"Lily!" I gasped to no avail. She was already long gone.

Antonio and I stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, shocked by the abrupt interruption. Our chests heaved as we caught our breaths, and I suddenly became hyperaware to his every movement. He rummaged a hand through his dark hair, which was messier than usual. He licked his lips, the remnants of my cherry chapstick lingering. And his eyes, so dark and enchanting, analyzed my face and elicited a spark in my stomach. Actually, spark was an understatement. It was a fire.

My cheeks faintly turned rose at the way his eyes involuntarily flickered down to my chest. With that, I smacked myself into reality and threw the duvet aside while clumsily squirming out of his hold. I tossed on my shirt and patted down my hair, a poor attempt at taming my wild curls.

"Flower," Antonio groaned, a plead for me to stay put next to him. However tempting the thought was, I cast him a grimace before stumbling out of our room and towards Lily's.

I gently pried open the bedroom door and paused at the sniffles that met my ears. So I hadn't seen things wrong–she was crying. Though, what for?

"Lils," I muttered as I walked in, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she mumbled. She was lying down on the bed, and her back was facing me, but I didn't have to see her face to know that she was lying.

"Come on," I shuffled closer in concern, "you can talk to me."

Lily reluctantly shifted to face me before beginning to giggle. "Your shirt's on backwards."

I smiled, a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. "Oops."

"So you and Antonio–"

"That was nothing–"

"Liar–"

"Enough about me," I sternly retorted, sitting down next to her on the plush bed. "Why are you crying?"

"Oh Rose, it was horrible," she finally confessed, tears beginning to stream down her face once more. "I-I told Romano that I liked him."

A surprised gasp escaped my lips. Nothing could've prepared me for, well, that.

"How'd it go?" I managed to vomit out.

"Not good," she let out a mixture of a laugh and cry, rubbing at her eyes.

"Oh, Lils," I sympathetically murmured, wrapping my arms around her. I couldn't imagine the damage this would do to her already feeble confidence.

We were silent for a moment, and I found myself beginning to feel afraid. Lily and Romano were my best friends. Our trio had formed almost immediately after my arrival to Burnsley. Judging by Lily's sobs, Romano clearly hurt her, perhaps enough to change our friendship dynamic.

Picking at a loose thread in her sweater, Lily finally decided to offer an explanation. "Tabby, Benny and I were about to leave for brunch, but I told them to go without me. I saw Romano alone on the beach, and, I don't know–this wave of spontaneity hit me. It was now or never. So I marched over to him and-and I told him how I felt. Oh, the look on his face. You should've seen it Rose. He looked so shocked–not in the good way. And then he told me that-that–"

Her lower lip began to violently quiver, and my heart twinged. It hurt to see my best friend in such pain. And then, holding her hand, I asked, "he told you what?"

At this, she looked down and murmured, "it's best you hear it from him."

I cocked my head to the side, confusion evident on my face. Before I could say another word, Lily turned around once more and faced her back towards me.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" I hopefully insisted. "Bake some cookies? Why don't we binge watch Gossip Girl? Oh, let's go shopping!"

"We already do all of those things everyday," Lily mustered a weak giggle. "I'll be fine, Rose. You can go back to Antonio, just make sure to keep it PG. No one wants to hear that." Even though I couldn't see her face, I knew she was smiling.

I lightly slapped her shoulder. We argued back and forth for a bit, and after being shooed away, I was forced to leave Lily to her lonesome. My smile fell short once I exited the room, and then an infuriated look fell onto my face. Next stop: the beach.

I marched through the cottage and over to the sandy beach, where I knew Romano would be. He was relaxing on the tanning chair, exactly as he'd been when I'd left him. His hands carelessly toyed with his brown curls. It wasn't fair that he got to sunbathe and enjoy himself, while Lily was wallowing in a bed of tissues. What had he said to hurt her so much? Whatever it was, I was about to find out.

I stomped the final steps towards him. Though, I slowed to a stop once I was just a few feet away. He was hunched over on the tanning chair, his knees shaking and shoulders tense. He wasn't carelessly playing with his hair like I'd thought. Rather, he was tugging at it almost anxiously. Was he... crying?

"Ro?"

His head snapped up at my voice, and he jumped up in defense mode. His eyes were red and puffy, only confirming my thoughts—he really was crying. I'd been so ready to grill him, that I must've still appeared furious.

"She told you, didn't she?" he asked in a bittersweet voice, though it wasn't much of a question.

Told me what? I wanted to ask. However, I remained silent and cautiously watched him. The Romano that I knew was calm, easygoing, and quite opposite to the mess that stood in front of me. I suddenly had the urge to hug him.

"Do you hate me?" he quietly asked, swallowing nervously. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"Why would I?" My eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"Because I'm gay."

Suddenly, many things made sense.

"Romano," I softly began. He held his breath, as if my next few words were going to change his life. "Come here."

I outstretched my arms and wrapped Romano in the biggest bear hug of all bear hugs. Tears involuntarily streamed down his cheeks and onto my shoulders, though I didn't mind.

"I'm sorry for not telling you, I'm sorry for lying and pretending I'm someone I'm not, I'm sorry for–for hurting Lily's feelings, and I'm sorry for getting snot all over your shirt, which is on backwards by the way."

I briefly laughed at the latter part of his sentence. "Don't you dare apologize, Ro," I firmly said after a moment, staring him in the eyes. "You're my best friend. Nothing will ever change that."

"Same here."

We jumped and glanced at the culprit–Lily. I hadn't even noticed her arrival. Romano stiffly watched her approach us, afraid of what she was going to do or say. By the look on her face, I knew she had no ill intentions. The two of them didn't say a word at first and I took a step back, allowing them to have their moment.

"Lily," Romano croaked out, "I'm–"

"Stop. If anyone should apologize, it's me," she said, sincerity thick in her tone.

"What?" he asked quietly, a little stunned. "No you shouldn't."

Lily shook her head, her blonde hair moving with her. "I overwhelmed you with my confession and-and forced you to come out. I had no idea–I would've never–"

"You didn't force me to do a thing," he adamantly disagreed. "I've wanted to tell you guys for a while now, I just didn't know how. As the lies kept piling up, it became harder to tell the truth. Please, Lily. Promise things won't change between us."

She gave him a wobbly smile and latched onto him. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Romano sighed, his shoulders falling in relief as he breathed in the scent of her hair. And then, his watery eyes wandered over to me. "C'mere, you."

I slightly giggled and wrapped my arms around the two of them. My best friends forever, no matter what.

• • •