Have I talked to Adam yet? No. Have I avoided him like the plague? Oh you bet.

As I was going down the steps of the faculty building, I nearly jumped up when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. With my brows furrowed, I stared in confusion at the unknown number.

I've been so jittery since that museum trip. Then again, I've been back to consuming copious amount of caffeine just to keep me going because I've been losing so much sleep. I was always going to feel guilty, wasn't I? That talk with Heart barely helped at all.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Looking back down on my phone screen, I just thought screw it and answered it. If they were kidnappers then go ahead, at least they would knock me out, "Hello?"

"Go to the university entrance," a familiar voice said and my eyes widened at the realization.

A voice that I've purposely missed every single call of. A voice that would instantly know that something was wrong the second I open my mouth. A voice that belonged to my best friend.

With every ounce of energy I had left, I broke into a sprint, my phone still pressed against my ear.

I needed this.

I looked absolutely ridiculous but I didn't care. My last ounce of happiness was waiting for me so I just ran for it.

As the gates got nearer, my legs went faster. When I got a better view, I slowed down at what I saw. My heart, that has been so tired and weak lately, suddenly brightened up.

"Gracie!" I screamed, lunging for my best friend, causing her to release the phone she was holding and enthusiastically hugged me back. When she did so, her laughter chiming in my ears, the tears welled up in my eyes, "I missed you guys so much."

It wasn't all her, but our whole group of friends was there. Once I was in someone's arms, they all gathered up for a huge group hug.

For being such a self-proclaimed cry baby, I haven't shed a single tear since that museum date. And yet when I saw all of my friends from back home, here in this foreign land right in front of me, the emotions I was holding back suddenly came out.

Gracie shushed me immediately and started rubbing soothing circles down my back, "You missed us that much?"

Girl, you have no idea. While I did miss you all, the lack of comfort that you guys usually provided didn't give me a crutch that I desperately needed. And I couldn't even tell you that everything was going south because the last thing I wanted was to worry you.

So I kept it a secret to all of my friends in America.

Well, except for one person.

I felt Justin's hand on top of my head and I had to look up, which was quite a difficult process because of my current position. He offered me a small smile, one I couldn't even return because just when I tried to move my mouth, a sob escaped my lips.

"Come on now," Gracie tried to stop my cries, gently wiping away my tears.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Spring break," she reminded with a laugh, "We decided back in January to visit our wonderful best friend who we were all sure has been missing home more than ever."

Oh gosh, she had no idea.

When you've been friends with somebody before you could even crawl, there was always this urge to tell them anything and everything. That was Gracie to me, but one aspect of my life that I always held back from speaking of was my love life. 

And what I've been through with Adam was no exception.

She looped her arm with mine and smiled brightly, "So when are we going to meet your man in person?"

Suddenly I knew what Adam felt like when Heart asked to see me.

"Why don't you invite him for dinner tonight?" another one piped in, clapping her hands with enthusiasm, "We're staying in the city until Monday since we plan to go on a road trip so we're yours for the whole weekend."

I stopped and Gracie groaned loudly, elbowing her harshly. While I happy, elated even, that they were here, I still couldn't help but feel a little down. They were on a break, they were out there going on road trips, they were traveling to another country, they were doing the things we all talked about doing before.

While I was holed up in here.

"Well, I have one more class to attend and then I'll chat you guys," I plastered an energetic smile. Thank god I decided to put on makeup today, even though I felt like absolute shit, at least it covered up how ridiculously worn out I really looked, "Don't worry, I'll call Adam and introduce you guys to him."

"Sienna..." Justin trailed off, obviously sensing I was far from preppy.

I shook my head, still with that grin, "I'll see you guys later."

I gave each of them a quick hug before I more or less sprinted away. In actuality, my last class was still a full hour away so while I did want to spend as much time with them as possible, I couldn't stomach it right now.

I don't want their whole trip to go bleak because of me. I couldn't tell them how sorry I felt for myself.

"Sienna?" I heard a familiar voice call and of course, he was the exact same person I've been trying to avoid so I pretended that I didn't hear him.

He had other plans though.

He grabbed me by the shoulder to stop me from my wonderful run and turned me so I could face his concerned expression, "Are you alright?"

Not now, he was the last person I wanted to see because I didn't want to combine my previous stressor with the new one, "Just peachy."

"I believe you," he shot sarcastically, accompanied by an eye roll, "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I heard from Soph that you two took a walk and she told you what happened with us then you shared your own thoughts," he explained and my heart skipped a beat at the thought of him hearing from his best friend that I wasn't in love with him, "She wouldn't say anything aside from that though."

Oh.

"She was pretty upset that you wouldn't say anything to her," I told him. I wasn't so innocent though, I was hiding it from my friends that I've broken up with him.

Wait, was it considered a break up if we never made it official in the first place?

"Walk with me?" he asked, gesturing to the long sidewalk in front of us.

I glanced behind my shoulder as if my friends were still there, as if they were watching my every movement. They've always been there for me, ready to catch my fall.

Except for this one time when I didn't want them to.

"Okay," I murmured in agreement, my legs moving forward.

I walked by his side while he just talked to me about whatever we saw – whether it was the girl sitting under the tree with her sketchbook on her lap, the decaying bench that was covered in all sorts of paint, the group of students doing who knows what kind of dance by a patch of grass, and just the scenes that I overlooked during my whole year in the university.

