"So..."

Once we were dry and dressed, we lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Are you going to speak first or should I?" She turned to me, "We won't raise our voices this time."

"Okay." I sighed, 'look I don't mind stopping this, if that's what you really want."

I lied, I do mind, but it's up to her, I just hope tonight convinced her otherwise.

"I don't-"

"If you say 'I don't know' I swear to god-"

"I was going to say 'I don't want to'..."

"Oh." I was surprised by her answer, expecting her to want to take a break.

"But..."

Of course there's a 'but'.

"I think we should. I might take the weekend to think, while you're gone. I'll avoid him at all costs too. Maybe some time to think might help."

"Okay, we can do that..."

"I was talking to Zoe earlier about the whole thing-"

"You didn't tell her that we... you know, did you?"

"No! Don't worry, I haven't told anyone."

"Good." I sighed in relief. Zoe's like my second sister, and I don't want her to get any wrong ideas, because I know she will.

"I told her about how you don't like Matt, and that I'd pick you over anyone, but I don't know how to let Matt down because he's been so nice."

'I'd pick you over anyone' was the only part of that sentence that I actually listened to.

"And what were Zoe's wise words in response?"

"She said that you've been with me through everything, and if you don't think Matt's the one for me then you're probably right."

"I think you should listen to Zoe." I grinned.

"It's not that I don't want you to be with him, I just want you to be happy, and I don't think he's the person that you'll be happy with."

"And you are?"

I didn't answer. How do I answer that?

She sighed and rolled over to face me. "I'm just going take two days alone, and then I guess I'll have to see him on Monday."

"It's a holiday, you won't have to see him until Tuesday."

"Thank god." She groaned, making me smile, "So I'll see you again Monday and we can talk about it then."

"Sunday night, I'm not waiting 'til Monday."

"Fine, Sunday night. But we should sleep now, you promised you'd get your eight hours."

I climbed under the covers. "Well, I'd never break a promise." Unlike someone...

"Wait, are we doing 'not talking at all' this weekend, or 'just friends' this weekend? Can I call or text you or will you block my number if I do?"

"Friends, no funny business though, and no propaganda."

"Deal."

She flicked off the lamp and climbed under too, "Goodnight, Dory."

"Goodnight, doll."

"I lied earlier, by the way."

"What?"

"You're the better kisser."

"Oh, I know." I smiled as we dozed off to sleep.

*

"Theodore! We're leaving in half an hour!" Dad's voice echoed through the room.

"Fuck." I groaned, rolling over and almost squashing the girl beside me.

"Theo!"

"Sorry." I rolled back, stumbling out of bed. I glanced back at the sleepy blonde, her hair sprawled across my pillow and her hand covering her eyes to block out any light.

"Someone's tired."

"Mhm." She yawned, pulling the covers off herself and attempting to stand up. She began laughing and fell back onto the bed.

"Shit."

"What's up?"

"I'm sore as hell."

"Oops."

She stumbled into the bathroom with her makeup bag, brushing her teeth beside me. I held out my hand for support but she slapped it away jokingly.

We're just platonic friends right now, so I had to change my thoughts when I saw the toothpaste dripping down her chin.

I let her get dressed in my room and didn't peek once, hiding behind the bathroom door and attempting to fix my hair.

"Did you pack everything?"

"I think so..."

"Your charger, your toothbrush, your phone..."

"Yes, Mom." I came back in to see her completely dressed, brushing through her hair. She rolled her eyes at my comment, hooking her bag over her shoulder. "Leaving already?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, drive safe."

"Will do." I thought it was strange, how fast she rushed out of my house, and really hope she just needs to get back to Zoe or something, not because she wants to get away from me.

I followed her downstairs, grabbing some toast for breakfast with Dad. "This weekend is very important, pal, I hope you understand that."

"I do, I know."

"It's crucial for the business, and your future. We just need some investors to keep us going and then we're both set for life. A couple years and you'll be the new face of our family's company."

"Mhm, I know."

