The narrow office was barely lighted by an old lamp placed on the corner of a dusty desk. A ripe looking man was sitting in this obscure room, looking eagerly tired, his round glasses nearly falling off his nose as he battled against the urge to finally doze off. It was 11 PM and Linus was still in his university office, clumsily trying to prepare his class of tomorrow.

Being a university professor had always been his dream but when he was a kid he would have never guessed that it could be that arduous both outside and inside the classroom. This is not to say that Linus was an unpopular teacher, quite the contrary, most of his students admired him for the depth of his knowledge and liked his quirky mannerisms however Linus simply did not manage to get himself obeyed and a large share of his students simply skipped or slumbered through his class.

While Linus tried as hard as he could to get over it, a part of him could not help but being irked at the sight of the evermore empty auditorium and on this precise night the unexpected difficulty he faced to write down his course irritated him even more.

As he was roaming through a pile of obscure memos to himself, his phone rang. A stuttering voice was on the other end of the line. Linus would have recognized that voice between thousands of others.

"Um..hm hello Linus can I talk to you?" Charles asked nervously

"You already know the answer to that question, Charlie." Linus answered trying his best to sound friendly despite his irritation

"Am I, really?" Charles pressed

"Yes you ARE. Of course you can talk to me, how can I be of any help tonight Charlie?" Linus diligently replied, unusually ill tempered towards his best friend's hesitant demeanor.

"I have something important to ask you. Do you remember what I told you about Marcie?"

"Yes I suppose so Charlie. What happened?" Linus said, vaguely remembering that Marcie seemed to have a sudden interest in talking to Charles those last few months.

"She proposed to me four days ago and I accepted. Do you think I made the right decision?" Charles quickly confessed not wanting to waste his best friend's precious time.

"I would lie if I said this is not a surprise Charlie. I don't know what to say. Congratulations… I guess." Linus awkwardly answered, completely baffled by Charlie's revelation.

"Linus this is not what I want to hear. Tell me what you really think. You know you are the one I can always turn to when I struggle with a decision. It has been like this since we were kids. I need your advice."Charles insisted

"I frankly don't know Charlie; you know how ignorant I am at those things. I mean... uh you have to follow your heart." Linus unconvincingly suggested.

"If I wanted an advice like that I would have called your sister. I need honesty Linus don't tell me what I want to hear." Charles pressured

"Alright. Maybe accepting in the blink of an eye a marriage proposal like you did is somewhat … premature?" Linus hesitantly implied

"Yes, I know. But when she looked straight at me, I don't know why but I was unable to say otherwise. You know how she is. She just seemed so…"

"Vulnerable. I know Charlie but you cannot let the fear of hurting someone run your life. Frankly I am not saying that your "affair" for lack of a better word will end badly but knowing yourself I am afraid that you accepted it out of concern for Marcie's happiness and because deep down you think that it will lift you out of your loneliness. Maybe you are not wrong. The only thing I can tell you is that you can't let yourself being carried by the events in your life all the time. You have to choose for yourself Charlie. " Linus then stopped, visibly worried that his unexpectedly sincere reply would aggrieve Charles.

"You are right Linus. I know it. Thank you for your sincerity. It is weird… now I don't know what to do anymore…"Charles sighed

"Now wait Charlie. Don't listen to what I just said. I don't know anything about that Charlie I am so sorry…."

"You don't have to be Linus. This is why I called you. I have to leave you now, Marcie is coming tonight. Take care."

"Wait…" Linus held the now hanged out phone in his hand, ashamed by what he just said. Why did he tell Charles the truth? Couldn't he simply tell him a comfortable lie like all friends do?

Linus'office looked even emptier. A feeling of bitterness invaded his mind. Maybe the reason he reacted like this was simply because he felt jealous towards Charles. After all he was now the last one of his male friends to still be single. Schroeder had Lucy, Rerun was married and now Charlie had Marcie while he still did not have anyone waiting for him at home; he never had.

Linus feared that he willingly ruined his best friend's future out of sheer envy. He wanted to call Charles back to tell him how wrong he was and how he wished the best for Marcie and him but he stopped short of doing so, he could not lie to his best friend, despite everything what he said to Charles was sincere. He took a deep breath and returned to his work, there was still so much for him to do.