Ashley’s POV

“Are you really moving tomorrow?” I knew that I was whining, but I didn’t care.  I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Kyla.  I had missed her terribly while I was in New York, and I only got to see her twice—once right after her marriage started and once when she brainwashed me into going to Baltimore for Christmas.  The latter never happened again.

“You could come with.  What is really keeping you in L.A.?  I’m sure they have bars and one night stands in Chicago you know.” She teased, but I knew she would miss me.  We were standing in her room, or what was left of her room—all of her furniture was gone already.  

“Remember when you helped me paint this thing?”

“Yeah.  You wanted to paint it that horrible yellow color, and I convinced you otherwise.”  I laughed at the memory.

“No!  Aiden wanted the yellow.  He said it was neutral and easy to decorate.”

“And you told him he was way too gay.”

“And you agreed.”

“Actually, you are both wrong.  It wasn’t yellow.  It was surfboard yellow from Ralph Lauren.  Very nice paint.”

We had been laughing and talking so fast that we didn’t hear him enter the room.  Now we were silent, as we all stood in the room—the room where we had the same argument six years earlier.  They had just gotten married.  Both were sophomores at USC, and I had been called in to help with the moving.  I was slightly annoyed at not being invited to the wedding, but since nobody had been invited I had let it slide.  We had spent two weeks painting that house inside and out and getting her furniture absolutely perfect.  I was sure that they would be together forever.  

“Well, whatever color it was, nobody liked it but you,” Kyla teased.  “I think that we have everything out.  Ashley and I were just saying goodbye to the house.”

Aiden smiled at us before walking over and taking us both into a hug.  

“It’ll be okay without us.  Maybe it can find a nice functional family to move in.”  

After the hug was over, I walked them to their vehicles.  Aiden and Raife were taking the U-Haul and Kyla was following with Dakota in the Highlander.  Both were packed to the rim.