EPILOGUE

REMUS POV.

“I don’t get it, I thought we were supposed to hate your old friends?”

 Evan huffs as he leans back against the bed frame. He’s not in his bed, but Bartys. The fact that he slept in it hasn't been mentioned, and likely will not be, either.

“I never hated them. I don’t hate anybody!”

 Pandora is placed on the floor beside Regulus. The rest of the group is sprawled out in the motel room, sitting, leaning, lying in Barty’s case. Remus can’t do anything but look at them, his lot. He wishes time could stop. He wishes nothing would be, outside the walls of this dirty room. Nothing before, nothing after. 

“What do you mean you don’t hate anybody? What about our kindergarten teacher, Mrs Spew?” Evan points at Pandora as he says it, as if it’s rather an accusation than a question.

“The fat lady? I forgot about her..Well she was so loud. Yelled all the time!”

Evan shakes his head back and forth “Hate, hate no the less…Isn't your brother a nasty freak, Reg? Why should Remus go back to a nasty freak?” 

Evan shifts, leaning forward, away from the headboard. Stretches his arms over his head. It’s casual. The conversation is so casual, except it’s not. It’s too warm in the room, the air is too thick and Remus doesn't want to be in it anymore. 

Regulus almost smiles. “He is a nasty freak.” 

“M’ not going back to him!  I’m not going back to anybody, I just-..”

“-He’s leaving us forever.” Lily laughs. Teasing . Lily is just teasing, the back of one of her hands against her forehead. It’s a joke. It feels deadly serious.

It’s the day after the encounter with Sirius.. Everybody except Remus, Reglus and Pandora are hungover. Remus and Regulus because they stayed behind. Pandora because she thinks alcohol is stupid. 

“He misses them.”

“Oh, what's new, Regulus? I still thought we hated them.” Evan looks at Remus as he speaks and the glare he gives burns. Remus looks away, in shame.
In shame? In shame.

“So we don’t hate them, then?” Mary is lying with her head in Lilys lap. Her hair is a curly, beautiful mess. 

“I still hate Sirius. I can hate him and still tell Remus to get in contact with him.” 

Regulus turns toward Remus as he says it. He isn’t looking pleased at all. He looks irritated. Not in the way Evan does, not in the ‘have I hated them for nothing’ way.
He looks irritated in a hurt kind of way and Remus wonders for the millionth time if this really is a good idea.

“But getting in contact, and jumping someone at their job, are  two different things.” 

Evan raises a brow and Remus knows the skepticism is rooted in care, but it’s still fucking annoying. All the questions are annoying.  The situation in itself is annoying and Remus can’t help but feel defensive.

“I didn't do that on purpose.”

Pandora, whose back has been facing Remus where he stands against the wall, now turns around. She’s smiling, her voice kind and unbothered. 

“But you're planning on doing it again?” 

“To apologize.”

Eva stands from the bed and walks towards the room's window, tries to open it, fails, then heads back to bed. He does all this whilst talking with a voice filled with so much annoyance that Remus again asks himself if this is a stupid fucking idea.

“You're gonna head back to his job, to apologize for showing up at his job? And then, what? give him a friendship bracelet? The person we still think is a nasty freak? Call me old fashion, but I think it sounds pretty fucking stupid.” 

“I’m not gonna-I just. Evan stopped looking at me like that. I just need-..”

“Is it going to make you happy?” Lily interrupts his attempt at an explanation.

Remus doesn't say anything to that, just shrugs. Because he doesn't know, does he? Is it going to make him happy? Talking to Sirius. Begging Sirius to have him back? Does he even want to be had back? All he knows is that he needs to see him again. All he knows is that he can’t keep missing people without even trying to prevent the feelings' reason of occurrence. 

Remus has missed the three boys, desperately, for three years.
He tried to make the feeling into anger.
He has tried to move on.
He has failed miserably. 

Lily must take the shrug as a yes because she keeps going.
“Can we all collectively agree as a group that if it makes Remus happy it’s not our place to say anything? Can we, Evan?”

“Oh, fuck you Lills. You know I’m just trying to look out for him.”

“Do that in a different way, will you?”

“Oh, sorry I’m being honest! Yes, let’s keep acting like this won’t fuck the chap up even more!”

Remus reacts to that, buthurt. “The fuck does that mean?” 

