When Night Breaks

I arrived at Lacey's a little later than I had expected. Things at Jay's took longer than I had planned. I pulled into her driveway and she came bouncing out of the garage. She got into my car with her over night bag and we started back to my apartment.

I hadn't spent much time with Lacey in the last few weeks, mainly because all my time had been consumed in Jay. She still had no idea about him, and it was killing me not being able to confide to her.

We got home after stopping and getting a pizza, and went into my room to catch up.

"I haven't hung out with you in forever. Why have you been so busy?" She asked me.

"Oh you know, just school stuff. Trying to get caught up before finals." The semester was coming to a close, and in all honesty, I should have been studying for finals.

"Well what's new?! Any new guys? What about Shane?"

"No, no new guys." Which wasn't a complete lie. Jay had been in my life since early August. It was now November so he wasn't classified as new anymore.

"What about you? How's things with Clay?" Clay was Lacey's newest love interest.

"Eh. He's kinda getting on my nerves." She said as she took another slice of pizza out of the box.

"What do you mean? Last week you were crazy about him."

"I know. I still like him, he's just not good at making conversation over the phone." Lacey could always seem to find something wrong with every guy she talked to.

"Makes sense." I tried to stay focused on the girls night, but my mind kept drifting to other places.

"What's up with you Sammy? You've been acting different."

"What? No I haven't" I retorted.

"Yeah you have. You never text me back, you always have an excuse for not hanging out, and you just seem different. You know you can talk to me." For an instance, I thought about telling her about Jay. But I just couldn't do it. I had promised him that I would keep his secret and had to make good on that promise.

"It's nothing, I swear." I lied.

"Well Rose and Jolene are pretty pissed. They said you've straight up ignored them." I wasn't entirely shocked at what Lacey was telling me; it was to be expected.

"I've just been busy."

"Well just a heads up, they're wanting an intervention."

"What the hell? An intervention for what?" I asked, in disbelief.

"For you. They've noticed how you've changed too. I wanted to warn you before hand because you're my best friend." I knew that I had neglected my friends some over the past few weeks, but never would I have thought it would be enough to warrant an intervention.

"When is this intervention?"

"Tomorrow. They're coming over here." I felt betrayed. Like I had been lured into a trap.

Lacey apologized all night and we agreed to put things aside and just enjoy our night together. Sh promised she had my back tomorrow, and we spent the rest of the night watching scary movies.

The next morning, after we had breakfast and made ourselves presentable, there was a knock at the door. Lacey told me to act surprised and like I suspected nothing. I opened the door, and not to my surprise, there was Jolene and Rose.

"Oh hey guys. Come on in." I said, as cheerful as I could fake. "What's goin on?"

"Sam, we need to talk." Jolene said, in a serious tone. I motioned for everyone to sit down.

"What's wrong?" I asked, just anticipating what was coming next.

"We think," Rose started, "that something's wrong with you. You've been acting funny for weeks now and we're worried." All three of my friends nodded in agreement. Lacey shot me a look to say that she was sorry.

"I'm fine guys, I don't know what you mean." I honestly didn't know what excuse to use. I had become good at lying but I wasn't prepared enough, even with Lacey's warning, for this.

"Sam, we know each other all too well. We know when something's up. Is it a guy? Is everything okay at home?"

"Everything is fine. I promise." I tried so hard to sound convincing.

"Then how about we go out tonight. All four of us. Like old times." I agreed and things began to lighten up when we all heard something from my bedroom.

"What was that?" Jolene asked. I felt my heart stop. Jay.

"Uh. I don't know. Probably a bird. They like to fly into the balcony." I got up and urged them all to stay in the living room. I assured them it was nothing, and that I would just go make sure the "bird" was okay.

I walked into my bedroom and seen Jay out on the balcony.

"Hey beautiful." I felt butterflies in my stomach when he spoke.

"Hey you. Uhm, I can't stay. My friends are here." Jay's eyes got wide and he apologized.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. I didn't know." I assured him it was okay, and that I would meet him tonight on the roof. Just as started to part ways, I hear footsteps behind me.

