EUAN

Elle was acting weird. Having known her from the moment she was born, Euan knew that much. For starters, she was asking a lot of bizarre questions.

"What would you do if we can no longer see each other?"

That question scared him. Not once in his life did he think about the possibility of them not being friends anymore. They were too close for that to happen. "Please, Elle. That will never happen. Even if you suddenly disappear one day, I will search the ends of the universe to find you. Why are you suddenly thinking about this? Are you okay?"

Elle smiled, but there was something about the look in her eyes that unsettled Euan. "I recently realised how fleeting life is. You never know when something will happen. Every two seconds, someone in the world dies. It can be a car accident. It can be cancer. Nothing in this world is certain. Now, answer me properly. I'm just curious."

Euan never knew Elle to be such a pessimist, but he gave her question a good thought. A world without Elle. "If you're no longer by my side, my life would fall apart. I've never known a life without Elle Harper, and I don't want to know it." It would be like the Sun had set and never rose again, he'd wanted to add, but he didn't want to sound so dramatic.

"Life has to go on, Euan," she sighed.

"Do you mean you'll move on quickly if I die?" Euan gasped dramatically, gently hovering a hand over his chest.

Elle giggled, wearing a bright smile. It was a smile that could light a room. It was a smile that made countless people fall for her, including Euan himself. "Silly. Do you think that's possible? It's just that I would want you to live on happily after I die. It would break my heart if you were to drown yourself in sorrow."

How can I be happy if you're gone? "Sure. I feel the same way too. You have to stay the same happy girl even without me by your side." Euan would do anything to keep that beautiful smile on his best friend's face.

"Who's your dream girl?" Elle asked.

Euan's heart skipped a beat. That was a stark change of topic. Why did she want to know? He scratched his chin. "Um, I don't know. I don't have one."

"Come on. Okay, if it's awkward to name someone we might know, maybe you can name a celebrity."

"Tori Blake, I guess, but you already knew that." For the past few years, Tori Blake was one of the most popular young actresses in Hollywood. A rising star, people loved her. Euan found her pretty and could see her appeal, but that was it. She was an easy and believable answer to give, one that Elle wouldn't question. After all, no one could match up to Tori Blake. Well, in Euan's opinion, Elle Harper could.

His best friend nodded slowly.

Euan wondered what she thought and why she would suddenly ask that. Did she intend to set him up with his so-called dream girl? Why would she? Was it because she felt bad that he had never dated anyone before? He looked at Elle intently but couldn't draw a conclusion. "What are we watching today?"

"Let's watch 'Sunset'. I feel like watching something sad with a happy ending today."

"Isn't that the movie Tori Blake starred in?"

Elle's eyebrows raised in amusement. "You're a true fan, Mr Golding. I'm impressed. That's one of Tori's recent movies. Starring the biggest stars in the acting and music industries, it's no surprise that this movie was so popular. Her acting was so good here. She's honestly amazing. She's so hard-working and down-to-earth. I love her so much."

Euan nodded in acknowledgement. He toggled the channels and played the movie. He reached forward to the coffee table and grabbed the popcorn bucket and a cookie to feed Elle. "I baked these, your favourites."

"Thanks," she replied, accepting the treat. She leaned towards her best friend and rested her head on his shoulders. Euan hoped that she couldn't hear his rapidly beating heart, but she said, "You must be very excited to see Tori on the screen, huh?"

"Sure," he said with an awkward chuckle. He put his arm around Elle and wrapped her in his warmth as they cuddled under the blanket.

***

Something was definitely wrong with Elle Harper because she just did the most unthinkable thing.

"Euan, meet Tori Blake."

His mind blanked out for a second. What? "Um, hi." He and Tori shook hands and took their seats. "I'm Euan Golding."

"I know," Tori replied. "Elle told me."

"Tori is my friend from college!" Elle chirped.

Euan raised an eyebrow upon learning that fact. He never knew that. He and Elle had gone to different colleges, and they never bothered to mix their social circles. Sure, he had met some of Elle's friends and she had met a few of his, but he never knew that Tori Blake was one of Elle's friends from college.

A thought struck him, causing him to wince internally. All along, he had named Tori Blake as his dream girl, thinking she was unrealistic and unattainable, yet she had been close to his life all along. He wondered what Elle thought about him naming one of her friends as his dream girl. Whatever the case, if Elle had known Tori all those years and never introduced them to each other, why now?

Elle wore a bright smile, but Euan noted that the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Anyway, I have to go somewhere, so enjoy! I've already ordered your food, so don't think about running away!" With that, she clutched her bag that she had never put down and scurried away.

Tori and Euan stared at each other across the table awkwardly. For Euan, it was meeting one of Hollywood's biggest stars whom he just learned was a friend of his best friend, also known as his crush, and someone he'd been pretending to be his dream girl for years.

