Chapter 1

Emily's sneakers made a soft padding sound as she dragged them down the hallway to her apartment door. Her slow pace could not be totally blamed on the exhaustion she felt from working all day in the hospital. Chasing Mrs. Bednevik all over the hospital and fighting with her about her treatment had taken a lot out of Emily that day, but more than an unruly patient, Emily was tired of feeling like her emotions were everyone else's personal game of cat's cradle.

It wasn't entirely Micah's fault, she did really like him, and she really wanted to move on from Will, but it was still a complete shock to find out that he was crazy about her. Absentmindedly, Emily let her fingers brush over her lips as she thought about the kiss that they had shared two nights ago. She was excited to start a new relationship with him, obviously, or she wouldn't have just left Will alone at the bar like that, but it was also true that Micah's confession didn't come at a really great time. Emily thought she had snapped out of her thing for Will, but sometimes when she looked at him her heart still fluttered, and sometimes when she caught him looking at her she still blushed, and worst of all, his confession to her tonight that he had chosen her over Cassandra made feel this, this uncontainable joy. In the end, she had won.

Emily stopped in front of her door and pulled her key out of her pocket. Sticking it into the lock she silently prayed that Tyra wasn't home. As much as she loved her new friend, she could be a little overbearing at times and she certainly had no boundaries. Emily held her breath as she pushed the door open to find an empty living room and kitchen. Emily closed and locked the door behind her, practically ran into her room. All of the sudden she had felt this overwhelming wave of sadness, no, not sadness, despair. Where was this coming from? She wasn't horribly broken up about Will was she? She had made an agreement with herself that he would no longer be the source of her problems. He would no longer be the reason why she cried herself to sleep alone at night. Emily didn't need stupid, gorgeous Will Collins, and she never would again, she had Micah now. She momentarily thought about calling him, but she realized how stupid that would be.

"Hi Micah, I was just calling because I wanted to cry over the phone and tell how broken up I about getting over Will. By the way, when do you want to have our first official date?"

Giving up, Emily groaned as she rolled over into the fetal position on her mattress, tears streaming down her face. She lay their silently sobbing for at least 30 minutes before she heard the front door open and Tyra's cheerful humming filled the apartment.

"Emily?" Tyra called out. "Emily are you home?" Emily didn't respond she couldn't she didn't want Tyra to see her this way, she didn't want anyone to see her this way, and she hoped that if she just stayed silent, Tyra would just fall asleep on the couch and leave her to be until the morning when she had had some time to collect herself. Instead, Tyra barged into her room. "I knew you were home, your stuff is all – Emily? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying." Emily snapped.

"Em, I'm not an idiot, I can see that you're crying, is it Will? If it's Will I'm going to-". A sudden urgent pounding on Emily's front door cut Tyra short. "Stay right here, I'm going to get rid of whoever is knocking on our door at this outrageous hour of the night." Tyra wandered out of the room mumbling something about being doctors who never get any sleep, A few seconds later Emily heard the door open, and Tyra exclaim, "Will? What are you doing here?"

"What?" Emily whispered to herself. She could her Tyra yelling at Will to get out and leave them alone, and her tears, which had momentarily dried, came rushing back again. Tyra slammed the door behind Will and came marching back into Emily's room.

"Tell me everything. Now." Emily sniffled and wiped the tears out from under her eyes as she told Tyra everything that happened at the bar.

"But you told him no. So why are you crying?" Tyra asked, as puzzled expression on her face.

"I don't know." Emily admitted. "I guess I'm just frustrated and confused. I know I've said I'm over Will, but a part of me still has feelings for him. I don't know what to do about that. I'm frustrated because I've waited so long for him, and I thought he didn't care about me at all, and then in the end, he did care about me. In the end he chose me. What do I do Tyra? I want to move forward with Micah, but what if these feelings for Will don't ever go away?"

Tyra slid into the bed next to Emily and wrapped her arms around he best friend. "Emily, listen to me. It's okay for you to not be completely over Will. I mean you've been in love with him for so long it would be virtually impossible for you to just snap out of it. Do you remember the night you told me you were over Will? I was really upset about hot Molly and I barged up onto that rooftop where you were talking to Micah, and after I vented you told me about getting over Dr. Collins. I saw two things that night. I saw how happy you were to finally be free of this terrible thing that was weighing you down for four years. Right now, tonight, at the bar he admitted to you that he's been in love with you for almost as long as you have been in love with him, and he was too scared to admit it. He was and is a coward Emily, a selfish coward and all he has ever done is made you wait around for him. You were right; you deserve to be Micah's first choice. Do you want to know the second thing I saw that night?"

Emily nodded her head and sniffled a few times. "I saw the way that Micah looked at you. You are his first choice Emily. He really cares about you. Hold on to that. Forget about Will, Emily. Micah is your future."

"Tyra?" Emily asked. "How come you always know the solution to my problems?"

Tyra left and stood up to leave the room. Looking backing at Emily she said, "Emily, anyone can see just by looking at them who loves you more. Trust me, it's Micah."