Week 2 – The Hard Part

"Ok Syd. Spill it," Francie says, joining me on the couch as I attempt to work on a paper that was due yesterday.

"Spill what?" I ask, not having a clue what she's talking about. But I put aside my paper, perhaps a little too eagerly.

"You've been acting all weird ever since you got back from that long trip. I think something happened that you're not telling me about."

I try not to sigh, but I can't meet her eyes. Do I really dare tell her anything about what happened?

She leans towards me sympathetically. "Syd, you know me. I want you to be happy. You can tell me anything."

I look into her eyes, and I know that she is my friend. Perhaps the only friend that I have that I can hope to even remotely talk to about this. "You're right, Francie, again. I guess I'm just not sure how I feel about it all." This time I do sigh as I proceed with some reluctance "I…I slept with one of my coworkers on the trip."

"Really? The Michael guy you told me about?" Francie has a smile on her face like she's happy for me.

I want to groan inwardly. "Um…no. Actually it was with a guy I hated before the trip started.  I just got to know him better when we were stuck in the mountains for so long together."

Francie's eyebrows scrunch up with worry. "Wow. That's a pretty big jump, to go from hating a guy to…sleeping with him. What about the non-dating policy at the bank?"

I try not to snort. "I think that's the least of our problems."

"Well, what about Michael?" she asks me after a moment's consideration.

I can only shake my head. "I don't know Francie, I feel like I don't know anything anymore."

She opens her arms to me and embraces me in a hug. "It's okay. I'm sure you'll figure out what you want. You just have to take the time to look in your heart."

I pull back after a moment and nod. "I guess."

"Of course, then you actually have to trust what your heart is telling you."

I smile. "I think that's going to be the hard part."

Francie returns my smile. She gets up and is about to turn away, when she stops and turns back.

"So what's this new guy's name anyways?"

I only wish I knew.