I Picked Up My Best Friend After Her Breakup… Then She Asked, “Why Didn’t I Choose You?”
Chapter 3
That night, Sarah invited Ethan inside.
They sat on opposite ends of the couch.
Neither knew how to begin.
Finally, Sarah spoke.
“Daniel thinks I love you.”
Ethan stared at the floor.
“Daniel thinks a lot of things.”
“Do you?”
He looked at her.
“Do I what?”
“Think I love you.”
Ethan’s heart was pounding.
“I think you’re confused.”
Sarah frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you’re hurt.”
“I’m not asking because I’m hurt.”
“Then why?”
She looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan stood.
“I’m going to make tea.”
“Ethan.”
He stopped.
“Don’t run away.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
He turned around.
Sarah stood.
“I’ve known you since we were nineteen.”
“I know.”
“You’ve been there through every relationship I’ve had.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve watched me choose men who weren’t right for me.”
“Yes.”
“And you never said anything.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What was I supposed to say?”
“That you loved me.”
Silence.
There it was.
The sentence he’d spent fifteen years avoiding.
Ethan sat down.
Sarah remained standing.
“I need the truth.”
He looked at his hands.
“I loved you.”
Her expression changed.
“Past tense?”
Ethan laughed sadly.
“No.”
Sarah sat beside him.
“Since when?”
“College.”
Her eyes widened.
“College?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were happy.”
“With Daniel?”
“Not Daniel. Before him too.”
Sarah stared at him.
“Every time I dated someone?”
“I told myself you’d eventually find the right person.”
“And if you told me?”
“I could have ruined our friendship.”
Sarah looked down.
“So you just watched?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because having you in my life was better than risking losing you.”
She became quiet.
Then she asked:
“Did you ever want to tell me?”
“Every day.”
Sarah wiped a tear.
“I wish you had.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Why?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she leaned against the back of the couch.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel.”
“That’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Sarah.”
“I’ve spent years thinking I knew exactly what I wanted.”
She looked at him.
“Then tonight I realized I may have been looking in the wrong direction.”
Ethan didn’t move.
She reached for his hand.
Their fingers touched.
Neither pulled away.
Then Sarah whispered:
“Why didn’t I choose you?”
Ethan felt the question like a physical blow.
He could have given her a hundred answers.
Because I was scared.
Because you were with someone else.
Because I didn’t think I deserved you.
Because I thought friendship was enough.
Instead, he said:
“Maybe you weren’t ready.”
Sarah squeezed his hand.
“Maybe.”
They stayed like that until midnight.
No kiss.
No confession beyond what had already been said.
Just two best friends sitting in the quiet, realizing that the relationship they had spent fifteen years protecting might have been something neither had understood.
