Twenty-Nine.

“Hey stranger.” I said when Liam walked into the apartment the next night.

“Hey, Grace.” He said.

“Guess what happened last night.” I said to him when he sat down on the couch.

“I don’t want to hear about your sex life.” He said.

“Eww! GROSS!!” I said.

“Okay, fine.. what happened?”

“The L word was dropped.”

“By who?” He asked.

“You know better than to ask that question.”

“Right, you hate that word.”

“I said it to you.”

“Yeah, after I said it first.”

“True.”

“So what did you say when he said it?” He asked.

“I just kissed him.”

“So you don’t love him?”

“I don’t know if I love him.”

“How don’t you know?”

“Its been like a month or something like that. I would think about love after like 6 months. I didn’t even tell Sidney I loved him.”

“Ahh Sidney. It always comes back to Sidney.”

“It does not. I’m just saying. How can anyone possibly know if they love someone within one month?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he just knows.”

“Well, it freaked me out a bit.” I said.

“So what are you going to do?” He asked me.

“Avoid it. Pretend it didn’t happen.” I said.

“Oh that’s mature.”

“I’m 19, what do you expect?”

“He is 28.”

“yeah, he is. I haven’t forgotten that.”

“Does it bother you?”

“If it bothered me, I wouldn’t be dating him.” I said.

“It does bother you, I can tell.”

“I just didn’t think it would be just a factor.” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Its just I knew he was older. I knew there would be a gap there. But, I didn’t expect it to be like this. I like him a lot, but it kind of just feels like it’s a dead end relationship.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“he is 28. He is going to be thinking about marriage soon. Maybe not tomorrow or next year but within a few years. I’m 19. I have 7 more years of school left. Marriage isn’t even on my radar.” I said.

“Maybe that won’t matter.”

“Yeah, maybe it will though.” I said. Then Rose called me.

“Hey.” She said through tears it sounded like.

“Whats wrong?”

“We broke up.”

“You and Simon?!” I asked a little shocked.

“yeah.” She said. I could tell she was still crying.

“Hey, Liam. I’ll talk to you later. Rose and Simon broke up.” I whispered to him and left for my room.

“So tell me what happened.” I said when I got into my room.

“He just broke up with me.”

“What?! That doesn’t make sense. You guys have been together forever.”

“he said that with him going to Indiana and me being in Pittsburgh he thought it would be too hard.”

“And he just thought this?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Grace. All I know is that he broke up with me.”

“He just said I don’t want to be together?” I asked still confused.

“He said he loved me. He said he didn’t want to do it, but he thought it would be the only fair thing to do. He says he loves me more than anyone in world.”

“Well why the fuck did he break up with you then!?”

“I don’t know, Grace.”

“I’m sorry, hun.”

“It just sucks. I think I am going to come back to Pitt early.”

“Come whenever you want. Of course we want you here.”

“you don’t have to say that.”

“You are my best friend. Of course I want you here. We will find you a good man.”

“Maybe James has some friends.”

“Well, yes, he does have friends. But..”

“What?”

“Dating an older guy isn’t all its cracked up to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he has a job. I don’t see him til like 11 usually.”

“that does suck. Do you think you will stay with him during the year?”

“I don’t know. It might be fun to be single together.” I said.

“You won’t be single for long if you and James break up.”

“I bet you find a boy before I do” I said.

“You already have two.” She said.

“I don’t have Sidney.” I said.

“You could if you wanted him.” She said.

“I don’t know. Sidney has some good friends.” I said smiling.

“Well there we go. I’ll just get your ex boyfriend to play matchmaker.”

“Who cares who he is to me. Liam is friends with all of them.”

“Oh so your other ex could be it too?”

“Shut up! Liam is your friend!”

“Yeah, we will see. I’m going to have my parents bring me back in like two days.”

“Okay.. call me or anything.”

“Don’t worry. Spend time with that gorgeous doctor of yours.”

“He isn’t as gorgeous in person.” I said remembering Rose has only seen pictures of James.

“I’m sure he is. Don’t worry about me.”

“I love you, Rose. Simon is stupid.” I said.

“Yeah, oh well. Nothing I can do about it.”

“That’s right.” I said. We talked a little longer and then we hung up.

I couldn’t believe that Rose and Simon broke up. They were together for like four years. They were so strong. Rose never thought about another guy. Simon was completely head over heels for her. Rose loved him just as much. All I kept thinking is if they couldn’t make it work, what does that say for the rest of us?

“If Simon and Rose couldn’t stay together.. there is no hope for anyone else.” I said to Liam while Mollie, Mark, and James were sitting in the living room.

“Mol said the same thing when you and Liam broke up.” Mark said.

“Liam and I were far from the perfect couple.” I said noticing it was making James uncomfortable.

“You two were pretty perfect. People still talk about you two.” Mollie said.

“well they shouldn’t.” I said.

“She is right. We were nothing special.” Liam said. That statement kind of hurt. Actually, it really hurt. Liam and I were special. We overcame cancer and fell inlove in the process. We may not have worked right then, but who is to say we won’t work again. He is still my best friend. He is still my soul mate. If that’s not something special, I don’t know what is.