"Hey Al." My dad whispers peeking his head in my room. I groan putting my pillow over my head. "I made you a cup of tea and thought we could talk before I went to work, it's been awhile. You can go right back to bed after I leave." He sits on the side of my bed. Once I've sat up he hands me a warm cup of tea.

        "What are you dressed so fancy for?" His dirty blond hair is short and combed back. His white skin seems a bit paler than usual. He's average height for a man and when I look at his eyes I see my exact light green eyes. "Is that a new suit?" He nods yes.

        "I have this really big meeting today. This job pays really well and your mom forced me to buy a new suit for this meeting with some of the extra money we have. Tell me about school? Have you made any new friends beside Drake and those two others?"

        "Schools been good, all A's and B's as usual. The students and teachers are really nice. Today I'm going over to Drakes house and our other two friends are also coming. His parents are letting him throw a Christmas party so we are going to decorate his house then party at night." I smile taking a sip of my tea.

        "I hope you have fun at the party. Don't do anything to bad there okay. I don't want you to get hurt or taken advantage of."

        "Don't worry dad I'm a pretty smart girl." I say sarcastically.

        "No, you're a smart women. You'll be eighteen in March that's only three months away. I have to go but have a good day." He kisses me on the cheek then heads for my door. "How late did you stay up last night?"

        "About two I think, why?" I ask a bit curious about why he asked.

        "Because it's almost eleven in the morning." My jaw drops as I look at the clock that that says ten fifty. My dad closes the door laughing. "Love you, Al, I'll see you later tonight."

        "Love you too dad." The last time I slept in until eleven was when I was fourteen. For a while I sit in bed sipping my tea listening to the rain hit against my window. The rain has been off and on the past few weeks. I don't mind it, I enjoy cold snuggly weather. I finish then go to the bathroom right next to my bedroom for a warm shower. Wrapped in my towel I go downstairs to open the door hoping it's someone I know. It's nice having my doorbell rung so frequently but it's also driving me nuts.

        "Do you always great your guests like this?" He laughs steeling my line from the first time I knocked on his door.

        "Only for special people." I shoot back steeling his response. "Come in I need to get dressed as you can tell. I wasn't expecting you to come so early."

        "I was thinking I could help you pick out your outfit now so you can just change at my house before the party."

        "You seem a bit distracted." He has a confused look on his face and his words are delayed. We head up the stairs toward my room.

        "That's because you're wet and in a towel but also because I didn't know that your hair was so long." He slightly tugs at the end of a few hairs that are almost a quart past my back.

        "It's only when it's wet really. Turn around so I can change." When my hair dry's it's barely past mid-back and my thick curls form.

        "Don't best friends change in front of each other?"

        "Sometimes and that's when they're the same sex."

        "I'm a girl for the next fifteen minutes." He smirks.

        "Turn." I giggle rotating my finger in a circle. After a moment of hesitation he finally turns.

        "Can I turn around yet?"

        "No I still need to put on my leggings." I finish pulling down my long, cashmere, knitted sweater that hangs off my right shoulder. It's just long enough that it cups under my butt and then pull on my black leggings. "Done, you can turn around now."

        "Nice outfit it's so Christmassy. Now it's time to find you a party outfit." He claps his hands rubbing them together. I open both my closet doors as wide as they'll go.

        "Have fun." I gesture to my cloths taking a seat on my bed to face my closet.

        "Would you wear a dress or shirt?"

        "No, it's too cold out for that." The rain has picked up in the last half an hour.

        "True, it's supposed to rain for the next with thunder and lightening." He sifts through my cloths a few times before pulling out my blue, mid-rise, skinny jeans, with three black buttons on each side on the cloth that's covering half my stomach. A minute later he pulls out a tight beige shirt. It has flowing sleeves that hang off both shoulders. "You will look really good in this. Do you have any beige heels?" I can't help but laugh at him. "Out here the way you dress says a lot about who you are." No matter how hard I try the laughing won't stop. He throws the shirt at my face which makes me laugh even harder. The weirdest part is I I'm not even sure why I'm laughing so hard. I bet it's because I haven't had a good laugh in a while.

        "No I don't." I gasp for breath finally getting ahold of my laughter. "But my mom does."

        "Will she let you borrow them?"

        "Of course she will. We have the same show size so we tend to borrow each other's shoes. She mainly borrows mine though since she basically only owns heels for work." I pull a pair of four inch, shiny, beige, peep toe heels from the back of her closet. "They'll go perfectly."

        "Get a purse to put all this in then we'll go get some Gordo's."

        "Yum, burritos, I'll only be a few minutes." I grab my gold bag with silver and gray sequence in the shape of a bow. I start putting my cloths and makeup in, zip it up, and put the long strap on my shoulder. "We taking your car?" I ask locking my door walking down my front steps.

        "Yeah, I called in our order so we can just run in and out."

        "Is there a plan for today?"

        "Pick up food, eat at my house, start decorating and have a good time," He smiles, "Jes and Jordan are going to come around one or one thirty."

