Thanks, thanks and thanks to all of you who reviewed or messaged me. Knowing that you're liking this story makes me really happy!

My dear friend Carina, I hope to make you laugh a little bit with this chapter :) Puss och kram 3

"And here we are...back in the living room! Oh, Jackson honey! I'm so happy to see you again! You're so handsome! You were so so pretty when you were a child...but look at you now! Look at him April! Isn't he even prettier?"

"Moooom... Excuse her Jackson, you know how she is..."

Jackson laughed at the other end of the phone, "Thank you Mrs Kepner."

Three weeks had passed since April's first message on Facebook and now they could officially say that their friendship was back on track.
April was so nervous about calling him the first time but after a few minutes she relaxed and they talked for hours. Jackson's voice had obviously changed but she could tell he was still the smart, kind, funny boy she knew years before. She was so happy when he told her he became a writer. She'd always thought he had this incredible talent to invent brilliant stories and knowing that he'd written a successful young-adult novel, appreciated both by the critics and the audience, made her very proud somehow. She made him laugh out loud when he asked if she had realized her dream to be a surgeon like his mother and she answered "Well, kind of. I'm a vet...You know I've always been more at ease with animals then people."

Over the last few weeks talking to Jackson had become a pleasant habit. They texted or spoke on the phone almost everyday and they often video-called each other too. They even spent an entire evening on Skype, watching Back to the Future together, reciting the lines by heart like they used to.
That morning Jackson had asked April to give him a tour of the farm. He'd spent a good amount of time there when he was a kid and he wanted to see it again, even if it was only through a screen. Karen was enthusiastic when April told her she was in touch with Jackson again, so she's been more then pleased to follow her daughter around the house and be Jackson's official chaperone. She insisted in showing him every angle of the house, stables and barns included.
"So, what do you think? It's still all the same, right?"
"Pretty much, yes! Still very nice, ma'am."
"Oh, you should come to visit us...with your mother of course! Don't forget to tell her to call me! I can't wait to chitchat with an old friend."
April rolled her eyes, smiling, "Good luck to Catherine then!"
"What do you mean, sweetheart?"
April was answering when Joe arrived from the kitchen, followed by Matthew, "She meant that Catherine wouldn't be interested in knowing all the unnecessary gossip from this small, old town."
"Oh I bet she would, Mr Kepner! Nice to see you again, by the way," Jackson interjected, silently asking April to turn the phone so that he could see him properly. "Oh Matt! Hi!" he added, noticing Matthew behind Joe, who greeted him with a smile and a wave of the hand.
"Hey man! Nice to see you again!" Matthew said, approaching April and putting an arm around her shoulders. He and Jackson had already spoken during the last three weeks and April was happy to see they got along just like the old times, even if they couldn't be more different.
"I guess I let you two go then. You're starting to move April's stuff into the new apartment, right?"
"Yep! I'm here to help" Matthew said, kindly brushing April's hair and getting a dark look from her father
"Ok...bye guys and thanks for the tour Mrs Kepner!"
"You're welcome honey!"
"Bye Jackson, have a good day! Talk soon," April waived and turned off the phone, dragging Matthew up the stairs to take some boxes from her room, leaving her parents alone.
"Great, just great" Joe said, puffing.
"What?"
"My worst nightmare has just come true...two guys hitting on my little girl."
Karen laughed "Oh please! First of all, April is not your baby girl anymore! I wish she was too, but she's a woman and she's going to live on her own in a few days! Deal with it! Plus...she's with Matt, and Jackson is a friend, he lives far away, so..."
"So what!? I saw the way he looked at her and Matthew saw it too…believe me"
"Oh come on, you can tell Jackson cares about her a lot, yes. They were best friends and apparently still are, after all."
"He doesn't just care...He looks at her with lust! I'm a man, I know these things!"
"Well, if this is true, you're not the one who should be worried about it. And, you know what? If you're right...well, good for her! Have you seen them? Matthew and Jackson...oh..."
Joe rolled his eyes, knowing his wife had just started one of her interminable rambles.
"...they're both so handsome! So, so dreamy! Ah, I would really consider dating them both at the same time if I were in her shoes!" Karen smirked, heading into the kitchen, knowing this was the only thing she could say to distract her husband from their daughter's love life. Joe was shocked indeed. He followed her, eyebrows raised, "Don't you dare say that Karen, I swear, if you..." he slammed the door behind him. April and Matthew were coming down the stairs and heard only those last words
"Ehm…Please, tell me that my mother hasn't just said she's considering having a threesome with someone!"

