As he pulled into my driveway I noticed Rain sitting on my porch steps. She looked gorgeous and sad. I wanted to hug her and make her feel better but I also wanted to avoid her.

Why was she here?

Jamie brushed my cheek with the back of his hand and then leaned over and kissed me. "Before you go I wanted to tell you happy birthday and I'll call you tomorrow."

I couldn't help but blush and smile. "Okay." It sounded feeble but I didn't care he made my heart sing lullabies that made me feel amazing.

I watched his car drive away until it disappeared around the corner. Then I turned to face Rain. I walked up to my porch and looked at her. I refused to make the first move.

So I was glad when she did. She stood up and brushed off the butt of her dress even though nothing was probably there. "So does he know?"

Without her really asking exactly I knew she meant what happened with Michael. She wanted to know if I had told Jamie... "Yes. I told him and he still wanted to be with me."

Her eyes met mine. "Peyton, I don't want to argue."

"Then why are you here?" It came out sour. I didn't want to be harsh to Rain but the pain of losing her was seeping through the cracks in my healing heart.

"Because I want my best friend back and I want to apologize."

I stared at her. "For what?"

"I know I shouldn't have acted that way. I was hurt by Michael kissing you and you not telling me right away, but that wasn't exactly why I was so on end and I'm sorry." She looked me dead on. I knew she was telling the truth.

"Why didn't you tell me something was going on?" I asked. My tone had dropped. "You know I've always been here for you."

"It just seemed of less importance. You seemed happy, and it kind of made me jealous."

I couldn't believe my ears. "How could you be jealous of me? You're gorgeous, rich, and have everything."

"Everything is nothing without the people you love." Rain's eyes were glistening with fresh tears. "The reason I acted that way was because I felt bad about what I did."

"Rain, fill me in here. I'm confused." I talked softly.

She took a deep breath. "It started when I met Preston Cloudson."

I wasn't sure if she would finish or not when she took a long pause, but then she continued. "It happened a few days before you disappeared on your 2-week hiatus. Michael and I had been having a lot of fights, but I really cared about him, and I wanted to make it work. So I asked him if he would please just talk to me. He agreed to meet me at this really nice restaurant Deniau."

"Then what happened?" I was curious.

"Well, Michael basically stood me up. I waited for two hours, having to keep telling the waiter to wait just a little longer. I was hoping he was just running late, but he was ignoring my phone calls and text too. I was really embarrassed and ready to leave when Preston sat down across from me."

"Wow that must have been surprising," I said. I felt bad that Michael was being that way toward her because he had gained feelings for me, and started distancing from her.

"Preston had sat down just as the waiter was coming back to the table looking irritated that I was still taking up this table they needed for people actually ordering. He was all 'Sorry, I'm late, baby. I was stuck at the office late.' and just like that the waiter walked up looking happier my date had finally arrived."

"So what happened next?" I was sucked into her story.

"Well, after we ordered we just kind of looked at each other and he smiled, and I don't know, I just smiled back. We didn't know each other and suddenly my heart was thumping and my face was getting all hot. I couldn't remember the last time I felt like that. He told me that his date had stood him up and he had noticed how upset I seemed. When I told him I was also stood up, he said that the guy that would stand me up was a total jerk."

Rain was blushing as she told me about her non-date date with Preston.

"We had a great time. He made me laugh and feel beautiful. After dinner, he gave me his phone number and told me his name. Before he left he said he would love to see me again."

I had never seen her glow, and blush the way she was now. She looked radiant even when she was sad. I couldn't get onto her for this, I had to be the best friend she needed and deserved. "What happened?"

"Nothing at first. I had been out driving around town looking for you. I had hardly any sleep. We bumped into each other randomly again at Java Queen. We flirted, and Michael never surfaced in my mind."

Rain was looking down at her manicured nails in her lap now. "I felt extremely bad about it, but I couldn't do it anymore. It hurt too much. So I told Michael what happened. I told him that I fell in love with another guy and he broke up with me. I was sad about it but the worst part was that Michael found the phone number Preston gave me in my car and then called him. He told him that I was cheating on him. We never did anything other than flirt and now they both don't want me."

She bit her lower lip. "I guess to top it off I was a horrible friend. I haven't been around as much as I used to be. I also wanted to give you time with Jamie once I realized that he was making you happy."

Rain continued talking. "I actually ran into him the other day at Java Queen. I asked why you weren't together. His eyes brightened up by the mention of your name, and he was drawing roses on a book cover. He smiled and said that he planned on coming to see you when he left."

That made me really happy to hear. Rain added "I'm really glad you found someone that makes you happy. I will kick his butt if he doesn't treat you right."

He hugged each other and cried a little. "Oh, I've missed you so much, Rainy."

"I've missed you too. Let's not fight again and not kiss my boyfriends."

"I would never..." I was cut off by her.

"I know it was all Michael. He called me and explained everything earlier today. He said you agreed to be his friend and he said he just wanted to make things right."

"He really does seem like he does."

"Oh, happy birthday." She said suddenly remembering, and pulled something out of her pocket, and handed it to me. I looked down at a charm bracelet that had a little dangling heart with P&R engraved into it.

I smiled at her. "Aww, Rain. Thank you."

"Anything for my best friend." With that, we were hugging again, and I had my friend back. The world felt like it was right again.