Thank you so much for the new reviews! You guys are awesome :) I know it's been kind of slow paced so far, but it's going to get better, I promise. Thanks for being patient with me.

The next two days dragged along. We all saw Dimitri at least once a day, still in the process of grieving. I can't say what the other talked to him about, but we mostly talked about Mason and my life. He never asked me any really personal questions, but he did ask how I was feeling quite a bit and how life at home was going.

Every session for me was horrible. Not only was I pouring my heart out about Mason, but I was also tortured with the fact that I couldn't have Dimitri, even though he was right there in front of me. We never talked about us, but I'd wanted to, and I was pretty sure he could tell. I'd seen him twice Thursday and he'd gotten up during one of the sessions to get my file from his filing cabinet, which was behind me. He'd had me keep talking about Mason. With him behind me, it was easier for me to pour out everything I was feeling, and I soon started to cry. I didn't know he'd pulled a chair up in front of me and sat down until I felt his hand on my shoulder.

I looked up and my breath caught. We were so, so close. I'd looked into his eyes, wondering what he was feeling, whether or not he was aware of how intimate it all felt to me. But the expression on his face gave nothing away.

I cleared my throat and sat back out of his grasp, feeling embarrassed not only because of the feelings that his touch had stirred up in me, but also because he'd seen me break down over a story about Mason and a fruit cup.

Mia, Christian, and Lissa never talked to me about their sessions with Dimitri, but I assumed that they were talking about the same things I'd talked about during our sessions.

Another thing we all did was visit Eddie every day after school. He was doing better, but not by much. He was talking again, but he couldn't have a real conversation. His grief was eating him up, causing him to only talk about Mason and the accident. He apologized to us constantly, even though we'd told him he didn't need to.

Thursday evening, while we were at Eddie's, he grabbed my arm and pulled me down toward him. When he was satisfied that I was close enough to him, he whispered, "Rose, will you come by yourself tomorrow?"

I assured him that I would, not even bothering to ask why. At that point, I'd do anything Eddie asked of me in the hopes that he'd get back to his old self.

While all of this was going on, my grief and heartache grew. I'd figured that I would start to feel better as time went on, not worse. I even thought about skipping school on Friday, but decided against it when I thought about how odd it would look for me to miss school but still show up to the viewing. So I went to school, feeling horrible. I saw Dimitri, but we didn't talk much. I'd cried so much that I didn't think I had any tears left and I knew that talking about Mason would just depress me even further.

My friends were there for me, but didn't push me to talk about anything. They understood from watching Eddie that everyone handles death in their own way. I went from class to class, actually grateful for the lessons. I was happy to have something to take my mind off of everything, even math. Nothing was okay, but I was content to go through the motions and allow everyone else to do their own thing.

Until right before last period.

I'd been walking with Lissa, letting her talk about her plans to raise money so we could buy a plaque to put in the school's trophy case for Mason. She wasn't exactly excited about it, but I could tell that she was happy to be doing something special for him and I didn't want to bust her bubble.

When we reached one of the water fountains, I stopped to take a drink, and that's when I heard her.

"I can't believe they're having the viewing for Mason here. I mean, there's going to be a dead body in the auditorium! Talk about gross. And why have a viewing for someone who killed their self anyway? I don't get how people really believe he was in a 'hunting accident'."

I hadn't seen the speaker, but I knew it was a girl. I quickly turned to Lissa and said, "Did you hear her?!"

Lissa shook her head, eyes going wide at how hard my voice was, but I was too busy listening to what the girl was saying to explain anything to her. I turned toward the lockers on the other side of the hall, looking for the girl who'd said such outrageous things.

"Oh my God!" It was Camille Conta, captain of the cheerleading team. We'd had run-ins before, but she'd always backed down when I confronted her. She closed her locker and gestured to the two girls next to her. "I figured it out. It wasn't an accident or suicide. Eddie did it on purpose, that's why he hasn't shown his face since it happened."

I went up to her, resisting the urge to automatically punch her in the face. "You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about!"

She turned to me, surprised, but got herself together quickly. With her hands on her hips, she said, "Oh, I get it. It would be you who's behind this, not Eddie. Everyone knows you have problems with impulse control. Get tired of Mason following you around like a puppy dog?"

She obviously had no idea about my problems with impulse control or she wouldn't have said that to me. I grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her towards me as I swung my right fist at her. It connected with the side of her face. It hurt a little, but it felt oh, so good at the same time. "That was for Mason!"

