“How am I supposed to do this Cal?” Willow asked, pacing the room. She had tears in her eyes. She loved Adina, she always had, and she knew she always would. 

Calix, her best friend, was sitting on her bed watching her, carefully listening to every word. He followed her with his eyes as she moved. He had been here from the start, through the whole relationship. They loved each other; he knew that. But he also knew how often they argued.  
“We just...” Willow paused, “We’re always fighting. It hurts so much. I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s hurting me...” She was crying now. Calix wanted to get up and hug her, but he knew she wasn’t ready yet.  

“Why are you putting yourself through this?” Calix asked, sighing heavily, knowing the reason, but needing her to actually admit it. His hands were shaking in his lap, not knowing what to do. He didn’t want to set off her anxiety.  

“Because I love her. I can’t hurt her.” Willow was beginning to get more and more anxious. As she paced, her hands began to tremble. “But I can’t keep doing this.” 

“Okay, so what do you want to do?” Calix questioned, standing up. He made his way towards her, holding his hands out in front of him. “Willow... breathe...” 

She didn’t realize it, but her entire body was now shaking. Calix knew if he didn’t calm her down soon, she would have a panic attack and pass out, that was bad.  

“Willow, you need to look at me. Right at me.” His voice was steady and calm, he didn’t want to make it worse. She finally spun to face him. “Good. Good job. Now take a nice deep breath for me?” 

She listened and took several deep breaths. When she finally calmed down, and the shaking stopped, he opened his arms. Her body collapsed into him and began violently shaking as she sobbed.  

She knew what to do, she just didn’t think she could do it. Adina had been listening at the door and couldn’t stand there any longer. This was a long time coming.  
Her head was too full, and she couldn’t think straight, but she knew one thing... it was time. She should have done this a long time ago, but she realized now, if she really loved willow, she would do it.  

Calix rubbed her back and slowly sat back down on the bed. Willow’s body relaxed to a point where she was laying down with her head on his lap. After a while, her breath slowed. 
“Better?” Calix asked, and Willow nodded her head. Tears still ran down her face, but at least her breathing was normal. The two sat in silence, and eventually Calix frowned, looking towards the floor in front of him. 

“Willow, I can come up with something, but I need to know what you want to do,” he said. Willow didn’t respond. With a confused look, Calix glanced at her to see she had fallen asleep. 
Calix let out a sigh, moving a few strands of hair out of Willow’s face. Suddenly, he heard footsteps that were headed towards the front door, and right as he looked up, he saw the door slam shut behind whoever had left. 

His eyes widened as realization hit him. Adina had been napping in the living room, and they hadn’t exactly been whispering. If she woke up, how much did she hear? 

Carefully, Calix moved Willow off his lap, doing his best to not wake her. He made his way to the living room to see the couch empty. The thin blanket Adina had used was still there, but she was nowhere in sight. His face paled as he looked back at Willow, who had no clue what happened. Glancing around the room, Calix suddenly noticed the folded piece of paper sitting on the coffee table. 

His stomach felt tight as he picked it up, frowning when he saw Willow's name written on the outside. 

“Calix?” Willow called out from behind him. She rubbed her eyes to wake herself up, but when she saw the couch, she started to panic. “Wait, what happened? Where’s Adina?!” 
She was about to cry again when Calix grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to turn towards him. 

“Willow, breathe.” 

The two took deep breaths together, and Calix hoped that whatever Adina wrote wouldn’t set her on edge again. 

“Calix, what happened?” she asked again. He gave her a sad look as he shook his head, then held out the letter to her. Willow frowned as she took the paper, her breath hitching as she saw Adina’s handwriting. 

With some encouragement from Calix, she unfolded the note, her hands shaking as she began to read. 

Willow, 
By the time you read this, I’ll probably be gone. Maybe that’s for the best though. 
I heard your conversation with Calix. You probably wanted to tell me everything in person, but you two weren’t really quiet and it woke me up. I know you don’t want to hurt me, so maybe I can hurt us both. 

I’m sorry we were fighting all the time. I know how much you hate it. I hated it too, but it just felt like everything about us was wrong. I don’t know how to explain it, but nothing felt right anymore, and I guess I took it out on you without meaning to. I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner. 

You’re a great person, Willow, and I’ll always love you. For now, I just think we need some time. That way, things might start feeling right again and everything will be like it was. I think if we keep going like this, it’ll just end badly, and I don’t want that for us. We’ve been through so much together, and I don’t want it to end just because we can’t get along. 
I don’t know when I’ll come back to get my stuff, but it’ll probably be sometime soon. I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I didn’t want to see your reaction to what I wrote. Stupid, I know. 
I don’t know if we’ll work this out, but I hope we do. Until then, goodbye Willow. 
Love, 
Adina.

 
By the time Willow reached the end of the letter, she had started crying again. 
“Willow? What’s wrong? What did she say?” Calix asked, looking at her worriedly. Willow didn’t know what to say, so instead, she threw herself into Calix, her tears staining his shirt. He frowned but returned the hug, and the letter in Willow’s hands dropped to the floor.  

The fan had blown the paper slightly as it fell, and Calix caught a glimpse of the words, “You’re a great person, Willow, and I'll always love you.” And suddenly, everything made sense. It was over...