My freshman year had always been between my dormitory and the apartment complex. I didn't loiter around after class, I already had a set list of restaurants and cafés that I go to, and I didn't really roam around that much.

How ironic that I was searching for the adventure when there was still uncharted land right in front of me the whole time.

"I can't remember if I told you this before, but I finished my book."

He paused on his steps to turn to me, a questioning look on his face, "When?"

"A week before I came to your apartment," I replied, gesturing to the university breathing with its own life through its students, "I finished at a crazy hour in the morning and I just ran right after. I didn't know why, but I felt so strangled so even though it was dark, even though it was freezing, I just went."

It was pitch black when I went for that spontaneous sprint so I didn't get to marvel at the beauty of the university that I have failed to explore before.

It embraced me, encouraging me in a way I never knew it was trying to do before. When Uncle Levi suggested I pack my bags and study here, I was unsure if it would even work. Soon, I realized that I simply had blinkers this whole time, stopping me from looking around. I've been so focused of getting out of this rut that I've failed to see that all I had to do was let life take its course.

And that was what happened with Adam. Everybody around us encouraged us to be together, to push us into dating. They expected us to go out, heck even I somewhat thought of that as well before I actually grew feelings for him. We rushed into everything, not even thinking that having a genuine friendship between us might have been the best possible thing. 

"Adam, I wrote you a love letter," I said, genuinely smiling at him. There was no hidden pain or forced happiness, but just sincere appreciation towards the man in front of me, "A love letter that had forty chapters."

"Me?"

I nodded, "You. From the moment you sat next to me on that plane, I knew it was you."

He appeared so dumbfounded by this and I had to laugh. He had seen my sketchbook on multiple occasions, hasn't he noticed that I constantly wrote about him? Our highs, our lows, all of them were there.

Don't worry, I promise that the best parts were excluded because those were ours and not the world's to see.

"Can you do me a favor this time?" I spoke, finally addressing what I didn't want, "My friends are visiting and..."

"And you haven't told them that we're no longer together," he finished for me and then there was a small smile gracing his lips. I laughed and nodded because instead of being offended or whatnot, he was amused that I found myself in that same predicament he did, "I'd be happy to."

I blinked at him, first registering his response inside my mind. I've been nothing but selfish, but to my complete surprise, he just said yes. I grinned, stopping on my tracks, "Thank you and don't worry, I promise there's going to be nobody that will rent a whole museum behind our backs."

He chuckled and offered his arm, as if we were going to venture into a ballroom together, "That's disappointing, I really like art."

We've been doing this dance for almost a complete year now and while it had its ups and downs, I do admit that it was pretty fun, "Then let's go there soon, but on a normal day this time."

"Deal."

And we continued to stroll down. Our arms linked, the smiles on our faces as if the past months never occurred. It was like we were back to our 'getting to know' stage. There were no voices teasing us, we didn't feel pressured to move on, and it's just the two of us enjoying each other's company.

When you stop thinking about it over and over, everything would just fall into place.

That evening, it was my turn to pick him up. Good thing all of us agreed to just go to a casual restaurant so there were no heels involved with the short walk. I rang his doorbell and waited for him to open and thankfully, he was already dressed and ready to go.

"Hold on, I'm just going to get a coat," he said, leaving the door ajar as he walked back inside.

Wait, was I allowed to go in?

I took a cautious step as if alarms would suddenly go off if I did. To be honest, I wouldn't put it past Heart to suddenly ban me from this apartment.

However, it seemed like it was safe so I fully went inside and closed the door behind me. I didn't know what I was expecting when I looked around. Everything was still exactly the same, save for some objects that Heart probably left here.

I walked up to the couch and instead of sitting, I just stared down on it. Right there was where Adam sat right before I spontaneously kissed him for the first time.

That was all we needed and our months of hovering around each other finally ended.

I sighed and turned, plopping down on the soft cushions. From this angle, I noticed the small shelf underneath the coffee table. It used to be filled with his school books, and it still was, but smack on top of one of them is the booklet I made him.

I swore that he would have thrown it out the moment he made me leave.

Reaching for it, I let my hands feel the Dear Adam that I've written on the front page.

"You know, Soph found that just minutes before she had to leave," he suddenly said, coming down the stairs, "She never looked down there because she knew from before that it's just textbooks but while waiting for her car, she laid down on the sofa and saw that there."

"I'm surprised it's so out in the open," I told him, "If I received something like this, I would have probably hidden it away from view."

"I did think of that," he admitted, sitting right next to me, "But I figured that you worked hard on it, you clearly thought it through, and I should be thankful. You simply didn't knock on my door, told me that we were done, and then left."

Well, that's what I did for Justin and it didn't go as well as this did.

At least I didn't have to wait years before we could even go back to speaking terms.

"I thought you were angry with me."

He shrugged, "I guess I was upset, but you know I could never get mad at you."

Just like his touch, his words so warm that it enveloped me with assurance.

"Thank you."

Hey universe? I want to take that genuine friendship route now.

-----------------------------

Two more chapters to go so that means we'll be done by next week! Adam and Sienna actually represents something I've always wanted. To go back to that friendship right after everything you've been through. 

Question: Do you think Sienna and Justin would get back together?

I'm ready to cry when this baby ends! I love you guys and thank so much for sticking with me throughout the whole book. Please don't forget to vote and comment. See you guys next chapter.