I pulled my hand back and hit her again. "That was for Eddie!" I grabbed more of her shirt with my right hand and pushed her down. I got on top of her, lowering my lips to her ear. "I want you to promise me that you won't ever, ever talk about Mason and Eddie like that again. Promise!"

She nodded. "I-I promise! I swear!"

I was going to let go of her, get up, and pretend like nothing had happened when I was blind sighted by a punch to the left side of my face. When I realized it had been Camille that hit me, I saw red flash before my eyes. "You little bitch."

I hit her again, my blow landing on the same spot it had earlier. She was definitely going to have a bruise there. By then, the people around us had started to freak out, and they all did it in different ways. Some people ran off, probably going to get teachers, while others formed a circle around us, cheering us on.

I thought that last hit would stop Camille, but she was tougher than she looked. She grabbed a handful of my hair and twisted, causing me to yell out in pain. Adrenaline spiked through my veins and I was able to ignore the pain, sitting up and punching her with my left hand this time.

I stunned her that time, making her let go of my hair. I knew I should stop – I was going to give her a concussion at the very least if I didn't – but it just felt so good to release all the emotions that had been pent up inside. I wasn't thinking of anything else but hitting her again when someone grabbed me and pulled me back. I struggled against them, wanting to rip Camille's head off her body.

As they pulled me down the hallway, I yelled, "Think about that the next time any of my friends' names comes out of your mouth!"

With that, I finally stopped struggling against whoever it was that was trying to cart me away. We almost fell over because they'd been pulling me and hadn't expected me to give in. When I got myself righted, I saw that it was Dimitri who pulled me off of Camille. He took hold of my upper arm and dragged me to the office, a scowl on his face.

I sighed in frustration. "Yay. My first trip to Fink's office this year."

"Honestly, Rose, what were you thinking?" Dimitri asked, shaking his head. "I thought you'd have better sense than to attack another student!"

That hurt. It wouldn't have, coming from the principal or a teacher, but I thought more of Dimitri and wanted him to think the same of me. I hated that he was upset with me, but I wasn't about to tell him that. "She was the one doing the attacking. You should have heard what she was saying!"

By that time, we'd made it to the office. Mrs. Stepp had apparently already heard what happened down the hall because she, too, gave me a scowl when Dimitri brought me through her office. He sat me down in one of the chairs outside Principal Fink's office and shook his head. "I know you're better than this. I'm so disappointed in you."

My heart dropped into my stomach when he said that and the rest of my anger dissipated. I looked at the ground as Dimitri knocked on Fink's door before entering. I sat there, mentally kicking myself for being so stupid and catching fragments of what Dimitri and Fink were talking about through the door.

"I know she needs to be punished, but…" That was Dimitri, but he was talking so fast that I couldn't hear everything he was saying.

"That may be, but I can't allow students to attack each other without…" That was Fink. I wasn't surprised that he already knew about what happened. News travelled fast around the school. That was one of the reasons I'd been so mad at Camille. Even just joking about Mason…killing himself or his death not being an accident could turn into a serious rumor. I wasn't going to sit by and do nothing while Camille slandered Eddie and Mason. Mason should be respected in death and Eddie didn't need anything else on top of his already-all-consuming grief.

"Just let me talk to her. She's dealing with a lot right now. I'll come straight back here after we talk and let you know what I think would be best."

Fink seemed to think about that for a minute. Or, at least, I thought he did, because I didn't hear anything from the other side of the door. "Alright. I guess that's what the situation calls for this time. Go talk to her, but come right back here afterward. I mean it."

Dimitri mumbled his thanks before coming out and telling me to follow him. When we got to his waiting room, we found Lissa sitting on one of the couches. She immediately stood up when she saw us.

"Liss, I'm sorry. I just – "

She put her hand up, cutting me off. "You don't have to apologize. I heard what she was saying. I'm glad you did what you did."

"You are?" I was surprised. Lissa hated seeing people get hurt, even if she didn't like them. I realized then that Mason's death must have been affecting her more than I thought it did.

Lissa nodded, but before she could speak, Dimitri interrupted. "Please don't encourage her. If you don't mind, Lissa, we're going to have to reschedule your appointment."

"Oh, don't bother. I wouldn't want to impose. I'll just head back to class, then…" I said quickly, turning around and walking toward the office.

