It was a warm night despite it being November. The girls walked side by side down the path that surrounded the apartment complex. Neither of them spoke, although they did shoot occasional sideways glances when they thought the other one wasn't looking.

So this is awkward… Gretchen thought. She rolled her eyes. Ugh, this is actually ridiculous. Just… say something! Say anything!

"Nice night." Gretchen said, breaking the silence at last. Oh that was smooth.

"Yeah, it is." Claire agreed, nodding her head while shooting a small smile at the brunette. To a passer-by the smile would look genuine, but Gretchen knew Claire, and she knew that even though the smile was perfectly constructed it was also perfectly fake; there was no emotion there, it did not reach her eyes. They were approaching a bench that was positioned to the left of the path, and Claire asked Gretchen if she wanted to sit.

"Sure." Gretchen quietly agreed. Claire led the way and took a seat while Gretchen followed in step and sat beside her.

Closer than a normal friend would sit… Claire noticed as she felt her heartbeat accelerate.

To lessen the aching pain in her chest Claire gently inched herself away from her friend so that they were still close but so that she could no longer feel the body heat between them. This did not go unnoticed by Gretchen.

Great, she thought, she can't even stand to be near me anymore.

Once again there was silence as the two girls became lost in their own thoughts. You have to try again, Gretchen thought as she searched for the right words to say. She needed to resurrect the conversation that had been interrupted a few minutes ago in Mr. Bennett's apartment.

Gretchen turned her head to look at Claire, who looked back at her with the same sad expression that Gretchen had seen all night. Guilt overtook her again as she fought to hold back tears. Don't cry don't cry don't cry. But it was too late, and she felt the first tear brim over. Crap. She looked down at her lap and began to sob, she couldn't stop herself.

"Gretchen? Gretchen what's wrong?!" Claire asked, alarmed by her used-to-be-roommate's sudden mood swing. And even though she was hurting, the sight of Gretchen's obvious distress made her forget about her own pain. Why is she so upset, did I do something? Or is she here to tell me goodbye for good?

"I'm s-so sorry!" Gretchen choked out between sobs. Just say everything. "Claire I n-never meant to l-leave you!"

"Shh," Claire soothed while pulling Gretchen in for a hug, "just calm down. Breathe. Just chill out for a minute, it's okay." Gretchen relaxed into Claire's embrace, taking deep breaths in an attempt to compose herself. This is just awesome; every time I try to talk about it I turn into a blubbering idiot. She soon regained control over her body as the hysteria lessened and she sat up, slowly pulling out of Claire's arms while wiping tear streaks away.

"Look at me, I'm a mess. This is so embarrassing." She said, trying to make light of the situation.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked, brows furrowed and concern evident in her features.

Gretchen shook her head, "You really are unbelievable, you know that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm the one who left, and you're asking me if I'm okay? I'm the one who took your trust and friendship and threw it back in your face. I ran off because of my own stupid fears, and I left you alone, even though you told me everything would be okay."

What is she talking about? Claire thought. Of course she ran away from me. I almost got her killed. I'm sure that when she agreed to be my roommate, she didn't know that being strangled by an invisible psychopath was in the job description.

"Gretch, look-"

"No, listen. I can see that me leaving has really hurt you. But believe me, that was never my intention. You know how irrational I can be, and when I realized that there was a crazy nut job who had it in for me… I just panicked. And when I said that I wasn't like you…"

Claire's insides lurched.

"… I wasn't saying that you were a freak or anything like that; I meant that I wasn't as strong as you are. I'm not invincible; I can be killed in quite a number of ways- all of which were running through my head every second that I was worrying about Becky- and I was so scared. I'm not as brave as you are. I'm not used to this stuff. Until I met you my life has been anything but extraordinary. The most adventure I've had up until now was running away when I was like, eight. And that only lasted for a few hours, and I was next door at my neighbor's house!"

Claire smiled at the thought of young Gretchen packing her bags and stomping out of her front door. Little miss attitude. It was the first genuine smile that she'd had in a while, and it surprised her how quickly Gretchen had been able to make her emotions do a complete reversal.

"I just wasn't expecting it." Gretchen continued, "My life has always been completely normal. Completely safe. I've always blended in with the crowd; the quiet girl in the corner, eccentric and dressed in black. I guess I just didn't know how to handle the situation, so I ran away from it instead..."

"Because you don't belong in my world." Claire interjected sadly. "I'm sorry about what you went through, and the complications I brought into your life. I knew it was bound to happen sometime though, you leaving. I tend to scare people away. But you're right; you don't know how to live in a world where people are always after you, and just when you think everything is heading toward normalcy something else goes wrong. I just thought that maybe if I tried hard enough that part of my life would fade away and that I could be happy. But danger is always going to be here, and no matter how much I care about you, I won't allow myself to be selfish enough to ask you to come back into my life." And the pain inside her was tearing her apart. Biting, ripping, stinging, burning- hurt.

But then Gretchen said, "You don't have to ask, I'm already here."

"What?" Claire responded, confused. Did she just say what I think she said?

"I'm here now, I came back, and I'm not going anywhere this time. I promise."

Claire looked into Gretchen's eyes and saw determination. She saw hope and trust and love. This can't be real, she thought, why isn't she running from me?

"You're like, back back? As in… moving back in?" Claire said disbelievingly.

Gretchen laughed, "If you'll let me…"

"Are you serious? Yeah, I- of course!"

"Okay," Gretchen said laughing, "then let's get outta here."

The two made their way back up to Noah's apartment and said their goodbye's. Noah was astonished by Claire's sudden turn around in attitude, and equally surprised at her eagerness to head back to the college that she had said only hours before she wanted nothing to do with. But although he was confused by the affect her roommate had on his daughter, he was just glad to see Claire happy again. As the two girls exited the apartment complex for the second time that evening, they were all smiles.