" I’ll go make us some hot chocolate while you start the fire."

"Ok" We had unpacked everything that we could in the living room and dining room. We had decided to sit by the fire and catch up. I really missed Ashley. We used to be a couple, but he kissed someone else. I’d gotten over it enough to be friends with him again, but I couldn’t be with him. It wouldn’t work anyways. Not with his career, there was always distance between us, whether it was physical or invisible. It was always there.

" Here." I said, handing him his hot chocolate.

" Thanks. I hope you don’t mid, I put on some music."

" No, that’s fine." For a few moments we sat in our own thoughts, just listening to ‘The Christmas Song’ playing softly in the background.

" So what have you been up to these past few months?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

" I finished all my classes. I don’t graduate until May though. That’s ok though. I’m content for right now. What about you?"

" Spending lots of time in the studio."

" I didn’t even know that you’d left Orlando. When did you get back?"

" We never left. We bought that old house on Perry Ave. and turned it into a studio. Dan hates leaving Christy and the twins and Jacob hates leaving Janie. Erik doesn’t exactly like spending more time away from Allison then he already does. Trevor doesn’t want to ever leave Lindsay’s side; especially now that she’s pregnant and I hate leaving, because everytime I do, it only pushes us even further apart."

" We’re just friends Ashley. That’s all we are, and that’s all we’ll ever be."

" I want to be more than friends Izzy." My heart tightened, nobody had ever called me Izzy except him. He held me loosely in his arms and then kissed me softly.

"I think you’d better go Ashley."

" I love you Izzy." He looked into my eyes the way he used to, where it seemed as though he was looking into my very soul.

"Ashley don’t. Don’t do this. I really think you should go now." He got up and went to the door with one last look he was out the door.

I went to sleep that night infront of the fire. I knew that I was still in love with Ashley, but this was only making things so much harder. All we could be was friends, he had to understand that. The next evening we went out to dinner and to a movie, just as friends. We ended up taking a walk in the park and then coming back to my house. We were talking when he kissed me. Just out of nowhere. One thing led to another and, I woke up the next morning in Ashley’s arms.

"Morning"

"Ashley?"

" Yeah?"

" nothing" I knew we had made a mistake, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it. ‘Just Friends’ I kept reminding myself. I got up soon after that and made us breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon, and Orange Juice, our favorite. He left at 11:00am to go to the studio and work. Around noon the doorbell rung, I answered it and had a dozen Lincoln red roses and baby’s breath shoved in my face.

" Are you Miss Harlett?"

"yes"

"Sign here please." The deliveryman said while handing me a clipboard. I signed my name and then closed the door. I went over and sat on the floor. When I brought the roses to my nose to smell them I noticed a tiny white envelope. I opened it and read the small crisp, white card.

"ugh... Ashley" I mumbled shaking my head. I brought them to my nose and smiled as I smelled them.

He was over later like he promised. My furniture had come that day so he helped me set it up.

"Ashley about last night, it was... but we can’t..."

"I know, we’re just friends."

‘ Just friends’ I reminded myself as he held me in his arms that night looking into my eyes the way he does. It felt so wonderful to be like that, to be in love. But we couldn’t be, we just couldn’t.

‘Just Friends’ but if we really are, then how come we’re so in love? As the night went on we sat by the fire drinking wine and talking. He was gonna take me to get a Christmas tree tomorrow. We started kissing. One thing led to another, and well...

I had gone to the doctor’s office the other day to confirm what I already knew was true. He invited me over to his house for Christmas morning. I’d gone over there for every holiday and Birthday since my parents passed away four years ago, when we were 20. After everyone was done opening presents he took me out back to "our spot". It was the wooden swing hanging from the tree by their pond. He got down on one knee.

" Izzy I love you with all my heart, will you marry me?" He asked like I had always dreamed someone would. Simple and flat out, he knew that too.

" Yes" he slipped a slim platinum band onto my finger, on the band was a small 1/2-carat diamond. It was the exact ring I had always wanted. I still remember the day I pointed it out to him. We were about 17 and we had gone to the mall to see a movie. While we were there he had dragged me in to a jewelry store to help him pick out a necklace for Shelli. While we were waiting for it to be engraved I showed him the engagement ring that I wanted when I got engaged.

"Ashley." I said as he held me.

" Yeah." He said pulling back a bit and looking at me.

"We’re gonna have a baby."

"Seriously" He said with a huge smile on his face. I nodded. He picked me up and spun me around. Then he put me down and kissed me.