Sorry for the cliffhanger of the last chapter! Had to keep you on your toes! Hope you enjoy this chapter!


Leah had been at Regan's house for ten minutes and she hadn't said a word.

Regan didn't know what she expected. She wasn't sure any scenario in her mind would live up to what would happen when Leah finally did decide to speak. All Regan knew was that she was anxiously awaiting that moment as she sat across the from Leah on her couch, hands locked together as she tried to look anywhere but her guest.

"Do… do you want anything to drink?" Regan finally asked. "We have orange juice, and I'm pretty sure we have chocolate milk-"

"Why?" Leah suddenly interrupted, eyes locking on her old best friend. Regan had noticed that the light had seemingly left Leah's eyes, replaced by a harsh stare. She knew it was her fault, but she still didn't like seeing it there.

"Why do we have chocolate milk?" Regan asked, confused. "My mom drinks it."

Leah rolled her eyes. But it wasn't in the friendly, sarcastic way she used to. This was different, cold. It let Regan know just what Leah thought of her now. "Why did you chose Sam? Out of everyone to fall in love with, why the person I was in love with?"

Regan didn't have an explanation, not one that would make sense to her friend. She opened and closed her mouth, feeling like an idiot under Leah's withering gaze. "I'm sorry."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Regan nodded as she stared back down at her fingers. She tried to formulate what she was going to say in her head. She had never wanted to hurt Leah. She didn't meant to fall in love with Sam. A string of excuses that she realized would fall on deaf ears.

So she decided to tell the truth.

"I wanted to be selfish," she admitted.

At Leah's glare, she continued.

"Leah, you know I that when I love, I give my all. To my family and friends. And while being friends with you has been the greatest privilege of my life, I've spent those years of friendship trying to please you. I wasn't trying to be the best version of myself, but the best version of the best friend you wanted. When my dad left, I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want my mom to hear me talk about how much I hated him. But I cried to your dad almost every night." Regan shook her head, her hair falling in front of her face. "I've tried to be selfless for as long as I could, but in that moment I just wanted something for myself."

"So being my best friend was a burden to you?"

"You know that's not what I meant," Regan replied. She could see it on Leah's face. "This isn't going to help, but do you know how long I hid my feelings for Sam?"

Leah chose not to answer, just winced at the name.

"I've liked him since Halloween. Well, I realized I liked him on Halloween. I reckon I liked him way before that." Regan swallowed thickly, and the tears started burning in her eyes. She did her best not to let them fall. "I've been in love with him for so long."

"And I haven't?" Leah demanded, jumping up from her place on the loveseat. "I haven't loved him? Regan, he broke my heart when he ended things. And I convinced myself that you would never return his feelings, because you loved me more. Losing trust in him meant nothing compared to losing trust in you."

"I know," Regan said softly. "I know how much you're hurting."

"No, you don't!" Leah snapped. "You don't know, and you know why? Because you haven't been sitting in your room, wishing that he would change his mind. You haven't been cancelling all these wedding plans that you stupidly made with someone who didn't really love you. And you aren't the one that's lonely every single goddamn night. That's me, Regan, not you."

"That was me. Leah, that was me before all this."

"No, it wasn't. Because you didn't have a best friend that completely betrayed you."

The world around the two of them fell silent. Regan stared at Leah with wide eyes. Leah's chest was rising and falling from the breaths she was taking, her eyes narrowed and searching to see if her words had hit their mark. And they had. Regan felt the hurt hit her like a stab in the gut, wincing when Leah's words actually hit her.

"You're right, I didn't."

"You didn't?" Leah asked, referring to the use of the past tense.

"No, I didn't. But now, I have a best friend who won't even look me in the eye. And while she thinks I've completely forgotten her and thrown all thoughts of her to the wind, she doesn't realize that it hurts me just as much as it hurts her."

"Are you seriously trying to play the victim right now?" Leah asked incredulously. "Regan, you stole my husband away from me!"

"I know!" Regan screamed, and she finally felt it. Felt the tear roll down her cheek. "I know I did, Leah, and I hate myself for it. I'm always going to hate myself for it. But I'm so damn tired of being so sad!" Leah fell quiet as Regan's explosion, so Regan took it as her cue to move on. "Sam makes me happy. I know it's hard to hear and I know you absolutely loathe me for it, but he makes me happy. I haven't been this happy in a long time and you know what? I'm not going to sit here and be scolded for feeling that way, especially when you're just saying everything I've already thought myself.

