We need to talk. These words rang in Chris's ears. What does he want to talk about now? Shit, I can't get out of here. That Idiot, he must have waited until we were in the car on purpose. I can't talk to him, I don't want to talk to him. Chris, take a breath, maybe it's nothing bad. She swallowed hard and her hands were sweating. She sat uneasily in the passenger seat and wanted to jump out the window. But Street's words brought her back from her thoughts very quickly. "You lied to me." he said directly. Then he was quiet again. He hoped she would speak up now. Fuck, he knows. But how - how did he know? I'm fucking freaking out. She heard a loud sigh. "Chris why didn't you just tell me the honest reason why you just took off the other morning?" He briefly told her about the flooding in the house and that he had talked to Sarzo and it all came to light. "Am I not worthy of you being honest with me?" these words came out of him quietly, disappointed and at the same time with a lot of control. "Street, I - I just had to go, it was too much for me and I didn't want you to worry." she lied again and she felt bad, really bad. "Oh come on Chris." now he got a little louder. "Since this morning you hardly talk to me anymore, you keep your distance like you did after that stupid kiss and you don't even look me in the eye anymore. What the hell did I do wrong that night? Tell me, damn it!" he was really angry now. This constant back and forth was getting to him. "That's not true, that I'm distant with you." she tried to defend herself. From him came only a contemptuous laugh. "Yeah right. Now you're making me out to be an idiot too. I can't take it anymore Chris. Again you push me away. Again I have no idea what's going on in your head and we had promised each other, that evening in your kitchen, to talk to each other in order to give our friendship another chance... But obviously you don't want that anymore." now his words were full of pain again. "You have no idea what I want Street!" now Chris became louder. "Yeah how could I. You're not talking to me!" One word lead to the next. "You always want to discuss everything, it's so exhausting," Chris said. "And you don't talk enough!" he returned. "All right, you want it that way. We'll talk." she crossed her arms in front of her chest. In the meantime, Street had stopped so he wouldn't slip up in anger. "I'm listening." he too was now sitting in the car with his arms crossed. Chris took a deep breath. "I woke up in the middle of the night and went to get a drink. You were lying on the sofa, tossing and turning, so I checked on you. You had a smile on your face. I was about to go back to bed when you said in your sleep," she swallowed hard, "Chris I love you." the words came in a whisper from her lips. At that moment Street's eyes went wide, now it was suddenly clear to him why she had run away. He ran his hands over his face. "Shit." he pressed out. "Yeah shit Street. How am I supposed to be friends with you when I hear you say something like that? How is that supposed to work? Every time I see you now I feel like I'm hurting you just by being there. I don't want that and I can't do that to you. That's why I kept my distance again," she looked at him briefly. His face was full of pain and helplessness. "Chris, I - I don't know what to say. I'm sorry, honestly. I'm afraid I can't control what I say in my sleep, but I also told you, in your kitchen, that I could live without your love if you'd just let me be your best friend again. Remember?" "Sure. But Street I can't do that anymore. The friendship can't work like this. It's my fault you suffer every day, and it's not fair. We - we can't be friends." now tears were dripping into her lap. Saying the words hurt like hell. She couldn't look him in the eye. Again she had hurt him and this time there was no way back. No new attempt to save anything. Now it was final. "I can't make you do anything and I would never want to Chris." his voice was broken. "I will always be there for you. You are still the person I would trust with my life and that will never change. I'm going to drive you home now." Now she was crying even more. Why was he such a good guy? Couldn't he just be mad and throw her out of the car? No, he would never do something like that.
Arriving in front of her apartment, she opened the car door. Before she got out, she had to get one thing off her chest. "Street, professionally I will always have your back, you can count on that 100%." He couldn't say anything, he just sat there silent and his fingers gripped the steering wheel with a mad force. After she closed the door, he immediately drove away. Chris went to her apartment crying. When she closed the door, she let herself slide to the floor. "I broke everything. I hate myself for it. Oh Erika... I miss you so much." She looked up at the ceiling. For a brief moment she felt like she was losing her resolve again, but she wanted to stay strong. Street's look after she had broken off his friendship again was very close to her. Slowly she rose, washed the smeared mascara off her face, changed her clothes and just let herself fall on her bed.
Street had arrived home. Depressed, he went into the house where a joyful Luca was already waiting for him. "Great work today buddy." he wanted to give him a quick hug, but Street just raised his hand. "Sorry Luca, not now, please. I - I need to go to bed. It's been a long day." with his head hanging, he left. Luca was left with a big question mark in his head. He would leave him alone for now. Street had to be fit for the final tomorrow with Navarra. But afterwards Luca would try to talk to him, because he realized that something must have happened with Chris...