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I stepped back away from him with my arms by my sides and confessed quietly, “I feel like I’ve lost my best friend”

Vik’s face gentled in a way that ut, and when he opened his mouth to respond, I waited Hiscame out

Yep That was about the size of it

My eyes sad, I nodded slowly My nose tingled, and I forced a smile

Rejection was an awful feeling, and we both drowned in it, pulling each other under, trying in vain to take in a gasping breath before we expired

Now, as Vik helped a giggling Anika out of the car, I watched in silence as he carefully walked her into the house “Take a step,” he uttered patiently “And another There you go Almost there”

I quicklyhim entrance His body filled the open doorway, and a flashaccess to the house until I stepped on my tiptoes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him down to kiss him, assaultedwell enough where hts in there with me, locked away from the world, locked in each other’s embrace

I didn’t folloaited in the hall He returned and walked right past me

My soul cried out for hiiven too ht with zero return

He reached the doorway and faltered, pausingback, his whisky-s rain on a summer’s day

“For what it’s worth, I miss you too”

It fedwoman And as much as it nourished, it poisoned

He closed the door behind him, and the click of the latch echoed in the open space It felt so final that I began to cry