You want to yell at me, go ahead. You want to call me a bad person, go ahead. But that's not going to change the fact that I am in love with Sam and I'm finally happy, and for once, I am putting myself first. Does that make me selfish? Yes. Does that make me a bad person? Probably. But I have said sorry countless times. I have made Sam think that I regret my choice countless times. I have told myself I was never going to forgive myself countless times, but I'm done. So go ahead and hate me, Leah. Just know that nothing you say is anything new, and it's not going to change how I feel."

There. It was finally off her chest, finally out in the open. And while she would later cry over what a bad friend she was being because it really was her fault, she was going to stand her ground now. She was going to fight for her happiness right now.

Leah stared at her, eyes unblinking. Regan couldn't decipher the emotion in her eyes, but she saw them fill with tears. Suddenly, Leah was standing and looking down at Regan from where she had planted herself.

"He chose you, Regan. Do you know how much that hurt? And then, you chose him back. My best friend. You didn't even think about it."

"That's a lie and we both know it."

Leah rubbed the back of her sweatshirt against her eyes. "I know you're happy, Regan. And somewhere deep down, I know I'm probably happy for you. But not today. I don't know if ever. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm fine with it."

And with that, Leah started walking towards the door. Regan jolted upwards. "So that's it, then?" Regan asked, but she already knew the answer. And this goodbye was a lot easier than the first, because she knew what was coming.

She knew Leah was never going to forgive her. She had already told herself Leah wouldn't suddenly have a change of heart and realize what Regan felt. But it still hurt to see her turn and look back at Regan with a look of pure hurt in her eyes.

"Yeah," Leah replied with a sense of finality. "Yeah, that's it."

When the door closed, Regan didn't cry. Just felt the hollowness spread through her as she sat back down on the couch.


"Are you sure you're alright?"

It was the fourth time Sam had asked since she'd shown up. Rolling over to stare at him, she nodded.

"I was sad, but it isn't going to change anything. It's not going to change how she feels about me. It's not going to change how I feel about you." She pressed a quick kiss to his naked chest, hearing the thrum of his heartbeat as she did. "I think the guilt will hit me later, but right now I just feel numb to it."

"Well, I'll be here for you when it sets in." His lips were soft against her forehead as he suddenly rolled off the bed. Regan curled into the sheets, bringing them over her chest as she watched him walk to his dresser and pull on pajama bottoms. "Want some?" he offered, holding out a big shirt she could slip into.

Regan accepted the fabric and pulled it over her head. It was warm and soft and smelled like Sam. She followed him to the kitchen of his new house, watching from a place at his bar as he started pulling ingredients out of the fridge. He grinned at her raised brow.

"I can cook, you know."

"I was wondering more of what you're doing cooking at midnight, not the fact that you can cook." Though, the new tidbit of information did surprise her.

He shrugged before sending her a smirk. "We worked up an appetite." She barely had time to slap her hand over the skin on his arm before he chuckled. "Plus, I figured with the whole Leah thing happening, you hadn't eaten dinner."

"How are you so calm about all this?" Regan questioned. "I mean, you guys were together since sophomore year."

A tiny bit of light left Sam's eyes as he looked at her seriously. "I'm always going to regret hurting Leah. But I guess I've grown numb to it, too. And I have no regrets about being in love with you."

Regan couldn't help but smile as she leaned over, accepting the kiss he offered. "I have regrets about hurting Leah, but none about loving you."

She watched him cook and felt her heart swell with happiness. It wasn't going to ever get better than this, being with him and knowing how in love he was with her. Feeling that same love in return.

"I might have lied when I said I could cook. I can really only make macaroni and scrambled eggs."

Regan let out a laugh before walking to the other side of the counter, inspecting the mush that was cooking in the pot. "Let me cook. I'll teach you some other things this summer."

"Deal," he replied with a smile. "Now let's see how you decide to salvage this."


So Leah didn't quite forgive Regan, but I mean, can you blame her? I hope you all enjoyed!