then, I don't know, probably play soccer with the guys. What do you have planned?"

"Ummm...I'm not sure. I'll probably just study all day." I could tell he felt sorry for me from the arched eyebrow he gave.

"You should come with me. You can step into my fun shoes for a day."

I smiled in agreement and promptly got ready for bed. The next morning I woke to Charlie hanging over my bed, his hand gently pushing on me, saying, "Hey. Wake up." I arose to see that he was already ready. The time was 5:10 and I got ready quickly. We walked side by side to the weight room and he showed me what he didn't every morning. Afterwards, we went to the track. Charlie was nice and kept up with me pushing me to five miles. It was a real tiring experience and I wanted to just go back to the dorm and fall asleep, but I wanted to be around Charlie who was going to play some soccer with some of his buddies, so I decided to go with him.

After a long day of soccer I was ready to crash. The sun was starting to go down and Charlie and me went to our dorm to relax. I plopped down on the bed, relaxing. I almost instantly fell asleep.

Charlie and I had gotten along really well and after about a month we had become pretty close friends. Every morning I decided to join him for his morning work out and we went out for coffee, just talking. We had only had an intellectual attraction but I never thought I would have a romantic attraction to him. It was amazing and terrifying all at the same time. Every night I yearned to go over to him and wrap my arms around him and just lie there, but I would never disrupt the relationship I already had with him. I had decided to not do anything with him.
One Friday I came into the room after my science class and went up to the table to see a note written for me, "Meet me by my car." It had a poorly drawn rose on it that was wrapped around his name. I set down my books and walked outside and found his car in the students’ parking lot with him leaning next to it. I went over to him and raised my hand to say, "Hey," but he stopped me before I could say anything.

"Get in the car." He had a sad look on his face and I didn’t know what was wrong, but I left no objections and got inside the car. He turned on the car and we drove around a little while, not saying anything. After about thirty minutes of silence I broke the silence. "What’s the matter Charlie?" I said in my most concerned voice.

He didn’t answer for a while but eventually said, "I got a call today...from my mother. I found out..." he choked a bit, "...my father has died." I felt a punch in my stomach, feeling awful. My head fell instantly down, my eyes shutting. I picked my head up to see tears falling from Charlie’s eyes. To see someone that was so close to me, someone I loved, in pain was devastating to me. I rested my hand on his back, trying to soothe him but to no avail. It was silent until we got back to the dorm. He went