Matthew laughed out loud, "Well...She said..."
"No, stop, I don't wanna know...whatever she was saying, I prefer not to know"
He laughed again, opening the front door to put the boxes in his car.

April and Matthew spent the entire afternoon moving stuff from the farm to the apartment. It was 7 p.m. when they finally finished unpacking all the boxes.
"Ahhh finally!" April said, lying on her new coach for the first time.
"We made it! Your new home! You can move here whenever you want now, you know that?" Matthew said, sitting down, putting her legs on his lap, starting to take off her shoes.
April suddenly felt nervous. This was basically the first time her and Matthew were alone under a roof. In those three months of dating, their intimate moments had usually taken place in Matthew's car. She lived with her parents so the farm was totally out of the picture and he lived with two friends of his. April wasn't a fan of that dirty, smelly apartment and she definitely didn't like going there and having to share the bathroom with his disorderly friends and the random girls they took home. She was supposed to be happy and relieved to finally have a place for them. She had fantasized about this moment before. Matthew was a handsome, sweet guy and she was attracted to him but they hadn't gone much further than second base until now. He had tried to sometimes, but she had always stopped him. She told him - and herself - that she needed time, that she was still hurt from the experience with Bright and that making love in the car or with his friends in the next room wasn't the best idea. She wanted their first time together to be beautiful and romantic. So they waited but she could tell that Matthew was becoming less patient everyday.

"Oh, ehm… Matt…wait, we need to go…I really have to take a shower before going out for dinner with Mer and Alex."

"Well…" he said, caressing her legs, eying her intently. "I think I've seen a shower in the bathroom here…I could use it too…" he smirked

"Right…yes… but I have to change my clothes too… I'd prefer to go home now, you know… I'm still living there and all my personal things are still there so…" she got up from the couch, dragging him with her and then kissed him deeply. "I'm sorry…I want to be alone with you too…but come on, just a few more days…"

Apparently she managed to distract him because he just smiled and nodded.

On their way back April felt a little guilty; in the back of her mind she knew that something was wrong. Sex was easy and natural for the 90% of her peers but she definitely belonged to the remaining 10%. She'd grown up with the idea of love inextricably connected with marriage and, while she refused to believe that being a good girl meant saving yourself for the right one, she ended up waiting more than her friends did in high school anyway. She'd always been shy and her insecurities about her physical appearance didn't help her feeling sexier. She'd had her first time with Bright, her first real boyfriend, in college, when she finally felt confident enough to let go of all her inhibitions, when she felt safe and loved. She didn't regret having that experience with him, no matter what happened later, no matter that Bright was the main reason why all those insecurities she'd managed to leave behind were still bothering her now. She knew that in that particular moment it had felt right and that was enough for her. Now she wanted her first time with Matthew to feel right. She needed it to feel right in order to finally be herself again.

Back at the farm, April ran to her room to quickly get ready for the night, willing herself to have fun and forget about her paranoia. She convinced herself that it was just a matter of timing and the wrong atmosphere. Tonight she was probably too tired anyway and it wasn't the right moment to overanalyze her relationship with Matthew or with sex, for that matter. She decided to focus on the fact that in a few days she was finally going to start her new life in Moline as a grown woman. That she had a job she loved and that right now, a handsome boyfriend and lovely friends were waiting for her to have fun. Thinking about all the reasons she had to be happy and relaxed she couldn't help but think of Jackson. She had spoken to him in the morning but she missed him already. When they were kids, playing with him and talking to him was almost an addiction. She had other friends but he was the only one that truly understood her. He never forced her to be different; he just accepted and loved her, with all her flaws and weirdness. Apparently nothing had changed. In the last weeks, Jackson had been incredibly important to her. She felt at ease with him and he was as addictive as before. Matthew was a little jealous at first, but she reassured him that Jackson was like a brother to her and technically she wasn't lying. Even though she couldn't say she hadn't noticed his eyes, his smile and his perfect body, it wasn't really important to her. He was much more than a beautiful face and she was honored to be his best friend again. She didn't even want to think about possible complications.

She took out her phone and quickly texted him:

"Apartment ready! I'll give you a tour of my new home soon…without my mom this time :D Hope you had a great day! Going out dinner now…miss you, talk tomorrow? Bye Jackman!"

Friendship was so much easier than love. Wasn't it?