“That you’re an open wound Lupin, that's what it means.” 

“Evan, that's not nice at all!” 

“No, it’s not Pandora. So imagine what will happen when he goes back for another round. That will be even less nice. That will be rather ugly actually.” 

It’s starting to escalate into a sloppy fight between everybody and though Remus expected this to go kind of shitty, he never expected it to turn into a screaming contest. 

“I think you’re being dramatic” - Lily 

“I think you’re being fucking dim” - Evan 

“I think we should all just calm down” - Pandora 

“It’s his fucking life, let him do what he wants” - Barty 

“I’m the only one being a good friend here” - Evan

“You’re the only one being fucking rude, Evan.” - Dorcas

“They’ve made him miserable for forever” - Evan

“No, he has made himself miserable forever. Now he's trying to fix it!” -Mary

“That’s not nice, either” - Pandora

“Let him fucking be, will you?” - Regulus 

“Grow up Pandy” - Evan

“Don’t speak to her like that.” - Dorcas

“I can speak to her however I want to” -Evan

Everybody starts talking over each other and Remus can frankly not stand the bloody room anymore.
Fuck this. Fuck them.
Fuck the whole thing all together.
He hasn't even tried to talk to Sirius yet and the non- existing encounter has already turned his life into hell.

He is considering locking himself in the bathroom when Lily grabs him by the arm and drags him out of the door.
Remus thinks he might have zoned out because all of a sudden they are walking down the street from the motel. 

“That went well.” She still doesn’t sound upset, just gentle and determined, like always.

“It’s a stupid fucking idea. Evan’s right.”

“I don’t think Evan is right.”

“Ye think I should do it?”

“What? Try to get back with the troublemakers?”

“Marauders.”

“Sorry, Marauders , you loser.” 

“Do you think I should do it?”

Lily is quiet for a while, they keep walking with no real destination in sight. After a while, she speaks again and this time her voice has changed. She sounds pitiful, tired. 

“All I know is that you became miserable when you stopped talking to them, and you never really stopped being miserable. If their absence is the cause of your pain, then it's a logical solution to try and get back to them.”

“But what?”

“But..But I don’t know them. I don’t know how this will play out and I’m really, really tired of seeing you miserable.” 

Is he that much of a burden? A constant gloomy shadow in his friends lifes?
He is, he really is, isn't he?

“So ye don’t think I should risk it?”

“That’s not what I said. I may not know them, but you do. If you want to try, and believe it will have a pleasant outcome, then I'm the first person in the world to stand behind, and support your choice.”

“But I don’t know, though. I don’t know how it will play out. I’m just- I can’t keep running from it.”

“From what?”

“Missing them.”

Lily smiles, stops in her tracks and genuinely looks relieved. 

“Well then.”

“Well then, what?”

“Then you just have to stop running.”

“But you just said, I mean…What if it does turn out like shite.”

“Love, you are in constant agony. If you try and fail you'll keep on being in pain, but if you try and succeed you'll finally get some peace.”

“That’s your advice? You can't win if you don’t play?”

“Yes. It’s perfect advice, Mr troublemaker.”

“Marauder.”

“Well, Mr Marauder, then. We’ve arrived, so I hope you've made up your mind.

Remus doesn't get what she's playing at, at first. But then he realizes that the walk without a destination,  has made it to its destination. They’re standing in front of  “Coffee Corner”. They’re standing in front of Sirius' work. When he looks over at Lily, she’s smiling at him, the trickster. 

“What if he isn’t working?” 

“Then you ask the staff for his number.”

“What if they don’t give it to me?”

“Remus.”

“What if-”

“Do you want me to walk in with you?”

“No, but-...What about Regulus?”

“Regulus loves you.”

“Am I a cunt for doing this to him?”

“No.”

“I don’t know if I should do this. I hate them, don't I? I hate them for leaving me.”

“No.”

“What if they hate me?”

“Then I’ll be able to keep you all to myself. Just go inside, Remus.”

And so he does. He opens the door to the entrance and walks inside.
Remus walks inside, and for a second time in two days his mind goes blank because of a boy on the other side of a counter. Because of Sirius Black. 

The coffee shop is close to empty, which is strange because it was unbearably full yesterday. But then again it’s 12 on a Tuesday. People who have places to be are already there, and people who don’t, are sleeping in.

