him! For the love of god you guys are perfect together!" Noöra exclaimed a little too loudly for my liking.

"Just forget about him, you can do so much better." Keith and Noöra were both looking at me expectantly and I rolled my eyes before hanging up.

"Crazy Swedes." I muttered before answering the door.

"Hey Ross what-" Ross pushed passed me and went into the room in awe as he looked around.

His eyes went from the wall that was once littered with posters the the closet that was bursting with clothes then to the beds that were rearranged to opposite sides of the room rather than together. It spoke volumes.

"It's like we were never here." He said quietly.

"Because we weren't." He looked at me confused and I shrugged my shoulders. "Those people were strangers. They didn't even know who they were yet." I gestured to my old bed. "You had a rebellious teenager who was all into punk bands, hated the world and all it had to offer." Then I waved my hand towards Ross' bed. "Then you had the disgraced jock, the perfect boy next door who listened to every genre of music and who just wanted to be accepted by everyone."

"A real Shakespeare worthy character traits." He said amused and I rolled my eyes.

"Your modern day Romeo and Juliet." I curtsied and he snickered.

"So who was that yelling on the phone?" Ross suddenly asked and I smiled.

"Keith and his wife." I said fondly and he looked at me curiously.

"She's fine with it? I mean given yours and Keith's past?" He sat on his old bed grimacing at the squeaky springs.

"Well it wasn't much of a past, but yeah, or course she's fine with it. She knows she has nothing to worry about, what me and Keith had was petty infatuation. Noöra knows that what they have is the real deal and that neither of them would ever do anything to jeopardize it." I looked towards Ross pointedly. "I mean if Noöra was getting upset about it then the relationship would've fallen apart anyways because without trust what's the use?"