Garrett's phone lit up with a message from Beth. His heart did that little jump it always did when he saw her name, even though he tried to play it cool. He had plenty of female friends – Jasmine from work who always brought him coffee, Tanya from the gym who spotted him on bench press, and Maria from his apartment building who borrowed sugar more often than she probably sweet herself. But Beth was different.
He thumbed through their message history, smiling at their inside jokes and the way she'd send him off the wall text at 2 AM. They'd known each other since the high school days, ever since they met……The chemistry was instant, but the timing was never right. They would hookup once in awhile then she started dating someone, while he was trying to "find himself."
Now they were both single, and the energy between them was electric. Every time they hung out, there was that moment – that pause when they hugged goodbye where neither wanted to let go first. But something always held them back.
What Garrett didn't know was that Beth lay awake at night, imagining their life together while simultaneously planning how she'd kill him if he ever cheated on her. She'd been messed over before, she’d was the type of person that loved hard, for given too much love and not receiving it back. The thought of Garrett with another woman made her blood boiled. She knew herself – the love for him could turn to something dangerous if played with.
One night, after a few drinks with friends, Beth's pulled out her phone. "You know I think about you more than you know," she typed, then deleted it. "I want you, but I'm scared," she tried again, erasing that too. Finally, she texted, "You up?"
Garrett's response was immediate: "Always up for you." Literally.
Beth's heart raced. She could feel her body pressed against his – love or destruction, heaven or hell. She set her phone down, knowing that sometimes the scariest part wasn't the fall, but the moment right before you jump.
Garrett stared at his screen, waiting for her reply, completely unaware that his next move could either unlock the greatest love of his life or unleash a storm he never saw coming. He just knew that among all his female friends, all the casual texts and coffee dates, Beth was the one who made his soul feel less lonely in this big city.
He texted "I miss you," hesitated, then added "friend" at the end.
In their separate apartments, in the quiet of the night, both Beth and Garrett were wide awake, their phones silent between them, each wondering if a text would come through, and if some risks were too important not to take.