' People don't usually sleep till 12 even if they can, Remus. That's a you thing. Not a people thing.’  Fuck off, Lily. People sleep til 12 and also, a cheer fuck you for making me do this.

Sirius is plating the front disk with what looks like scones and Remus has managed to take a few steps, almost all the way to the counter, before the other boy looks up. The expression that falls upon Sirius’ face when he sees him makes Remus realize that, yes, this was a stupid fucking idea. Evan was right, Evan was fucking right and he should never ever had come. Remus wants to turn and run. He doesn't. He doesn't 

“Hi.” 

Remus doesn't break eye contact as he says it and he wonders if Sirius can hear his heartbeat considering how it’s roaring in Remus's ears. 

“Ehm, Hey…” Sirius looks appalled and then his face shifts into a determined, oh so very conserved, expression. “What- What can I get for you?”

Remus' mouth is dry like sandpaper. He’s spent years trying to resent this person in front of him and now he feels almost guilty for it. This person, this boy, with shiny black hair that matches his deep eyes. Sirius is wearing a black t-shirt with the shop's logo on it and his bare arms are filled with tattoos. Small ones mixed with bigger ones all displayed in a beautiful, messy order. The tattoos disappear under his shirthem and Remus finds himself wondering, in all of this mess he’s put himself in, if the rest of Sirius's body is covered too. 

Snap out of it. Talk, say something. 

He clears his throat and makes a silent prayer to no god in particular, that his voice will bare him.

“I didn’t..come for coffee exactly. I-” Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuck “I came to apologize actually, about yesterday.”

Sirius seems puzzled and so Remus just keeps going. Hoping that it will make things better. 

“I would’ve never come if I knew you worked here-”

“-So you didn't know I worked here, then.” Sirius is still visibly puzzled, but he isn't yelling and he isn't throwing things, so in Remus' opinion, this is going well so far. 

“No, no. If I did and still showed up, then that would have just made me a cruel cunt.” 

“Right.”

“And I wanna say sorry for not saying anything, as well. That was also..pretty shite.”

“Thought you’d gone mute or something.”

Remus snorts at that, he can’t help it. The laugh just bubbles out and he shakes his head frantically. It might be anxiety, or because of the absurd situation he’s in. It might be the relief that comes with hearing Sirius Black's voice.

“No, I-” He can’t stop the stupid fucking laugh from bubbling up and his vocal cords are vibrating, “I was just a bit startled.”

And there it is.
There it is.
It’s a ghost.
A typo in an essay.
It’s so small that it would have gone unnoticed by anybody else.
Not by Remus though. Remus sees it.
He sees the little smirk that slowly grows on Sirius' face as he looks down at the cash register. 

What the fuck is he doing? Talking to Sirius Black? Making Sirius Black smile?
It’s a fever dream.
It’s lovely and terrifying and it feels wrong, but god has Remus missed it.
Then reality comes back like a wave to the shore. Sirius smirk falls and he looks back up at Remus, catching his eye. Sirius looks, well, serious. 

“Was…I mean, I-..Forgive you. Was that all or..?

What did Remus expect, really? That Sirius would walk around the counter and embrace him in a long hug? Call James and Peter and make everything normal again?
It wouldn't be normal, because normal these days means no contact between them at all. He can’t do normal anymore. He needs to try. ‘You can't win if you don't play’

“No. Ehm, I was.. actually wondering if..If you would like to maybe, catch..up, maybe?”

“Catch up?”

“Catch up.”

“Ehm, I don’t know, I'm kind of busy.” Sirius’ eyes flicker between staring at Remus in disbelief and staring behind Remus at the entrance. Does he want Remus to leave? Probably. “How long are you staying in town? Assuming you haven't moved here, then.”

“Til Sunday. I-, M’ just here for the holidays.”

Fuck me and everything I’ve ever done. Fuck me and karma and everything that has led up to this. 

“Well, I kind of work a lot, so I don’t know if I..can-”

“-Right, well, right. It was a bloody stupid idea anyway. Ehm..I’m gonna fuck off now but..Yeah, sorry again about yesterday and..Yeah, bye.”

He turns around and starts walking towards the exit. This was so stupid, so fucking stupid. Fuck Lily for not stopping him. Fuck him, for not listening to Evan. Delusional isn't word enough to describe Remus Lupin. He’s a fucking idiot.
Skin crawling, ears roaring, heart beating faster than a fucking turbo machine.
He needs his inhaler.
He wants a cigarette.
Fucking idiot.

