"Shit. Shit. Shit." I curse as I rush out of my apartment trying to wiggle my feet into my shoes as well as not fall flat on my face at the same time.

"I was wondering when you'd get up." Michella comments, leaning against the wall opposite the elevator with her customary cup of coffee, "I'd actually bet on fifteen minutes earlier."

"Are you kidding me?"I say,"You couldn't have woken me up earlier?"

"If I did then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing you run around with your arms flailing like an octopus." She says and then her eyes narrow as she gives me a once over.

"Are you really wearing that?"

"What's wrong with it?"

She scans me head to toe.

"The real question is, what isn't?"

"Hey!" I defend, "I put a lot of thought into this."

"Clearly not enough." She says, "Dad could have picked out something better than this."

"Oh come on he'd worn two different shoes to work yesterday."

Michella shudders, "I know. What if I hadn't been there?"

"He's busy with the deposition." I defend.

"I'm not even going to try to understand what goes on at work for the both of you." She says, "I swear to god dinner with the two of you when you start talking about the work makes me want to jump off a cliff."

"That's coincidentally exactly how I feel about dinners with mom."

"No that's more like stabbing myself with a fork." She says, "Thank god the both of them got a divorce. Handling them together makes me question my sanity."

"Well I don't intend to go near her anytime soon." I say, "I don't know how you do it."

"Talent, pure skill and showing her that no matter how hard she tries I still outrank her in the being the biggest bitch scale."

"I don't know." I say, "I still think she's a vulture with absolutely no sympathy. What she did during grandma's funeral-"

"Yeah I know." Michella says, "I've never seen dad that mad either."

I shrug, "What's wrong with the damn elevator? "

"Did I forget to mention it's not working?"

"What?" I say, "And you couldn't tell me this earlier?"

"I was hoping you'd go back and change."

"I'm wearing this." I say firmly, "Besides shouldn't you go back to your apartment now? Your boyfriend is probably shitting his pants."

"Nope." She says, "I need some space."

"You've still not told him you're pregnant have you?"

She throws me a dirty look, "Don't make me regret telling you."

"I'm not going to tell anyone, I swear."

"Good." Michella says, "Besides I like watching him squirm. "

I laugh out loud. That she certainly did.

"Okay I'm going to get going." I say starting to head towards the stairs.

"Best of luck." She says, "And be careful down the stairs. You can't get down on one knee if you break your leg."

"Okay mom." I say my eyes flitting towards her stomach.

She flips me off, "Get going already."

I give her one last wave before I start descending down the steps.

By the time I've reached the bottom I'm panting by the sheer effort that it took for me not to trip while running down the stairs.

Today was the one-day I didn't want a bruise on my face. That and the fact that I was currently on a winning streak against the ground.

I mentally go over my plan for today taking a deep breath in.

I am going to do this.

I am-

Someone promptly crashes into me and I manage to catch myself at the last moment before I land butt first on the ground.

Phew, that was close.

"Watch where you're going bi- oh it's you."

I sigh looking at the boy in front of me and the very large bouquet of roses he held in his hands.

She really did enjoy making him squirm.

"Aren't you in a good mood today?" I joke.

"Is she-" He starts.

"Yup." I say, "What did you do this time?"

"Its not my fault she's absolutely fucking crazy." Eric argues, "I did nothing."

I had no doubt that Eric had done nothing because this was one of those very typical Michella things to do to keep Eric in tow. Throw a fit just to have him tripping over his get to get her back.

Between you and me, I honestly felt sorry for Eric.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed watching just how whipped he was over my sister but in all honesty nobody should have to be that whipped.

I still remember the first time I'd seen it, it was during my freshman year in college when Michella had asked me to come for a double date.

At first I'd laughed at her face. But when my grandmother had heard about it she'd given me the puppy dog eyes and had more or less kicked me out of the house after giving me some soppy speech of how us two sisters should stick together and such.

Clearly she had no idea who Eric was and I didn't intend to tell her but I'm pretty sure she'd just done it so that she could get rid of me for that one night.

I in turn then had given Jake my best puppy dog eyes as well as a big long speech as to how much this would mean to me.

That and I obviously bribed him that if he behaved well I'd give him a little extra reward after desert.

It wasn't as if I was really excited to meet Eric again considering the last time I'd met him he'd nearly choked me, but I'll admit it, I was curious.

So we'd gone to some fancy restaurant and I was fully prepared to break up a fight if it came to it. That, and if Eric was mistreating my sister I would make sure to insinuate the fight in the first place and kick his ass.

But turns out I'd miscalculated on that part by a wide margin.

Because when they'd arrived, Eric had pulled out Michella's chair so that she could sit and then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening glancing at Michella like there was no one else in the room.

I'd nearly fallen off my chair.

Jake hadn't seemed as impressed as I was but that was mostly because he was busy sulking because I was wasting his weekend with me to spend time with Michella and Eric.

I couldn't blame him really. It was rare that we got a lot of face-to-face time together and whenever we did, we hardly wasted it on going out.

