Brenna sat in a chair in the middle of the studio TV audience as she watched Justin do his soundcheck. They were in Chicago for the day for Justin to do a TV show appearance and a couple other interviews.

From where she sat in the mostly empty TV studio, she could tell that Justin was distracted and not fully into what he was doing. She didn’t blame him for not wanting to be there though. Trace was leaving for San Francisco that morning and she was pretty sure that Justin had wanted to be there. For the past week Trace had been packing up a lot of things and getting ready to leave. Although Justin had helped him and seemed genuinely happy, Brenna was aware, as was Trace, that he was putting on an act. She knew he was having a hard time with his best friend moving out. He shot down any attempts she made to talk to him about it and she had simply just stopped asking. Justin was usually very private when he was upset about something so she wasn’t really surprised by his behavior.

Justin’s cell phone rang and tore her away from her thoughts. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Trace.”

“Hi.”

“Justin doing soundcheck?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’m just leaving now. Can you tell him to give me a call when he’s done?”

“Sure.”

“Oh, and Kate and Drew both called the house this morning wanting to see if you wanted to do something with them. I told them you were in Chicago.”

“Yeah, I thought I mentioned that to them.”

“So you and Drew are actually friends?”

“Yeah.”

Trace laughed.” That’s so weird, Brenna.”

“Why is that weird?”

“Because you guys went out. And now you don’t. It’s weird.”

“Well it’s not like we can avoid each other. We’re both friends with Kate. We might as well be friends.”

“Whatever, I still think it’s weird. So does Justin.”

Her eyes returned to the stage. “He does?”

“Yeah. That’s what he said last week when you and Drew went bowling with Kate and Tyler.”

“Well it’s not weird for me. Did they say to call them back?”

“No. Kate said she’d call you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“I should go. Just tell J to call my cell.”

“Sure.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

The rest of the day went by without any problems and they took an evening flight to LA and arrived in the city close to eight o’clock that night. Justin hardly said a word as they drove to his house and Brenna prayed that he would get over Trace’s leaving. She didn’t know if she could stand another day in silence.

Although the house didn’t look any different, it did seem different. It seemed quieter and emptier. Brenna knew that it was all psychological but she still felt it and she could tell that Justin did too. He set down his things in the hallway and went straight upstairs.

Brenna went to the kitchen and checked the messages on the answering machine. There was one from Kate and she picked up the phone to call her back.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi. Tyler?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s Brenna. Is Kate there?”

“Hey, Brenna. Yeah, hold on a second.”

Brenna heard the phone being passed and a second later Kate’s voice came over the phone.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Did I interrupt something?”

“Nope. Tyler’s trying to fix my AC. Did you guys just get back?”

“Yeah, like five minutes ago.”

“And Trace left this morning so I’m guessing Justin has locked himself up in his room and isn’t talking.”

Brenna smiled. “Exactly. He’s been moody all day.”

“I don’t blame him. Trace is his best friend and they’ve always been together. I knew he’d be moody today.”

“I don’t know what to even say to make him feel better.”

“I know how you can make him feel better if you’re up to it.”

“What?”

“Have you ever had that cobbler that his mom makes? He loves that stuff. Whip up a batch of that and he’ll cheer up.”

“Do you think the recipes somewhere in the house?”

“I don’t know. Check around I guess.”

Once she was off the phone with Kate, Brenna went searching for the recipe and found it in a drawer in the kitchen. She had all the ingredients for it and after twenty minutes she had it in the oven. It didn’t take long for the smell to start to come from the oven and right before she was about to pull it out, Justin appeared in the doorway, his hands shoved in the front pockets of his jeans.

“Are you making peach cobbler, Bren?”

“Yep. It’s almost done.”

He came further into the kitchen and sat down on one of the barstools by the island counter. “Why’re you making it?”

She slipped on the oven mitts. “I hear it’s your favorite and I figured you might want some comfort food.”

He watched her put the dish on a cooling rack. “It is my favorite. Thanks.”

A silence fell over them as Brenna went over to a cupboard and pulled out a bowl. She wanted to ask him if he was okay but knew that was pointless because she already knew the answer. He wasn’t okay and he wouldn’t be until he got used to Trace not being there.

Once the cobbler had cooled a bit, she scooped some into the bowl and slid it across the counter to him. He ate it slowly.

“This is good. Thanks, Bren.”

“No problem.”

“I got Johnny to clear a week in my schedule. I want to go home and see my family.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. You can just stay here if you want.”

“No, I’d go. It’s been over a month since my mom came out here to visit. And there are a few other people I wouldn’t mind seeing. What week?”

“Couple weeks form now. I don’t know the exact dates.”

“Okay.” She watched him take another bite. “Did I tell you how upset my mom was when I told her Drew and I broke up?”

“No.”

“She really liked him. She said she liked him as soon as she met him when she came out here.”

“Well at least you guys are still friends.”