"I hope you do. You can put your bags in the car and we'll leave in a second."

"I was going to drive my car, it would just be easier."

I am not sitting in an inclosed area with him for two hours straight. I'll get the talk about how important business is and how hard he's worked for me, and I'd rather slit my eardrums.

"Ok. I'm going to get going then, I'm going by the hotel first to check in."

"Send me the location, I'll meet you there."

"Alright. Lock up behind yourself, make sure you didn't leave anything plugged in..."

The list went on and he finally left, and after checking everything I left too.

My hands gripped the wheel as I sped down the highway, windows down with Arabella by Arctic Monkeys blasting through the vehicle. Camila's taking this weekend to think, so maybe I should too.

I replayed last night in my head, analysing her arguments and thinking of countermoves.

"of course he was going to catch feelings the second you gave him attention, any guy would!"

That was risky. I worded that terribly, thank god she's blonde.

"if being your fuck toy and best friend is all I'm going to get you bet your ass I'm going to take it."

What was I thinking? I'm surprised she's still talking to me.

"who's whore are you?"

"Yours."

She told me she was mine twice yesterday. Two times. Yet Matt is still a contender. It makes me wonder what she's telling him.

My mind stirred as I sped faster down the road.

I've never had an official girlfriend, apart from Samantha in 2nd grade. Camila's never had a boyfriend either. I guess when you think about it, we've never wanted or needed anyone else. People always presumed we were dating. We were the two that would be inseparable, always having sleepovers and going out on, what looked like, dates. She filled the void of what my girlfriend would have done with me, and vice versa.

Girls never bothered with me because they always knew Camila would be my number one, and I always scared boys away from her.

When you think about it, the closest I've been with a girl, that wasn't Cami, was Katie. And she was just a replacement for a few months while Camila was gone.

But now Cami's getting bored of me, hence why she went for Matt too. I don't get why though, it's not like she needs a boyfriend, I do everything a boyfriend would do with her.

Maybe it's not what I'm doing and it's just me in general.

Matthew though?

"He's so nice to me". Am I not nice enough? Should I be taking her out for ice cream instead of hot chocolate?

I was broken from my thoughts when my phone started ringing. It's probably Dad but I was mentally praying it was Camila, and she's already done thinking.

But no, it was neither. I put my phone on speaker and turned off my music as I answered the call. This should be fun.

"Hey, man."

"What's up?"

"Not much, just heading over to the site. You working today?"

"Nah I'm heading to the business conference shit, I'll be gone all weekend."

"Oh, alright." I couldn't help but feel like there was a tinge of happiness behind that.

"I called by Camila's last night..."

"For real? How did it go?"

"Did she not tell you?"

"Nope."

"Well I kissed her, and I thought she was into, like she was into it, but then afterwards she said she needed to think."

She was into it. Motherfucker.

"Shit man, I'm sorry."

"Is that bad?"

"I mean, she might be trying to let you down easy or something. Did you ask her out or anything?"

"No, well yeah, I asked her if she was free that night and I was going to take her somewhere but she said she was having girls' night with Zoe, so I just said I wanted to talk and then we kissed."

Girls' night. So she didn't tell him she was going to mine.

"How did you leave things? Did you text her?"

"I told her she didn't have to answer straight away and then she hugged me."

"Ah, mate, I'm sorry, that's friend-zone right there."

"Fuck- I texted her that night but she hasn't read it."

"She might have seen the notification, what did you say?"

"Just that she can take her time to think or whatever."

"She's probably doing that. She's with Zoe this weekend so maybe just let her figure things out, I'll let you know if she mentions you."

"Thanks, man."

"Sure. You seem to get along well with her, but it might just be platonic, you'll just have to wait and find out."

"I don't know how you can be just friends with her, bro, you sure you're straight?"

"Yeah." I laughed at his comment, "We've been friends since we were kids, it's just normal."

"I guess. I'm here now, talk to you later."

"Bye."

I chuckled to myself, knowing I've planted new thoughts in his head as I pulled into the hotel's parking lot.