Dimitri's hand clamped around my arm again. "I don't think so." He didn't pull me back, but he definitely wasn't going to let go of me either. I decided against fighting – I figured he was actually doing me a favor by keeping me there – and went back to his side.

"That's okay." Lissa told Dimitri. "I understand. How can I get into contact with you to make an appointment?"

"Just talk to Mrs. Stepp."

She nodded. "Okay, thanks." She turned to me, but I couldn't help but notice when she quickly glanced between Dimitri and I. "See you, Rose."

"Bye." I waved. Once she was gone, Dimitri led me into his office and sat me down in the hard, wooden chair. "So…" I began, watching him go around his desk and sit down. "I don't suppose you'd just tell Fink we talked and let me out of here?"

He gave me a look that said there was no way that was going to happen, but decided to voice his thoughts as well. "You know I can't do that. Tell me what happened."

I shrugged. "I punched Camille in the face. Multiple times."

Dimitri sighed. "Can't you take this seriously? Principal Fink is thinking of expelling you. I got him to reconsider, but he'll only do that if I can talk to you and help you. You need to tell me what happened."

"He was going to expel me?" I asked, shocked. It was well known that the school hadn't expelled anyone for thirty years and part of the reason I'd been able to fearlessly pull so many pranks throughout my high school years.

"Yes, he was." Dimitri answered, picking up his notes and flipping to another page. I watched him as he went through what he'd written down, wondering what he was looking for. "You know what?" he finally said. "Why don't you tell me what you're hiding before we get to the incident with Camille?"

I stared at him, confused. "I haven't been hiding anything. Why would you think that?" When he didn't say anything, just kept sitting there and watching me, I shifted uncomfortably in me seat. "What? I'm serious, I haven't been hiding anything from you. I've told you everything."

Dimitri got up and walked around his desk, turning the chair next to me so that it faced me before sitting down. "I went over the notes I've kept on our sessions. Yes, from what I can tell, you've told me how you feel about Mason and his death. You've told me about life at home and with your friends. But you wouldn't have had this…outburst if you didn't have something plaguing you."

I stared at him, not believing what I was hearing. "My friend just died. Of course that's 'plaguing' me!"

He leaned forward, studying my face. "I know that this has been hard on you. Believe me, I understand. But you've opened up about Mason, told me what you're feeling, and…I just can't see how you'd have all that emotion built up when you've been letting it out in our sessions. Are you sure there's nothing else you want to talk about?"

I looked away from his face. "No."

"There's nothing else you're upset about?" His voice had gone soft and he laid his hand on my knee.

I swatted his hand away, suddenly angry. "Don't you do that to me. Don't pretend like you care about my feelings."

"I'm not pretending, Rose. I really do care about you."

My heart melted hearing him say that, but my mind wasn't really paying attention. All I could think about was how he'd avoided talking about us the whole week. We'd been so close this summer – he even saw me half naked! – and now it felt like we were nothing but counselor and client.

"Oh, really? So I guess ignoring what happened over the summer and totally avoiding the subject is now called 'caring'? Whatever. I'm out of here." I got up, going for the door. I should've known I wouldn't have been able to escape that easily.

Dimitri was between me and the door, so he'd been able to reach out and grab me before I'd taken two steps. He got up and turned me around. "If you leave now, you'll be expelled. Are you sure that's what you want?"

I shook my arm, trying to get him to let go, but it was no use. "I don't care. Let Fink expel me. I'd rather not have to see you every day, anyway."

"Rose, stop!" he yelled, giving me a little shake. I flinched. He'd never yelled at me before and I didn't like it. Not at all. "Are you crazy? The last thing you want to do is get yourself expelled."

"No, that last thing I want to do is stay in this room with you."

I saw the hurt flash through his eyes before he quickly masked it. "Okay, I get it now. Sit down." When I went to protest, he added, "Do you want to talk about us or not?"

Did I? More than anything. Would I? Well, that was a different matter altogether. I knew what would happen if we talked about it. He'd try to let me down gently, probably saying that we'd just had a summer fling that couldn't go on. I wondered if finally having him say he didn't want me would help me move on, but I highly doubted it. It would probably just hurt. A lot.

Even so, I sat down. In truth, he was right. I didn't want to get expelled. Not just because I wanted to graduate, but also because my parents would kill me. I also knew that we needed to have this conversation, whether it was messy or hurtful.

