"I know this probably...no, definitely sounds weird. Especially coming from me now. But I really want to see you...

- Noel"

He had read that text message at least a million times, and was still stung with shock by its contents. What could she possibly want to see him for? Was she having second thoughts?

No, he responded to himself. That was completely over-thinking it. He had seen her just the week before making out with his best friend. And, as if that had not left him emotionally traumatized, the next day, his friend had the gall to gloat about their engagement.

Engagement, he mused. She was the most important girl in the world to him, and his best friend was.... well, to put it simply, not the right fit. Of course, he thought, that's probably just my jealousy speaking.

He missed her for sure. It had only been three days, nineteen and a half hours when he last saw her, but they used to spend most of their time together. The puzzle just was not making any sense. He was the one she always wanted to see, the one she always told her secrets to — and yet, this happened.

Now, on top of that, he was sitting here, nervously waiting for her to arrive at the park they two had claimed almost a year ago as their personal escape from everyone else. The bench he sat on was the one where she had first disclosed some of her secrets to him, and he, right after she had, to her. They had had the perfect moment — where they knew each other "clicked." Everything was falling right into place. That is, until it was falling apart.

He instinctively looked at his watch, which told him it was 11:57 A.M. Three minutes until their planned meeting. At that thought, he closed his eyes. His anxiety gripped him, forcing him to comb his hand through his hair before he was able to re-open his eyes. Upon opening them, however, he saw a pair of knee-high, black leather boots. He knew instantly who it belonged to. Not daring to look at her, he shifted his gaze to the empty space on the bench to his left.

"Hey," she said breathily. The way she said it, it sounded more like a choked whisper, he thought.

"Hey," he responded, his voice sounding more morose and strained than he had expected it to come across.

Relax, he said inwardly. He had already told himself that he was not going to let his emotions run away with him again. However, he noted, he was already starting to feel extremely tense.

She, not able to think of anything more to say while standing, sat down quickly in the empty space next to him. Surprised, he noticed that she did not sit farther away from him than she had in times past. He had expected her to be clear on the other end.

Unfortunately, he sighed, this gave him a really good view of her ring. It was definitely more expensive than anything he could ever afford for her. Perhaps he really was the better match...

Before he lost himself completely in thought, Noel spoke again. "I know that sounded really awkward... I guess—" she cut herself off abruptly as if she half dreaded and yet half eagerly longed to say the rest of it.

"You guess?" he asked, turning his vivid green eyes toward her icy blue ones. His stare completely lacked the vivacity it had had before when they used to sit here. Her heart grew sore as she stared back at him, the look he gave burning into her. It looked as if he were desperately trying not to convey any sense of emotion, yet utterly failing.

She had to clear her throat and avert her gaze before she could muster up the strength to continue. "I guess I really miss seeing you so much every day."

His heart stopped half-way through her sentence, although it had been nearly beating out of his chest just seconds before. She missed him?

"I see," he said, trying to sound indifferent. At this point, he could not tell whether he succeeded or not due to the rapid influx of thoughts rushing through his mind.

Calm down, he repeated to himself. They were just best friends. If it had been anyone else, he could have completely convinced himself of it. But, sitting here next to her, it was hard to think reasonably. Everything was becoming tangled together and unwinding itself at the same time. His heart was also feeling the twists his thoughts were taking.

"I..." she faltered, her voice cracking with emotion. Catching the emotional tone to her voice, he stared at her intensely.

What is she thinking? he asked himself. "What's wrong?" he voiced aloud, partially intentionally but mostly due to an unknown, impelling force.

She looked up and caught a breath, then gazed back at him. A tear forced its way out of her eyelid and slid across her soft, pale cheek. The wind whipped her platinum blonde hair at it in a weak attempt to wipe it away.

"I really miss you," she said softly. It was no longer her choice now. The tears were escaping quickly from both of her eyes, and she tried her best to hide it by turning her head and quietly dabbing her cheeks with her hand.

He grasped a Kleenex from the pouch he kept inside his pocket and reached over and touched her face gently with it.

"It's okay. I missed you, too," he replied. At this point, he knew he was letting far too much emotion out for her not to notice, but she seemed to be doing a fairly good job of showing some herself.