But to be honest I felt like I kind of owed it to Michella, to support any decision she made with Eric considering that she'd gone back to him partly for my sake.

I mean he was technically a pyscho but then again my sister was just a few steps lower than that.

Now though I'm not quite sure.

So I'd tried my best to make it through the night and I would have with a straight face had Eric not apologized.

Yes, apologized.

I mean it was hardly a I'm sorry that I kidnapped you and threatened you apology but it was none the less somewhat of a rushed sorry.

I swear to god the self-control it took for me to not die laughing at that spot was tremendous.

Ever since then I'd learnt just how much of a softie Eric could be. The guy may have been calculating and cold and definitely a psycho creep of the next level but when it came to my sister he was just a very very whipped boy.

It's not like we'd particularly gone to being best friends but I'd reached a point where I'd just learnt to let go of the history between us and support Michella in whatever decision she made when it came to him.

And I swear to god whoever can handle my sister deserves at least that much.

Jake still hated his guts (obviously) but he'd learned to let go too, choosing to simply ignore Eric, during the few times they were forced to be in the same room together.

To be honest I think Jake handled the weirdness of the situation pretty well, at least better than I did with my awkward jokes but then again it could be because he was on his best behavior as my bribes got more creative with time.

"Is your dad there?" Eric asks.

Did I forget to mention that both Eric and Jake were shit scared of my father?

I really didn't see why. He was a workaholic and a bit of a lost cause and yet both of them were terrified of him.

It was pretty hilarious to watch though and whenever I asked Jake what exactly my dad had talked to him about he'd eagerly change the topic.

"Nope, he's not there." I say.

Though Eric and I had come to a point where we managed to tolerate each other we weren't particularly friendly. In my opinion Michella could do far better than Eric, he was still ruthless and his family was technically mafia no matter how he acted around Michella.

But on the bright side he was better than his absolutely batshit pyscho sister.

I had warned Michella several times that she had no obligation of staying with Eric for my sake. She'd in turn simply snorted and told me that I gave myself way too much importance and her choice to stay with Eric was hers alone.

That's when I did realized that in her own strange way Michella loved Eric too. Although she tried her very best to cover the depth of her feelings for him I would occasionally see just how much she loved him too.

Sure they fought like cats and dogs and their relationship consisted either of fighting or having sex afterwards, but who was I to judge really?

As long as they were happy.

If it were anybody else then I would have definitely bet against them. But Michella Wilson was the only one who could date someone that dangerous and still wear the pants in the relationship.

"If you guys are going to end up having sex which we both know you will, stay away from my room."

"Fine will do." Eric grumbles.

"Great." I say, "Best of luck you're going to need it."

He sighs as he starts going up the stairs, "Yeah I know."

He is not going to know what hit him.

I pull out my phone as I exit the building.

I take a deep breath in.

It was show time.

I press number one on my speed dial and wait for him to pick up.

"Good morning!" I say as soon as the line connects. I start walking down the lane heading towards the subway station, "How was your trip?"

Jake had been on a business trip in Japan for the past two weeks and he'd just come back yesterday evening.

Usually he had a habit of stumbling to my house right after he landed, despite how tired he was but yesterday he'd gone straight to his apartment and crashed which just proved that this one was worse than usual.

"Brutal." He groans, "Absolutely brutal."

"I know." I say.

Saying his job was high stress would be an understatement. For the past two years, ever since he took over Henderson Corp, Jake had been flying all over the globe trying to stabilize all the various different centers of the company.

Despite my move to New York we didn't see too much of each other with Jake being held up at work all the time and my schedule getting more and more hectic by the second.

We still managed to make time for each other though and in a way our long distance relationship had prepared us for this.

"I have a little surprise for you." I say, "You're taking the entire day off today."

"I know." He says, "Which is why I'm going back to bed."

I roll my eyes, "I'm coming over so you better get out of bed."

"Are you sure you don't want to get into bed with me?"

"It's just been two weeks." I say, "You've got to start practicing some restraint. Go take a shower. Make sure it's freezing cold."

"Will you be joining me?" He asks.

"Your face isn't that adorable Henderson." I say.

"We both know it's far more than adorable." He says, "And you're just about dying to see it right now."

I laugh, "Keep telling yourself that Henderson."

"I have you for that don't I?" He says.

"Well if you don't start getting ready soon, that may not be true."

"But I'd much rather wait for you to come and strip me instead."

I roll my eyes, "You're acting like a middle schooler. Change already. I'll be reaching soon."

"Please tell me you're not taking the subway again."

"Of course I am." I say, "I'll be fine. You worry way too much."

"I know." He says," But that's completely justified considering that you are somewhat of a disaster."

"Well, that's up for debate-"

"Need I remind you of the my keys fell through the gap incident?"

I huff, "No."

"Or maybe the I accidently got down on the wrong stop and I'm currently completely lost-"

"Hey in my defense I'd just moved here then and I didn't know this city, at all."