She smiled a bit. “So Trace told me you think that’s weird.”

He didn’t look up. “It is.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “When you break up with someone no one ever stays friends with the person. It’s too weird. Isn’t it strange when you two are together?”

She shrugged as well. “It was a bit at first. It’s not so bad now that time has passed.”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s been like a week.”

“Okay, well I don’t know how to describe it. It’s not weird for me.”

He went back to eating. “Okay.”

She covered up the dish and put it in the fridge as he finished eating. She glanced at the clock and saw it was closet to ten o’clock. “I’m so tired. I’m gonna go to bed.”

Justin stood up and put his dish in the sink. “Me too.”

She went upstairs with him and to her room. She got ready for bed and was just about to flip off her light when there was a soft knock on her door. Justin stood on the other side.

“I was wondering…” he trailed off and shook his head. “You know, never mind. It’s stupid.”

“What’s stupid? What did you want to ask?”

“I, uh…” he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really want to be alone tonight. Would you sleep with me?”

She began to cough and he quickly came over and patted her on her back to steady her breathing.

“Shit, not like that, Bren. Just like sleep. Are you okay?”

She caught her breath. “I just choked on some spit.”

He laughed a bit. “Sorry. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind. In your room?”

“Yeah.”

She grabbed her pillow. “Okay.” She followed him down the hall to his bedroom. “Which side of the bed do you sleep on?”

“Left.”

She went to the right side of the bed and sat on the edge of it. She pushed the blankets back and slid in between the sheets. His bed was really nice. It was big and the mattress was soft and the sheets were cool and smooth. She let out a sigh as she burrowed deep into the mattress and pulled the blankets over top of her. She watched as Justin went into his bathroom and then appeared wearing his boxers and a t-shirt. He shut off the lights and she heard him come across the room and get into the other side of the bed.

“Thanks, Bren.”

She yawned. “No problem.”

It was silent for a few minutes and she was just starting to fall asleep when he spoke again.

“This is gonna get easier, right?”

“Hmm?” she murmured.

“Is this gonna get easier?”

She stretched out her legs. “You just have to get used to it. You’ll be fine.”

He sighed. “Yeah.” It was quiet for another minute. “The house seems empty without him.”

“I know.”

“I can’t wait to go to Tennessee.”

“It should be good.”

“It’s hard to believe it’s been three months since we’ve been there.”

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes again and felt herself drifting off once more. After a few minutes he said something else but she ignored him, too tired to respond.

Brenna parked her car and jumped out of it a few days later. She was supposed to meet with Justin and Kate at noon for lunch but her meeting with Johnny had run late and then she had gotten stuck in traffic.

She went into the restaurant and walked past the hostess when she saw Kate’s blonde hair. She went over to where Kate and Justin were sitting and slid into an empty chair.

“Sorry. Meeting went late.”

Justin was smiling. “I see you got the memo.”

She frowned in confusion. “What memo?”

He gestured to her clothes and she looked down at herself. She was wearing black pants and a red shirt and didn’t see anything wrong with it until she looked back up at Justin and realized he had almost the exact same outfit on. He even had white shoes just like hers.

“Oh. Whoops,” she said.

“You guys do that a lot, you know,” Kate said. “You’re becoming way too much alike. It’s creepy.”

Brenna shrugged and took a drink of her water. “Have you guys ordered?”

“Nope,” Justin said. “We were waiting for you.”

“Oh.” She opened her menu and quickly picked out something and they all ordered their food. She was looking through her purse for her lip chap when Kate spoke.

“Justin, have I ever told you about Taryn Mcman?”

“No.”

“She’s the girl that lives in the apartment beside mine. She’s really nice. You two should go out on a date sometime.”

Brenna looked up to see Justin staring at Kate with a blank look on his face.

“Uh-” he started.

“You two would be perfect together,” Kate interrupted.

The blank look turned to a slightly worried look and his eyes cut to Brenna.

Help me.

She started to smile as his eyes pleaded with hers. Help yourself.

Kate continued talking and Justin glanced back at Brenna again. Please, help.

“He can’t, Kate,” Brenna said, taking pity on Justin.

Kate looked over at her and then looked between her and Justin. “Why?” she asked suspiciously.

“Um…he’s a little confused about his sexuality and-”

“I am not!” Justin cut her off. “Damn, think of a better reason!”

Kate frowned. “Why don’t you want to go out with Taryn?”

Justin shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “Kate, those last two were psychotic.”

“They were not. Diane’s a little high strung and Joy can be a little obsessive but they’re not psychotic.”

“I can find my own dates though. It’s okay.”

“Well you don’t go on any if I don’t set you up.”

“Maybe I fell like being single,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Besides, somebody has to keep Bren company in the single department.”

Brenna glared over at him. “Thanks.”

He smiled. “No problem. I thought you’d appreciate it.”

She rolled her eyes. “You just know me too well.”