She turned her face towards his again only to see a look of total longing plastered on his face.

"Why?" she asked, nearly incredulously.

He stared at her for a long time, not quite knowing how to respond. Surely he should have thought of this by now. Yet, she had asked him, and now he did not know what to say to her. Any words, thoughts that came to mind seemed useless to him. He simply wiped away the last of her tears and stuffed the Kleenex into his pocket.

"Because... I really care about you," he said, knowing this to be the truth. And it was not overly sentimental, as that phrase was commonly used even amongst his other close companions.

He knew that would not satisfy the situation, however, as she turned her gaze away toward the blue sky beyond. He instantly stood up and walked to the other side of her and sat down on the edge of the bench, mostly facing her now. After her gaze shifted back towards him, he gently gripped her left hand in both of his.

"I do care about you," he repeated, then added momentarily, "That's why I want you to be happy. With Mark."

Once he had, painfully, added the last two words, he noticed a sudden change in her features. Her expression was that of sheer hopelessness and indifference. This he had never seen before.

"Mark...." she said in a muffled tone that sounded very distant. "Yes, I'm sure my life would be perfect with him..."

He was now yet more perplexed. Her words implied one thing, while the sarcasm of her tone connoted something entirely different. Seeing his marked confusion, Noel decided to continue.

"He's not who he says he is. I know that was probably extremely obvious....looking back, it's so evident..." her voice sounded slightly bitter as she spoke. "He's a swindler. In his job, he's reputable for a reason. It's because he's a smooth talker and good at convincing people...."

She stared coolly at the beautiful, large rock adorning her third finger. Then her gaze softened as she noticed his hands had not moved.

"I don't think I can handle being with someone who lies to people on a daily basis....." she paused for a while. "Including me."

"What? What do you mean?" he asked, his confusion growing more and more as the conversation continued. "You mean Mark's—"

"A jerk?" she cut in quickly. "Yes, that's what I mean.... I would have thrown the ring in the nearest duck pond if I was sure he wouldn't sue me for it." She smiled at the thought before continuing. "I heard all that from a friend of his. I'm not sure to what extent it's true, but the way he looked at me and immediately stopped talking with his boss when I showed up today...."

She did not continue this time. He sat there, quietly puzzled. "You mean a friend of his told you this...but you're not quite sure, right? We could ask—"

"I don't want to talk to him again.... Not now," she interjected again.

Her worn-out appearance more than spoke for her cause. He would not try to force her to talk to Mark — not now, at least.

"All right. I won't make you," he replied, watching her face relax. Finally noticing that he was still holding her hand, he quickly placed her hand next to her and seated himself more comfortably, reclining on the back of the bench.

After a few lengthy moments of silence, he spoke up again. "What if Mark was trying to plan a party for you, or some surprise? Maybe his boss is just a really cool guy who's gonna let him use some place at work to throw the party," he said.

It was not entirely unreasonable to think this, as her only resource was just a so-called "friend" of Mark's who was probably just jealous of him for being engaged to such a pretty girl. Also, he knew Mark, and it seemed impossible for his friend to be a crook.

She shook her head forcibly, saying, "No, you should have seen the look on his face. You know, the boy with his hand in the cookie jar..."

After a brief pause, he nodded and replied, "He's never been good with control over his expressions. You and I both know that. We can just ask him later... If you want, I'll go with you."

She stared into the distance, her gaze not quite landing on anything specifically. It was not like them to have awkward silences like these — but then again, no circumstances had been similar to this before. Normally, if she had been feeling at all upset, he would simply put his hand on her back and rub her shoulderblade softly. But in this case, it was neither the time nor place.

"I can do it," she said slowly, trying to ignore his sympathetic stare. For some reason, it was unnerving to feel comforted by him, even to a small degree.

Noel stood once again, turning in his direction. "Good-bye, Jason," she said softly.

She turned back in the direction she came from and began to walk away. He watched her until her figure disappeared, then still gazed in that direction as if he were locked in that position forever. By the time he had finally looked at his watch, it was more than half past noon, and his stomach was already complaining of the lack of sustenance.