Dimitri took a deep breath, sitting down in his chair. "I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner that our…situation might be bothering you." I opened my mouth to tell him that it was alright, even though it wasn't, but he kept talking. "Just let me get this out before you say anything.

"Rose, you are…wonderful. This summer was…well, let me just say that it was the best summer of my life. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget about it. But that's what we need to try to do: forget about it. Not only are you a minor," he gave me a dirty look when he said that, "but you're also now my client. At school. Do you realize how dangerous and complicated things would be if we tried to make this work? We wouldn't be able to go out together; we'd have to hide from everyone.

"I do care about you, I really do. If there were any way to change things, I would in a heartbeat. But, unfortunately, we can't change anything that's happened. So we'll just have to do our best to move on."

When he'd said all those wonderful things – like how he thought I was wonderful and how the time we spent together was one of the best times of his life – my heart felt like it would leap out of my chest. I felt like if I wanted to, I could fly. But when he started talking about the complications that would come with us having a relationship, all the happiness drained out of my body. When he said we'd have to move on, my heart shattered and my eyes pricked with tears.

I looked down, causing a tear to fall down my cheek. I hastily wiped it away, trying to hide it from him even though I'd been crying in front of him all week. I tried to smile and failed. "Yeah, you're right."

"So you understand the severity of our situation?"

I nodded, trying my hardest to keep the tears from coming. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it in much longer. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

I walked to the door and was just about to turn the doorknob when he murmured my name. I turned around, wondering what he could possibly want to say after all of that, but was surprised to find him right behind me. How had done that?

He reached up and caressed the side of my face with his hand. "I'm so sorry that things have to be this way."

I closed my eyes, trying to memorize the feel of his touch. "Yeah," I choked out as a few tears ran down my face. "Me, too."

With that, I stepped to the side, making him drop his hand. I turned around, opened the door, and left, without another glance in his direction.

[BREAK]

I'd left a voicemail on Eddie's mom's phone, telling her that I'd come by after the viewing. I was sitting next to Lissa, listening to the pastor they'd gotten to speak at Mason's viewing. Almost everyone had turned out to pay their respects. I even saw Jesse Zeklos, who'd had problems with Mason.

I was openly crying, not only because of my fresh wounds from my conversation with Dimitri, but also because of Mason's death. In fact, I was crying more because I missed Mason than anything. Lissa, who was also crying, took hold of my hand and squeezed. I'd never been more happy to have her than that moment.

I'd only been to one other viewing, my mother's friend's, and it had been different from Mason's viewing. Instead of going up to the casket to see Mason before the actually ceremony began, we went up at the end to see him one last time and pay our last respects. Everyone in the line stood back from the casket, giving enough room so that each person could talk to Mason privately.

I'd been fearing what would happen to me when I saw Mason's body, but I knew there was no way I wouldn't see him. I didn't want to have regrets about not saying goodbye. So, as I walked toward the casket when it was my turn, I took a deep breath and said a silent prayer, not knowing if anyone could hear me or not.

When I caught my first glimpse of Mason, I was surprised. I'd expected him to be pale, but this was just…horrible. He was completely lifeless. I couldn't see a trace of the Mason I knew. I instantly regretted coming up here to see him – no, to see his body. I didn't want this to be my last glimpse of him, but it was too late.

I didn't know where he'd been shot, but wherever it was, it was covered by clothes, so I couldn't see it. For that, I was grateful. Seeing Mason's lifeless body was one thing. Seeing it with a hole in it – or even a patched up hole – would be completely different.

Although I knew Mason wasn't here, I leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Mase." I said, my voice cracking. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that enough before…before…" I couldn't finish.

"Goodbye, Mason. I hope I get to see you again someday." I whispered before turning around and leaving through the auditorium's side door. I opened my phone and sent a text to Lissa, telling her that I was going to Eddie's. I asked her not to come over and ask the others if they'd stay away as well so I could talk to Eddie by myself.

With that done, I made my way to the school's exit, but stopped when I heard Dimitri call my name. I almost kept walking, not wanting to deal with him anymore, but finally stopped and turned around.

To my surprise, Dimitri wasn't alone. He was toting Camille with him, who had a deep purple bruise on her left cheek and a black right eye. I didn't feel sorry for her; she deserved what she got. As they walked toward me, I noticed she had a limp. I didn't remember hurting her leg, but I might have when I knocked her down.