"Sam? Who is that?!" Lacey exclaimed. We had been caught. I froze and felt a wave of panic sweep over me.

"Sam?" She repeated, "what the hell is going on?"

"Lacey, please, don't tell Rose and Jo...." Was all I could utter out. I looked at Jay who was also standing still with wide, scared eyes.

"Is this what's been going on?! You've got some weird ass man on your balcony and you ask me to be quite about it?"

"Lace, I can explain. Just, please don't tell."

"Whatever Sam, I get it." She started back in the living room.

"Lacey wait!" I yelled out. I turned around to Jay and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Go. Go after her. I'll meet you tonight" he said, as I ran after Lacey.

I made it into the living room to hear Lacey tell our friends to meet at our favorite restaurant at 7:30 tonight. Even in the heat of the moment, and in anger, Lacey covered for me.

"Jo, can you take me home?"

"Lacey I can drive you back home." I offered. She looked at me dead in the eye.

"I think it's best if Jolene did." The three of them got up and told me to be ready for a girls night. Lacey left without giving me another look.

That night, we went out to eat and chatted. Lacey avoided me for a better part of the evening. I wanted to reach out and tell her everything. We all went out to the parking lot after we had eaten. Jolene and Rose left first and I tried talking to Lacey.

"Samantha, I don't want to hear your excuses. Why did you have to lie to me?"

"It's to protect you, Lace." I knew she didn't believe me.

"Whatever" she got into her car and drove off. I felt so torn, and confused. I went back to my apartment and waited on Jay to show back up.



I opened the door that led to the roof and Jay was already there; most times he was early for any meeting we had. I walked over to him and asked me if I was okay.

"No, Lacey is so pissed."

"I've been thinking," Jay said, "Maybe I should back off. Let you live your life." My heart dropped.

"What? No...why?"

"I know how much Lacey means to you. You two are like me and Leo. I don't want you losing her, especially over me."

"Jay I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either, but I'm too much of a risk to your friendship." I stepped back and walked to the edge on the roof; I peered out over the city and felt a single tear roll down my cheek.
Everything I had was slowly slipping away.

"No. Jay, no." I spun around to find him right behind me. "No." It was the only word I could say.

"Samantha, are you sure? It's so dangerous. The McKenzies are always going to be looking for me."

"I know, and I can handle that. I just can't lose you, Jay." He reached out and hugged me. We didn't hug often, and to be honest we hardly ever touched.

"Okay. Then I have another plan. Call Lacey. Tell her to come by."

"What?"

"I'm not ready to let you go, Samantha. And I don't want you to let go of Lacey. I know you trust her with everything." I was shocked.

"You mean, you want to explain things to her?!"

"Yeah. I mean, maybe not every detail, but enough to where she'll understand why you've kept us a secret. Call her and tell her to meet us up here."

"But Jay, it's night. You're in your half-turned phase."

"It'll be better that way; she'll see it first hand." I couldn't believe he was even considering this option.

"Are you positive?" I asked, before making the call.
"I swear. She's already seen me so no lie is going to fix it. I care about you a lot. Enough to risk it with one more person. I don't know why I even mentioned leaving; I could never." I nodded and pulled out my phone.

"Lacey? Lacey don't hang up. I'm ready to tell you everything."

"Okay. Fine." I could tell her by her tone that she was still mad.

"I need you to come over though. Tonight."

"It's midnight Sam, no."

"Please. It'll all make sense." After she agreed, I gave her directions to take the stairs all the way up to the roof. Jay and I waited, nervously, until we seen Lacey appear through the door. She walked over, hesitantly, and started at Jay.

"What the hell?" She asked.

"Hello Lacey. I'm Jay." Lacey took a step back and looked at me.

"Who is he, Sammy?" I went and stood by Jay. Taking his hand in mine, I looked up at him and then back at my best friend.

"He's someone very special to me."