You absolute fucked up little excuse of a human. So pathetic. So very, very pathe-

“Remus?”

He turns towards Sirius again, so fast he isn't sure it was a glitch in the matrix. 

“Yes?”

“I go on lunch break in about a minute, so..We could catch up now if that would-...If you’d like. Or are you really locked in on thinking that it’s a bloody stupid idea ?” 

He doesn't think. He wouldn't be able to even if he tried, since his brain has been all mushy since he entered. 

“No.-” He shakes his head trying to make the words fall together “-I mean yes. I’d like that.”

“Right..cool”

“Right..”

“Okay.. Are you hungry?”

“No.” He's nauseous. “But I can just sit by, if you wanna eat lunch.”

“Nah, I’m full” Sirius nods his head towards the display of scones and cupcakes. “It’s been slow here so I’ve entertained myself with baked goods.”

It’s so…effortless. It’s like they’re some kind of old friends, just having a conversation. Which they are, in a way. 

“Right.”

“We can take a walk down to Paddington Street Garden if you’d like.” 

“Yes I-..Yes.”

Just then, a person in the same uniform as Sirius walks in from the staff door. It’s a short, robust woman with pumpkin-orange hair. She looks like she’s about 30. 

“Molly, I’ll take my hour now, yeah?”

“Oh, sure, sweetheart. Oh and before I forget, the bean-order comes in at two. You think you could check it in for me?”

“Always.”

“Perfect.” The lady, Molly , turns to Remus and smiles in a way that reminds him of his mother. “Have you ordered, love?”

“No I-”

“-He’s here for me.” Sirius says as he walks around the counter. He isn't looking at Remus as he says it, but Remus still feels the need to look away.

Molly smiles even bigger and leans over the counter with one hand out, anticipating Remus to shake it. He does. 

“I don’t think we’ve met, have we? I’m so bad at faces, love, you have to excuse me. Frank? Is it Frank?”

“We haven’t met. M’ Remus.”

“I’m Molly, co-own the place with my brothers! What is that accent of yours? Is it scouse? Are you from Liverpool?”

“Manchester.”

“Oh how darling! My husband, Arthur, is from Liverpool, you see. Sounds a bit like you. It’s lovely up there this time of year, isn’t it? But enough about that, here I go, babbling your break away! You sure you don’t want anything before you boys head out? My treat! a piece of ‘caramel biscoff cheescake’, maybe?”

“I, I just ate actually so…” He’s going to throw up. “..But thank yeh, Molly.”

“Anytime sweetie, well! Off you go and have your fun, boys.”

They leave, together.
They leave Sirius’ work, together.
They walk down the street,together.

“Just ate, huh?”

“I lied.”

“Yeah, I know.”

It’s making conversation. Just making conversation. But everything unsaid between every casual word makes Remus so nervous he feels shaky. Sirius keeps texting on his phone and Remus bites his tongue out of self-spite, as he feels jealous. Jealous over somebody he doesn't have a right to feel anything for, anymore. 

He nicks up his package of cigarettes and offers Sirius one, but the other boy just shakes his head. He then puts one between his lips and lights it, inhales, and just like that, he can breathe again. He looks over at Sirius where he walks beside him.

Sirius Black walks beside him. It's unreal, it’s wrong. It’s everything. 

“You don’t mind, do yeh?” He lifts his fag as he says it.

“No, thought you would, though.”

“Whut yeh’ mean?”

“ I thought you would mind smoking. As in, I thought you would have quit smoking by now..I mean, when we were teens you could blame it on being young and stupid but-”

“-M’ still young and stupid! Twenty-one is well young!”

The noise that Sirius makes at that is a low rumble of a chuckle, but it’s still very much there. 

“I suppose it is..Still, I thought you would’ve come to your better senses.”

“I haven’t.” 

“Wasn't it your mom who always talked so much about cigarettes? About how they cause cancer?” 

“Can we change the subject?!” Remus doesn't mean to sound so harsh as he does, but Sirius is also not supposed to bring up his mother who, to Sirius' lack of knowledge, is dead. So the plan is well out the window at this point.