When they reached me, Dimitri said, "Camille has something she'd like to tell you." He turned to her. "Go on."

Camille looked down and mumbled something I couldn't make out.

"What was that?" I asked.

She looked me in the eye. "I'm sorry for what I said. About Mason and Eddie. It was horrible and wrong of me to say such things, especially because people might think I was telling the truth."

I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. I was glad that she was apologizing for what she said about my friends, but she still hadn't said anything about being sorry for slandering me. I guess she got the picture because she added, "And I'm sorry I said you were the one who planned on killing Mason."

"What?!" Dimitri asked, shock all over his face. "You said what about Rose?"

"You heard her. She said I planned on killing Mason. If I remember correctly, she said that if any of my group of friends had the nerve to do something like that, it was me, and that I'd done it because I was tired of Mason…what was it now, Camille? 'Following me around like a lost puppy dog'? Or something along those lines." I explained.

Dimitri nodded, his eyes narrowed. "Well, thank you for clearing that up, Rose. I think Camille and I will take a trip to Fink's office now."

I nodded. I had some questions for him, like how did he know she was the one to start things? But I kept them to myself, thinking that I'd ask him about it Monday. I watched them walk down the hall for another minute before leaving the school.

[BREAK]

"Rose." Eddie said with a small smile on his face. He got up – the first time I'd seen him out of bed since we were at the hospital – and came over to me, taking my hands in his. "Come sit with me."

I did, never letting go of his hands. "So, why did you want to see me alone?"

He looked down. "I… I don't know. I mean, I do know, but…" Eddie took a deep breath before continuing, "It's just that I feel like we're closer – and were closer to Mason – than everyone else. And I wanted to make sure that you're okay."

I laughed in astonishment. "You wanted to know if I am okay? I think I've heard just about everything now."

Eddie shook his head. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Oh, no, it's not. It's just that you've been… Well, out of it lately. You don't know how worried I've been." I corrected him.

Without warning, Eddie hugged me hard. "I'm sorry I worried you. I just… I couldn't deal, you know? I still can't. It's all my fault. Mason wouldn't be…wouldn't be dead right now if it weren't for me."

I wrapped my arms around him, holding him close. "Oh, Eddie." I whispered. "It's not your fault. You had no idea that something would happen. It's all going to be okay."

We stayed like that for half an hour, with me reassuring Eddie that he wasn't to blame for Mason's death. He argued with me, but I could tell that he was starting to come around.

"Listen to me." I told him, putting him at arm's length. I tilted his chin so that he was looking at me. "What do you think Mason would say if he were here?"

Eddie shook his head. "I don't know."

I gave him a little shake, just enough to let him know he was being crazy. "Yes, you do. You tell me what he would say to you if he were here."

I thought he was going to stay silent and ignore me, but just when I was about to give up, Eddie lifted his head again. "He'd say, 'Come on, Eddie! You're…'" He broke off, tears running down his face. I wanted to take him back in my arms and comfort him again, but I knew he had to say the rest in order to get better. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and said, "'You're stealing my spotlight.'"

I smiled. "That sounds like Mason, always joking around. What else do you think he'd say?"

"He'd tell me to stop being a pansy." I laughed at this. Mason was always calling people pansies when they got emotional or started to chicken out on something. Tears were still falling down Eddie's face, but he was smiling now. "And then he'd punch me."

We both laughed, knowing full well that he was right. I hugged him again. "You see? We have to remember the good times, not the bad. And you know that Mason would want us to be happy, no matter what."

Eddie pulled away and wiped his face with his comforter. With a small smile, he said, "You tell anyone about this and I'll tell everyone about the time you peed yourself watching Step Brothers."

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "That's not fair! That movie was hilarious and you promised you wouldn't tell anyone, ever."

"You promise not to tell about this and I'll promise to keep my promise."

As I sat there, looking at Eddie and his mischievous smile, I knew everything would be okay. We'd move on with our lives, but we'd always keep Mason in our hearts. "You, sir, have a deal."

He smiled for a moment more, but then got serious. "Rose, part of the reason why I wanted you to come by yourself is… I want to tell you what happened out there."

I froze as an icy chill went down my spine. "I don't think that's a good idea, Eddie."

"Please? I don't want to keep this to myself anymore. And, before you say it, I don't want to tell some stranger either, so the school counselor or a therapist won't help."

"Why me? Why not wait until we're all together to explain what happened?" I asked.