"I—"

"I know," Tori replied instantly, shutting him up. "I can see it as clear as day."

That made Euan blush, and he blushed even harder knowing he had just blushed in front of someone else he barely knew. "I reckon you're not interested in me either."

"No," she replied with a hearty laugh. "Don't get me wrong. You're cute and all, but you're not my type. Elle had the audacity to tell me she thought you with an interest in music and me with an interest in acting would be compatible because they were similar."

Euan burst into laughter. "No way."

Tori nodded slowly. "I know! I find it so weird that she's suddenly introducing us to each other when she never did before. She's mentioned you in my presence, but she's never told me I was your so-called dream girl until last night. I mean, you couldn't possibly have suddenly named me your dream girl yesterday, right?"

"No, I've always said that. For years, in fact. Last night was not the first time I said that," he replied, wondering how on earth she could be so calm about this whole dream-girl situation. Of course, she must've had many people call her their dream girl, but she sounded so nonchalant about it.

"Which means that some recent event triggered her to introduce you to me," Tori concluded. "She even insisted I came down for breakfast this morning to meet you. I don't understand why she has to be in such a rush. She's lucky my schedule is clear for today."

"Ever since yesterday, she started acting weird."

"What did she do yesterday?"

"A beach clean-up. But after that, she kept talking about a lot of weird stuff. I've never seen her talk like that," Euan replied. When Tori probed further, he illustrated the events of the previous night.

Tori nodded slowly as she absorbed the information. "Something is wrong with Elle."

"Exactly!"

"I'm deeply concerned."

Just then, their breakfast arrived, and the two thanked the waiter before digging in.

"Elle might be sick," Tori said, eyebrows furrowed.

That line stopped Euan in his tracks. Elle? Sick? His heart rate instantly increased as worry coursed through his veins. No. "Why do you think so?"

"She's acting like the world is ending. She's making plans. She suddenly introduced us to each other even though she knew us for years. She talks about you with so much love in her eyes. Why would she throw all that aside and push me towards you? It's as if she knew she couldn't be the one there for you, so she wanted to find someone she trusted to be her replacement."

"Did you just say that she talks about me with so much love?" Euan asked.

Tori looked at him as if he were a moron. Or maybe he was one. Because how had he never noticed that Elle liked him too? "The same way you look at her like the sun rises and sets with Elle Harper. I don't understand why you keep lying to her that I'm your dream girl because I have a feeling that's one of the reasons why she never confessed."

Euan contorted his face, feeling like the world's biggest fool. "So, you were saying that Elle might be sick. How did you deduce that based on that information?"

"I starred in 'Sunset'. I did a lot of research for that role because I wanted the role of Alice to be as realistic as possible. I talked to a few people who had life-threatening conditions to understand their mindset. I listened to their stories about how they felt when they discovered their conditions and how they revealed them to their loved ones, knowing that their hearts would shatter upon hearing the news. Some tried to hide their condition, just like my character did. Elle is acting like Alice."

"We watched that last night. Elle said—" He stopped right there as tears welled up in his eyes and threatened to fall. No, not Elle. "Wait, we can't just make assumptions like that." But he couldn't think of any other reason that made sense. Elle Harper wasn't acting like herself. If she had liked him the way he liked her, why would she introduce him to someone else? "Maybe she's just preparing herself for a world where she and I couldn't be together because I might marry someone else. It doesn't mean that she'll actually leave this world. Maybe she just meant that we might have to leave each other's worlds. You know, not many girls like that their men have a female best friend."

Tori nodded. "I hope that's the case. I really don't want the other possible option to be true." Euan could see her eyes starting to glimmer under the café lights. "Elle is one of my closest friends. When everyone saw me as Tori Blake, she saw me as just Tori, her friend." She quickly pulled out two pieces of tissue from the box on the table and gently dabbed the tears from her eyes.

"I'll go talk to her. I'll tell her my feelings. Maybe that way, she won't feel like we have to be separated any longer. Tell me, Tori. What did she look like when she introduced us?"

"Like her world was falling apart but she's acting like a bright smile can keep it together."

Euan instantly gobbled up the rest of his meal and stood up. "I'm sorry, but I have to go find her."

Tori stopped him and gave him her number. "Text me updates. And of course, don't share my number."

"I won't. I mean, I'll text you, and I won't share your number," he replied and took off.

Euan Golding had spent the past two decades wasting his time on hiding his feelings when the love of his life was right before him, loving him back. He wasn't about to waste more time now. He and Elle had already wasted way too many years together.

***

A/N:

Yeah, that's it. I can't make it for Round 2's deadline 😂😂😂 not that it matters because I lost my attachment to Wattpad ages ago.

I will still finish this book. I already have the ending in mind, and I'm determined to right it out. Sooner or later. Yeah.

Stay tuned 🤣🤣