"It's barely been a year since then." He states, "And I'm pretty sure Natalie can travel by herself. There is no need for you to-"

"Technicalities." I brush him off, "Besides I can always count on you to come to my rescue don't I? Admit it you feel pretty validated when you get to play knight in shining armor."

"The armor is way too itchy for my taste. I much rather prefer it when you don't need rescuing whatsoever." He says, "And if you'd taken up my offer to live together in the first place I wouldn't have to wear it as an excuse to meet. In fact if we did live together then I would be able to ditch that armor for something far better. Perhaps my legendary birthday suit."

I turn red despite myself.

Oh get a grip Clara you're not in high school anymore.

"Now you're vividly thinking about me naked aren't you Car?" He teases and if possible I blush even more.

"Am not?" It comes out as more of a question than anything else and he chuckles.

"Stop laughing." I say, "This is a totally inappropriate conversation to have in the morning. "

"Oh I can think of a billion other things that are far more inappropriate that we've done at this time of day." He says, "Need I remind you that the last time in my office-"

"I know." I say a small smile playing on my lips, "It's a miracle your desk still stands."

"That's true." He says, "I mean after we-"

"I'm hanging up now." I cut him off, "Today I've planned on a totally innocent date."

"Yeah right." He coughs.

"Are you questioning my ability to be perfectly innocent?" I ask.

"No I'm questioning your ability to keep your hands off me." He says, "Because if history indicates anyth-"

"Aaah." I say cutting him off. Over the years I may have gotten bolder but that didn't mean I was any less embarrassed about it.

"Just saying, you can't keep your hands off me."

"I'm hanging up now." I say but I'm still smiling, "I'll see you in some time."

"Car?"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you."

"It took a lot of self control for me not to hop on a plane to Japan, you know?"

"I wish you had."

"I know." I say, "But now I'm already on my way, so get ready, okay?"

"Yes Ma'am." Jake says mockingly.

I roll my eyes, "I'm hanging up now."

"Car?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

I smile.

"I love you too."

"Cue me gagging." A voice prompts from behind me making me jump.

Natalie Anderson stands there with her hands on her hips.

Over six years there is nothing much about Natalie Anderson that had physically changed except maybe the color of her hair that was currently dyed a sort of light brown. She could still go back to high school and play the bitchy mean girl without being mistaken as a twenty four year old.

I cut the call and glare at her, "Good gods, could you stop sneaking up on me?"

"I was waiting here all this while." She says as we start descending to the station, "If you hadn't been so engrossed in your phone call with lover boy you'd have noticed."

"Sorry." I apologize, "I was running late. Did you have to wait for long?"

She smirks, "I had company."

"How many?"

"Three. All of them were total hotties." Natalie says, "I might actually call one of them back."

I sigh, "Come on we'll miss the train."

"Oh no you're giving me the judgy look again." She says.

"I'm not." I say, "I just wish you'd you'd settle down already. Or at least try to date them instead of simply brushing them off-"

"Oh don't start with me." She says, "Besides you don't decide on your favorite food before tasting other dishes."

"Where did you get that one from?"

"The just ask Juliet blog obviously " Natalie says as we enter the train, "She's not updated anything in a while though."

My throat tightens, "Yeah."

"I still don't know why you go out of your way to travel like this." She says as the train jerks a bit, "I mean especially since the princess has her own carriage."

"If I took a car I'd probably reach tomorrow because of the traffic." I say.

She sighs, "Being rich is wasted on you."

I smile, "I'm still just a consultant in my dad company you know? I'm not that rich."

"Michella told me he plans to make you the vice president by next year." She says, "I expect a massive party."

I roll my eyes, that much hadn't changed; Natalie Anderson still loved her parties.

"So how is work for you?" I ask.

Natalie was currently working in my mother's company in the designing department. Her boss happened to be my lovely sister and let's just say for two people who were so alike they didn't exactly get along.

But Natalie was talented and Michella knew it too.

Natalie may not have changed much physically but that didn't mean that she hadn't changed at all.

Natalie may have commitment issues when it came to boys, but as far as her career was concerned she'd pulled out all stops.

She'd discovered her love for fashion designing unexpectedly, halfway through her senior year in college and she had been so shocked when she'd realized that she was genuinely good at it.

And when Michella had believed in her talent enough to offer her a position, it had boosted her self-confidence enough to stand up to her parents and telling then that to hell with everything she was going to follow her dreams.

So she came to New York bags in hand, no credit cards and a dream of making it big.

As for Natalie and I, we had become friends over the course of four years we got stuck together because everyone else had left.

Alec had gone to New York, Jeremy had followed Rebecca to DC and Samantha was in Los Angeles following through her dream of becoming an actress.

Although a small portion of Natalie's old group consisting of some of her posse were still there, going to same college as her, it had been pretty clear that she was not keen on reviving those friendships again.

So that's how we started becoming friends again.

Despite our polar differences we had been best friends for a reason. Of course we hadn't gone back to the let's have movie night in our PJs phase but we'd become friends in the way that it really counted.