Harper Reynolds made her way back to her office after a meeting with the St. Louis city planning commission that had run nearly an hour over. Her plate was full for the day. It still wasn't a dream job but it paid the bills and it kept her busy. For Harper, that was more than enough and she had thrown herself into the daily rigors of her job. Her personal life had been in torment as of late. She had lost contact with most of her friends and her relationship with her parents could be described as strained at best. The one constant in her life had always been her best friend, Matt Korklan but now even that was on shaky ground. Once again an uncomfortable silence had ensued, now going on six agonizing weeks. After a painfully awkward meeting in a local store, Matt had shown up in the middle of the night on her doorstep, seeking answers and ready to make sense of a rather nonsensical situation. Their talk had not led to a resolution but instead straight to Harper's bed. They had lost all inhibitions, all sense of reason and had given in to passion and what had felt so right. The next morning all that had remained was more confusion.

On one end of the spectrum was Matt. He was lost and unsure, his heart torn between two very different but nonetheless special women. One woman was gorgeous and sexy, fun and exciting, interesting and wordly, a supermodel trophy girl who made him feel important. Then there was the other woman, beautiful and intelligent, kind and generous, warm and funny, a girl next door type who always made Matt feel like he could be himself and that was more than enough. They were as different as night and day, each with their own special and unique qualities that made Matt care about them.

On the other end of the spectrum was Harper. She was sure and grounded. For the first time in her life she had admitted what she wanted. She had been honest with herself and with the man she loved. It had brought her weeks of heartache and in the end it had led the two of them to bed. For one night, for a few hours only the pair was enchanted, enthralled with each other as their souls and bodies became one. It was a moment Harper had imagined a million times over but all the mental imagery in the world could not compare to the beauty of that moment as it happened. It had been perfect to feel what it was liked to be loved by him.

But with the rising of the sun, so had come reality. They were two people with many years of friendship behind them. Now every dymanic of that relationship had changed and they had been forced to confront that. And besides that, there was another woman. A decision had to be made and Matt Korklan had to make it. Doing so would make one woman happy and break one's heart. His own heart had been in torment and instead of facing the truth, he had woken up every day living in the mononity of what his life had been and what it was supposed to be.

It was still the same Matt Korklan or at least he made every effort to make it appear that way. Every Friday morning he woke up, kissed his fiancee good bye, grabbed his gear and headed to the airport in Tampa. From there he would arrive at his destination, a random city where he would check into a hotel, work out, and go off to the arena and put on the show of a lifetime for the thousands of excited WWE fans. Afterwards, he would have dinner, hang out with his work pals, then repeat that same routine through Monday. Tuesday would see him back in Florida where for three days he and Chloe played house, the perfect couple. His smile was as bright as ever as he desperately tried to hide his pain from the rest of the world.

"Ms. Reynolds, you have a call on line one," Beverly, the receptionist, buzzed through on the intercom that fed straight to Harper's desk.

"Bev, sorry, I am in the middle of something really important. Can you please hold all my calls unless it is Mr. Andrews from the City Council regardng that press release? I really need to speak with him."

"Yes ma'am but the caller says it's pretty important. It's not Mr. Andrews but it is a Mr. Korklan."

Harper felt her heart fall in the pit of her stomach.

"Mr. Korklan? Um, okay. Send, send it through," she said with a dry mouth.

"Yes ma'am."

Seconds later the line rang and Harper picked it up with a shaking hand.

"This is Harper," she loudly cleared her throat.

"Harp…"

She closed her eyes.

"Matt…hi."

"Hi," he stammered. "Um, how are you?"

There was a brief pause.

"Good. You?"

"Good. I, um, last time I saw you I promised I would call. I'm just sorry it took so long…"

"There's a lot going on."

"Yeah. Listen, I…"

Harper took a deep breath.

"It's okay, Matt. I, I know about the wedding."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Word travels pretty fast through the suburbs. Your parents and my parents have mutual friends. People talk…"

"I'm sorry. I should have been the one to tell you."

"It's okay."

"You keep saying that but we both know that it's not okay. None of this is okay."

"You're getting married, Matt. This was always the plan. And it is okay. No matter what happens, I just want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted."

"Please don't talk to me like that, Harp. Not you."

"Like what?"

