Part Three: Best Friends

We really were. The parties, movie nights, birthday dinners, and Thursday nights in front of Friends continued on as usual.

Many of you commented on my maturity at handling the whole Josh likes Carrie situation. Believe me, any maturity on my end was completely God-given. My previous track record with relationships, although extremely short, was void of much maturity or class. It is almost like God didn’t want me to mess things up permanently with Josh. Oh wait, I believe that to be true! And the night after my date, I’d never felt so supported and comforted, both my Him and some friends He’d placed in my life.

A few months later, Josh plucked up the courage to ask Carrie out. She accepted. I was more or less comfortable with it, but thankful I would be spending the summer on a mission project with Campus Crusade in Virginia Beach. Not a bad time to move 12 hours away. But I kept in good touch with both of them all summer, and soon learned that things between them weren’t going so well. I never got the impression that they didn’t get along, but more that they never really clicked. I remember when they told me separately that they wanted to end things. They lasted all of a month, but ended things amicably.

A few weeks later Josh made plans to visit me in Virginia Beach. I didn’t think it meant anything, but was extremely excited to see my friend. We mostly spent time in larger groups that weekend, but did get the chance to borrow a car and randomly visit Colonial Williamsburg. And then we did take a couple of long walks along the boardwalk in the evenings.

The jpeg files of that trip were the unfortunate casualty of a busted hard drive (stupid Dell computers) but here is a scan of a scrapbook page I made later:

Top picture: On a bench at the VA Beach boardwalk.
Bottom picture: Doing the cheesy tourist thing in Williamsburg.

But it wasn't anything romantic, I told myself. It was only a friend thing. Only a friend thing. We were just best friends. That was it.

But the hug he gave me at the airport was a little different. I think he caught my hand on the release. I wasn’t sure. And then I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Cried all the way home. Cried at work all morning. Tried to put it out of my mind, but it was impossible.

I knew liked him. Again.

But what kind of idiot falls for a guy that has already told her he doesn’t have any romantic feelings toward her?