He got up and walked over to his dresser, taking a picture of me, Lissa, Christian, Mia, Eddie, and Mason off the top of it. He brought it over to me. "You remember this?"

I nodded. We'd all just gotten back from camping, so we all had dirt all over us. You could see all of our camping gear behind us. Eddie's mom had taken the picture as soon as we got to his house.

"Just look at it. You can kind of see how our group worked by looking at where we all are." he told me.

I could. Lissa and Christian were off to the left, their arms around each other. They had gigantic smiles on their faces, even though they were dirty and scraped up from thorns. Mia was sitting down next to them, a small smile on her face as she looked at the camera. I remembered that she'd sat down there a couple minutes before the picture was taken because she was so tired from walking. We'd all had to gather around her because she refused to move.

On the right side of the picture was me, Eddie, and Mason. I had one arm around Eddie's neck and the other around Mason's. In turn, they'd both grabbed my hands with one of theirs. We were smiling like a bunch of fools. I was happy and sad at the same time, looking at that picture.

"That was a fun day." I reminisced.

Eddie nodded. "So do you get why I want to talk to you first? Did this help you understand at all?"

It was my turn to nod. "Yeah, I do." I looked at the picture once more before handing it back to Eddie. "Go ahead and tell me."

He put the picture back on his dresser before sitting next to me again. He didn't look at me as he told the story. I could tell it was hard for him to do this, so I didn't interrupt.

"We came over here after school and I got my guns out. I made him tell me all the safety measures he needed to take with the guns before we could go out. I'd been teaching him for a couple of weeks how to handle a gun. He got everything right, remembering everything I taught him.

"We went out into the woods, looking for prey as we made our way to my deer stand. We stayed out there for a while, but nothing ever showed itself, so we decided we'd try again later. As we were walking back, we came across that clearing – you know the one I'm talking about right?" I nodded and he continued. "Well, Mason said he needed to pee, so I waited for him in the clearing while he set his gun up on a tree and did what he needed to.

"When he was done, he grabbed his gun and started walking toward me. He was halfway to me when he dropped his gun…"

I winced. I felt the desperate need to stop Eddie, but I knew that he needed to get this off his chest.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened next. It happened so fast… The gun went off when it hit the ground. It wasn't facing Mason, so I didn't think anything of it when he fell down. I thought he was messing with me, so I just jogged over to him. I saw…I saw the blood when I got a couple of feet away from him. I ran to him the rest of the way, looking for his wound. I found it on his right shoulder, just above where his heart was. I knew that was a really bad spot to get shot – well, any spot is a bad spot to get shot, but this was worse than most.

"I ripped the bottom of my shirt off and wrapped it as best I could around his wound to try and stop the bleeding. I applied pressure as I called my mom and told her what happened. I didn't know if it was smart to move him or not, but I knew that it would just take paramedics longer to get to him out in the clearing, so I picked him up and carried him to the house. I called 911 while I was on the way there.

"You know what happened after that, but you don't know that the cops called us that night after we got home. My parents didn't tell me until today, when I started to get better, but the cops told them that they thought the bullet ricocheted off of something and hit Mason. That's what they still think." Eddie concluded.

I didn't know what to do, other than say, "I'm so sorry, Eddie."

He nodded. "It's not okay. I don't think it'll ever be okay, but thank you."

There was a knock on the door and Eddie's mom stepped inside. "Rose, your parents called. They want you home now."

I smiled. "Thanks, Mrs. Castile. I'll just say goodbye to Eddie and then go." She gave me a smile in return and stepped back out, closing the door behind her. I looked at Eddie. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I will now. Thanks for coming by."

I stood up and gave him a hug. At the last second, I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Call or text me if you wanna hang out again or just want to talk. I'll see you later."

He smiled. "I will. Bye, Rose."

As I walked to the door, I suddenly remembered something. "Uh, Eddie?"

"Yeah?"

I decided to lie. "He looked peaceful. Mason, that is."

The expression on his face told me that he knew I was lying, but he didn't say anything about it. He smiled. "Thanks."

So, what do you guys think? Is there a character that you want to see more of? Let me know in a review! Also, I'd really like to get some feedback on the pace of the story. I know it's been really slow so far, but I don't want everything just happening at once. Let me know if I need to pick up the pace a bit or if it's fine the way it is. Thank you so much for reading my story and all the feedback you guys give me :)