"Like we're strangers, like we're associates, like we don't know each other better than anyone else in this world."

"In a couple weeks you're gonna be Chloe's husband…"

"Today can't I just be Harper's best friend? Please…"

She tapped her pen against the desk.

"Does she know?" she asked out front. "Did you tell Chloe what happened between us?"

"I didn't," Matt admitted. "I couldn't. It would just hurt her and make things even worse. I didn't tell her about any of it. She has no idea. You probably think that's the coward's way out but…"

"No. Maybe that is for the best."

"It is."

"Maybe it's also best if we just leave things where they are, Matt. Leave them alone."

"I couldn't do that…"

"I don't know what you want from me," she ran her fingers through her hair.

"I guess I just want Harp. I want my friend. I want the girl who has always had my back, who has always known just what to do. I guess I just want to go back to a time when my life made sense. Before you and I slept together, before you told me what you told me in Tampa, before my accident, before Chloe left the first time. If I could press a rewind button, things would make sense and I woudn't be confused about anything. I'd be happy with my career in the WWE and you'd be by my side doing the internship and when I get married in a week and a half, I'd look over and see your face and know that I'm somehow doing the right thing."

"That's not gonna happen and we both know it. We can't go back, Matt."

"I know. I guess I just want to know that this is not good bye for us. This is awkward and uncomfortable and hard as hell and I know I'm asking for way too much…"

"Then don't. Don't do this to me, Matt, please. Just let it go. Go on with your life and marry Chloe and be happy."

Matt breathed heavily into the phone.

"I can't pretend that we didn't do what we did. And I can't pretend how that felt to me, what it meant. You have been an amazing presence in my life. From the time we were little kids you've always been a great friend. When I knew I wanted to be a wrestler, you didn't laugh in my face or tell me that I was crazy. You supported me. You believed in me. And when I could have gotten caught up in all the Evan Bourne hoopla, you were there to ground me, to remind me that I'm not Superman, that I'm really Clark Kent, that I'm just Matt, a regular old guy. And when…when I got hurt, when I nearly lost everything…you, you saved my life. When I had nothing else, you gave me hope, you gave me you. I'll never forget that."

The emotion was strong in his voice.

"Matt, I will always care about you. You will always be my best friend. You have given me understanding and sanity and sanctuary ever since I can remember. I think no matter what happens we will always have this amazing connection. Anything, everything I ever did was out of some place good, out of love for you."

"I know," he sighed. "God, hearing you saying those words, knowing how I feel, it's like a big slap in the face and it just makes me wonder why…"

"Why what?"

"Why we never tried to make it work before," his voice sadly trailed off.

"We'll never know what could have been, Matt. I don't have regrets and I don't regret telling you the truth. I wish I knew what this meant for us."

"I need you," he blurted out.

"What you need, what we both need, I think is to take a break, take a step back. Our friendship isn't the same and it's probably gonna take a while for us to adapt to that but, um, that's what we have to do. I think it's best. I have a life to lead and I need to focus on that…my work, my career plans and just what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. And you…gosh, Matt you've got your life back. You have the WWE and that's your dream. You need to concentrate on that and you need to focus on making a life with Chloe."

He closed his eyes. He knew she was right.

"I hate this. Why does this feel like good bye?"

"It's not," she tried to force a smile and stop the tears that were forming in her eyes. "It's more like a see you later. We've been through too much together to ever say good bye."

"Well, you, um, you take care, Harp. I mean that. Just take care of yourself and be happy. Promise me that, that you're gonna be alright."

"I will, Matt."

"I, I love you, Harp."

"I know you do. I love you, too, Matt."

With that, she hung up the phone before either one had the chance to say the words good bye. That was the one thing Harper could not take. It was that final conversation, it was letting go like she knew she had to. Reality was a hard pill to swallow and the truth was now staring them both in the face. There would be no happy ending. There would be no real resolution. The bittersweet truth was as plain as day. They were two vastly different people living vastly different lives. He was the sports entertainment superstar jet setting across the world impressing his legion of fans, about to marry his super hot fiancee. She was the nice girl next door living the simple life, struggling to find her own way in the world. On paper they were perfect for each other but in the real world, it could never be. In the most painful conversation of their life, both Matt and Harper had relinquished their feelings for one another, in the process hoping somewhere there was still a friendship that could be saved.