Best Friend's Ex Box Set

The memory singed me, and I paused, remembering her face and smile. I was interrupted from my thought, though, at the sound of the poor girl I had completely demolished coming around the corner. I grabbed onto the papers and turned around, heading quickly back to her.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked, shaking my head. “I’m so sorry.”

I reached my hand down, and she grasped it, flinging her head back, her black silky hair flying out of her face. She had a college staff badge hanging from her neck, and she looked to be about the same age as me. I pulled hard on her until she was on her feet, grabbing her shoulders as she wobbled back and forth, still rubbing her forehead. I leaned down and picked up the two books sitting on the ground and placed the papers on top.

“Here, I collected your things,” I said, holding them out to her. “Sorry about that.”

As the girl lifted her head, irritation on her face, I froze. This face was familiar, actually a bit too familiar, and my heart almost completely stopped. It was Elana, Lillie’s best friend.

Chapter 2

Elana

I grasped onto my stack of papers and my books tightly, my feet moving faster than my mind was running. I had been working as a librarian for the school since I graduated, and I loved my job, even if my mother thought moving on would have been better for me. I stepped over a rogue soccer ball and dodged three girls not paying attention to where they were walking. The library was huge, and I was coming up on the entrance, which was right around the corner. I had agreed to come in early to finish a huge project that I had been working on for weeks. I had cleared out some of the old dusty stacks and created a brand-new section that would have all the new releases for the year. It was debuting later that day, and I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. Surprisingly, I’d gotten a huge reaction to it from the students, and I knew that it would be a hit.

I looked down at the list on top of the stack in my arms. It was the accounting for the grant the school had generously given me to do this project. It was the most money I had ever been handed for a school project, and the dean herself was going to come down during the opening. As I rounded the corner, without warning, someone plowed right into me at a full sprint. My head bounced off their shoulder, and everything went flying up into the air.

I sat there on the ground, trying to get my vision to come back to me again. My head was already throbbing, and I knew I would end up with a giant red lump on my forehead. It was a fantastic way to begin the day.

“Did I hurt you?” the voice asked, reaching his hand down to help me out. “I’m so sorry.”

I stood up and dusted my clothes off, flinging my long hair over my shoulders and out of my face. The culprit grabbed my shoulders, steadying me as I rubbed my forehead again, feeling the aching inside. I took a deep breath and looked up as he handed me my things.

“Here, I collected your things,” he said holding them out. “Sorry about that.”

When I looked up with irritation, my eyes widened, and my mouth fell open. The wind wasn’t actually knocked out of me until I saw his face. It was Ollie Anderson, someone I never thought for two seconds I would ever see again. His green eyes shimmered in the sunlight, and I blinked several times, wondering if maybe I had just hit my head harder than I thought. God, Ollie Anderson. What the hell was he doing here?

I was still grasping his hand, blinking my eyes and staring at him as he tried to keep me steady. My head was spinning, but it was no longer from the collision. I pulled my hand away quickly, feeling a strange sensation running through my chest at the feeling of his skin on mine. His face straightened, and recognition crossed over it.

“Elana? Elana Simpson?” He looked at me and started to smile, an easiness relaxing his shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

I nodded my head, my eyes wide, and my throat completely refusing to allow me to say a word. I was in complete shock, and the feelings running through me were confusing at best. I couldn’t believe I was standing there with Ollie, in the same place we had stood a million times before.

“I was recently transferred here for work,” he said, still looking at me in wonder. “I was in Phoenix, and they had an open position here. They made me an offer, and I accepted. I was just out for my morning run. I guess I was just speeding through here, trying not to let the memories overwhelm me, and I didn’t even see you coming around the corner. What are you doing at the library so early? I mean, it doesn’t open for another couple of hours, right?”

I still couldn’t say anything; it was like my mouth was glued shut. So many things were flying through my head, and I didn’t even know where to start. Answering his question would probably be a good beginning, but everything was frozen.

“Are you still pulling all-nighters like in college?” he asked, laughing. “You were practically living in the library. I wondered why you even paid rent on a place since you never left here and got most of your nutrition from the vending machines.”

A smile curved my lips, and the spell broke with the sound of his teasing. I pushed my long hair behind my ear and shifted my stance, still feeling the sting on my forehead. I swallowed hard, trying to remember what he asked last and took in a deep breath.

“No.” I laughed. “I, uh, I work here at the library now. I run the archive and project section. I guess my actual title is Librarian and Project Manager, but my responsibilities vary on a daily basis.”

He smiled and opened his mouth but quickly looked down at his watch. I couldn’t help but notice how good he looked, almost not aging a day, but wearing much nicer clothes. He was still tall and muscular, with dark hair and striking green eyes. Butterflies fluttered in my chest, but I pushed them away.

“Damn,” he said. “Look, I have to run. I don’t want to be late for my first day at work. Let’s get together, like, really soon and have dinner, okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, still overwhelmed. “Sure, let’s do that.”

“It was really good to see you,” he said with a warm smile.

“You too,” I replied, my heart beating fast.

He took off past me and started running down the sidewalk. He shook his leg a couple times, probably jamming it when he took me down like a freight train. I stood there watching until long after he had disappeared out of sight. I shook my head, taking in a deep breath and replaying what just happened. If it weren’t for the lump on my forehead that now had its own heartbeat, I would have thought I dreamt the entire thing up. Ollie Anderson, back in Madison. Will wonders never cease? It had been a long time since I’d seen him, and it felt like another life.

I put my hand to my chest and rubbed it, closing my eyes and breathing deeply like my therapist had told me to do during the few sessions I had actually gone to. I could feel all of the old memories threatening to creep back in, forcing me back into my reclusive state. However, I took a deep breath and pushed them down, remembering that I had no time for things to sidetrack me. I walked into the library and put my things down behind the desk, heading over to the new section. I tried to focus on the task at hand, getting the section ready for the release later that morning, but my mind was just not having it. Memories of Lillie were spilling out of the dark places I had shoved them in long ago.

Lillie Mathews and I had known each other practically our whole lives, well at least, her whole life. We had grown up on the same street, gone to the same elementary, middle, and high school, and then followed each other to college. We did everything together growing up and experienced some of life’s greatest and worst moments together. Tears, blood, sweat, and freak outs were all shared between the two of us. We had been as close as two people could be. We referred to each other as sisters, and I really felt like we had been. When Lillie died, I was absolutely devastated. It changed everything about me in every way possible, and not for the better. I was not at all prepared in life to deal with the death of someone that was so close to me. She was my family, the sister I never had.