“Yeez sorry..” Sirius keeps kicking a small rock in front of him as if it is a football and Remus wonders then if he still plays. “Let’s catch up then, shall we. What is it exactly you want to catch up on?” He says it in a way one could translate to let’s get this over with so you can fuck off again.

“I..right, eh..well. I guess I want ye to kno’ that I’m not angry anymore.”

“You’re not..angry anymore?”

“No, and I haven't been, for a while.” 

“So let me get this right. You’ve come here to apologize for showing up yesterday and also to tell me you forgive me? Never really had any expectations left regarding you, Remus, but I must admit..You are fucking disappointing.” 

His mockery crosses Remus as more than just disappointment. He sounds as if he's been tricked. It’s quite amusing how the both of them fall back into their old ways so easily. How they start bickering and insulting each other like pouring water, once again.

“Well-”

“Riddle me this, will you? Because I’m so very curious. When did you stop feeling angry?” 

“I…don’t know…too late, I guess.”

“Too late? As in after you ghosted us?” Sirius spits the words at Remus as if their knives. 

“..Yeah, as in after all that went down. To be frank with you, I didn’t really do that because I was mad though.”

“No?”

“No, I sort of just..Well, back then I felt as if it was inevitable, you know. I thought we’d lose contact no matter what, because you'd grow fond of some new lame fella with more quirks and fewer problems than me. Who eventually would take my place.”

“Jesus. One has to eliminate the other, eh?”

“Well, I also just thought you’d realize you were better off without me.”

Sirius mutters at that. “If only you would have used your words.” It’s not clear if he says it to himself or to Remus. 

“So I came to the conclusion that it would hurt less if I just…Ripped the bandaid quickly miself.”

“Remus-”

“But I was really fucking wrong, like I end up being ever so often. Cuz though the process of losing you went faster, the pain that came with it lingered.” Remus has always had a hard time with words. Which is why he feels so surprised now, as they flow out of him. “-and I´ve tried really hard to turn that pain into more anger. So that’s why I can’t really…Well, tell , when I stopped being angry..”

“But you know you never really had a right to feel angry in the first place though, don’t you?”

They’ve arrived at the park now and are walking on a rather small gravel-walk. If Remus leans to the side just the smallest bit, he will bump his own shoulder into Sirius’. The thought is nerve wracking and so very tempting.
He doesn't do it, out of self-respect and fear of the outcome. He doesn't do it. 

“It doesn't matter if I had the right to or not. It was what I felt.”

“It does matter to me.”

“Well I think I did have the right, Sirius. If that is where you want to go…Mum always said that if it hurts it means it’s real.”

“Yeah, I remember that, sort of her slogan, isn't it?”

Wasn't it. 

“Yeah..Well, you moving made me angry so..therefore it was an upsetting act.”

“Upsetting act? Okay Shakespeare. Shit buzz for you.”

“It doesn’t fucking matter. My point is that I was mad and then I wasn't anymore. Now I’m not anymore, and I haven't been for a rather long time without really getting it. I saw you in that stupid coffee shop and I realized that I-...” Just like that, the words are stuck in his mouth again, between the throat and the air where they can be heard. 

“You realized that you what?”

“I…fuck I don’t know.”

“Well, if you don’t know, I don’t really see the point in this conversation.” Sirius shoots the words like arrows. 

“Yer still really fucking mean you know that?”

“Meaner, probably.” 

Remus can't help but smile at that. The air is clearer than it was a minute ago and the only explanation to that must be that magic indeed is real. 

“I’ve missed yeh, a lot. That’s what I’ve realized. You and the lot. James and Peter. I-..Yeah I’ve missed yeh. Properly” 

“You've missed us?”

Sirius stops in his tracks. On one side there's a little dam, and on the other, one of those green benches that always exist in parks. Sirius plops right down on the bench and seems to be a million miles away. It only lasts a minute, however, and he shakes his head lightly in the way that one does when they're trying to shake everything to make it make sense.

“Don’t make me repeat it.” 

“You- So..okay.”

“And I was sort of wondering, you know..If we could maybe-”

“Catch up?”

“Be friends again?”

“You’re asking me if we could be friends again?”

Remus takes a seat beside Sirius: They don’t bump shoulders now either, but they are still temptingly close. “That's sort of what I’m asking, yeah.”

“We never stopped, though.”

“Huh?”