        "Why did you come over so early if we aren't supposed to meet till one?"

        "I tried calling you but you weren't picking up so I came over to check on you. I was worried you might have been sulking about what happened yesterday."

        "Oh yeah, I turned my phone off after I hung up on Mark. I never turned it back on." I dig around for my phone that I hurriedly threw into my bag. After turning back on my phone it vibrates for what seems like an hour telling me about my missed messages. "Holy crap how many times did you call me?"

        "I called you twice and sent you one message." He pulls into a parking spot right in front of Gordo's. Getting out of the car I set my bag on the floor and check my missed texts and phone calls. I freeze mid-step as I see who they are from. Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, Nicky, Mark, Mark, Nicky. I completely forgot to call her back. I'll call her after I eat. Mark must have called me almost forty times and sent me almost a hundred messages.

                                                        Babe please call me back

                                                        It isn't what you think call me

                                                        At least give me a chance to

                                                         explain what's going on

                                                         I love you please call me I'm begging you

                                                        You're breaking my heart call me

        Breaking his heart. That's suck bullshit! If anyone's heartbroken it's me and not his stupid lying ass.

        "Alina, calm down. What's going on? I just said that out loud on accident. Why do I do that when I get upset? I hand him my phone then go to pick up our order. When I head back out he's sitting back in his car reading the messages. I don't even want to listen to the voicemail she left me. "You should call your friend Nicky." He hands me his phone starting the car.

        "I was going to after we ate."

        "She's called you four times and sent you twenty messages in the last five minutes," He laughs, "She's really worried about you." On the first ring Nicky picks up.

        "Sorry I never called you back last night I had fallen asleep after I hung up on Mark. When I woke up I had completely forgot and my phone has been turned off since last night, I'm really sorry Nicky." I rapidly spill out before she has a chance to yell at me.

        "Its okay Mark told me you broke up with him. He's blaming me for telling you what he's been hiding behind your back."

        "Don't let him get to you. What you did saved me from being with a guy who just lies and cheats. I'm glad you told me even thought I know it was hard for you. I he keeps harassing you just let me know and I'll help you out."

        "I'll tell you if he does. I doubt he will because I told him If he ever called me again I'd call the cops on him and sue him for harassment." I can tell she has a big smile on her face as she's telling me this. I let out a small chuckle as Drake pulls into his driveway. "How are you taking it?"

        "Pretty well at the moment but I think that's because I'm still numb. I'm trying to keep myself busy so I can get my mind off of it."

        "What have you been doing?"

        "Yesterday night Drake came over and pigged out with me. Then some other friends came over till about twelve, Drake stayed until about two because I couldn't get to sleep. Today I'm helping Drake decorate for the party he's throwing for Christmas."

        "Sounds like you're one busy be Al. It also sounds like you've been spending a lot of time with this Drake guy."

        "What are you trying to say?" I ask slowly trying to think about what the answer might be. Drake takes my bag for me mouthing; I'll put it in the guest room. "Thanks." I whisper.

        "You spend a lot of a time with him, talk about him a lot, talk to him about your problems, and he stayed at your house until two because you couldn't sleep. It just seems like theirs a little thing going on between you two..." She trails off.

        "He's my guy best friend that's all, nothing more. I just got out of a relationship with a guy who cheated on me. I have the feeling I won't be dating for a while."

        "Why Al? I'm not trying to push you to do anything but the way you talk about Drake is more than a friend and the way you described him is almost exactly the kind of guy you used to dream of."

        "Because I'm afraid I'll get hurt again." I whisper loud enough for her to hear. "I will admit Drake is a great guy but like I said I just got out of a relationship and also I don't want to ruin our friendship or think of us as more then friends when I'm pretty sure he thinks of us as best friends too." I babble out rapidly.

        "Okay I understand where you're coming from. I have to go because my mom needs me but don't think this is the end of this conversation. Have fun at your party but don't do anything stupid." She laughs out.

        "I'll have fun don't worry about me. Tell your mom I said hi for me. Talk to you tomorrow." I sit down at Drakes dining table thinking about what Nicky said. All this thinking is giving me a headache. Drake hasn't done anything for me to think he likes me. I would say him wanting to see me naked shows he likes me but what guy doesn't want to see a girl naked? Why am I even thinking about this? I just got out of a relationship and I don't feel any other emotion toward Drake except... friendliness. Is that even an emotion? "I hate being a teenager." I groan laying my head on the table.

        "Same her I think it's mainly because of all the drama." Drake says walking into the room taking a seat in front of me. "This one is yours." He hands me my warm burrito that's wrapped in aluminum foil. "What are you going to do about Mark?" he asks after swallowing the big bite he took.

        "I'm going to call him one last time tomorrow to tell him to never call me again." I say nonchalantly. "As simple as that."

        "As simple as that." He repeats raising his bottle to clink against mine. He stares into my eyes with his deep brown eyes almost as if he's trying to look into my soul for something I'm hiding. He'll never find anything without me telling him. My walls are up and I'm thinking about things I wish were never brought up in the first place. What if I do like Drake?