“We never stopped being friends with you, Remus. You stopped being friends with us.”

“Right..What does that mean?”

“That there doesn't have to be any fuss, I suppose.”

“So you’ll have me back?”

His cigarette has burnt down and he is fishing for a new one out of instinct. Sirius takes it from his hand, without touching him, before he gets the chance to light it, and breaks it into half.

“I mean, I could, of course, be all dramatic and tell you how it’s too late and how, I dunno, we've moved on or whatever. But I’m dramatic enough as it is, and I think the final outcome will be the same no matter what.”

“The final outcome being?”

“...Like I said, we never stopped being your friend.”

“We as in James and Peter included?”

“ I think they'll accept a friend request if you send them one on instagram.”

“I don’t have instagram anymore.”

“Better get it, then.”

“Really? Because I feel it’s a pretty destructive environment and I’ve read articles abou-”

“I was pulling a piss, Rem.”

“Right.”

“Cool, well. Catched up, haven't we?”

“I- So you are really- We’re cool, then? Just like that?”

Sirius shrugs “Just like that.” He doesn't really look like he means it. He looks like he’s holding back.

They both stand and start walking in the same direction as they came in.
It feels wrong.
It’s too easy, this has gone too well.
Where’s the convincing and the begging that Remus expected he’d have to perform?

“We could have dinner?...I-..I mean, not ehm.” Sirius seems to be blushing beside Remus where they walk and he wonders if he maybe should go get his sight looked up. “..I mean- all of us. You could join in on dinner tonight with me and the others. All of us.”

“Oh, yeah no..maybe. I can check if I can get away from the group.”

“The..” and so the blush disappears and Sirius looks nothing but irritated. “Right. You’re friends with my brother now, aren't you? Or was it a coincidence that the two of you showed up together yesterday?”

And there it is. 

“No he’s..in my friend-group”

“Does your friend-group contain any other relatives of mine? My dear cousin Bella, mayhaps?” 

“No.”

“Cool. Are they all cunts or is it just him?”

“He’s not a cunt, or I mean, he is. But he’s also sound enough of a guy at most times.”

“Sound enough- Oh I wouldn't know, would I? S’ not like he’s my brother or anything.” The sarcasm is so thick it makes Remus go for another fag.

“Well, you wouldn't really know since you haven't… talked to him..in a while.”

“Fuck, Remus. Is this your way of renewing this old friendship? Telling me I’m wrong for not talking to the little shit.”

“I’m not trying to tell you- I- It’s not my place to discuss this at all, I’m just saying he’s not a cunt. Not in a bad way at least.”

“Lovely, you left The Marauders for a cunt and turned into rott in the process. Talking about how you forgive me as if you haven't been out and about doing the one thing that could really make me cross with you”

“You’re calling me rott?!”

“Rott all the way through.”

This could escalate into a screaming match and all the progress could be made into nothing in a matter of seconds.

Normally, an insult like this from Sirius would make Remus fum.

Normally, Sirius would receive a tantrum from hell at this point.

But the fact that he has the chance to experience “normally” again, makes Remus feel so lucky he can't help but laugh.
Rightfully laugh this time. No chuckle or smirk.
He laughs out loud and is soon joined by a barking guffaw from the other boy. 

“Rott-” wheeze “ all the way?” ship for air “Whut mi bones too then?”

“Even the freckles on your nose” bark “S’ all rotten” 

And so they walk with tears in their eyes, laughing like old friends,

or maybe just like friends.

They are sort of friends.

They are friends.

Sirius Black is Remus' friend again.

Friend, sort of.

There's no need to be hasty, no need to hope this will last.
Sirius is still weary, still sort of displeased.

No need to cheer before things are set in stone.
Besides, stones can be reshaped.
Remus knows that better than anyone.
He’s lost what has been given before. 

Sirius is laughing beside him but he can still feel the tension. The hurt. The feeling of betrayal the boy is experiencing. The feeling he, himself, held onto for so long. 

For now he can say friend though, to himself, in his head.
For now he can hold on to it like a child with a teddy. 

Friends

Sirius Black is Remus' friend.

Friend, who makes his stomach flutter and heart full of butterflies.

Just a friend, an old friend.

He’s more then content with this arrangement.

They’re friends.

Just-.. It's perfect.

Just perfect. Just friends.

Just friends.

It feels like a lie.