78. Status Update

Before I continue with the story of Will, I want to give yall a few updates.

First, I need to thank all of you who've voted for me to win the UK Cosmo Blog Awards! Seriously, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! If you haven't voted, there's still time! The voting deadline was just extended to August 31st. http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/your-life/cosmo-blog-awards/special
Then click on the first category (Sex and Relationships). Then click on Fairytale Beginning (3rd one down) and hit submit! It only takes a second, and I'm going up against some bad ass blogs, so every vote counts! (Also, if you could post it on your FB and beg all of your friends to vote, that might help. Can you tell I'm desperate?) At first the rules said they'd announce the winners on the 23rd, but they just changed it and now it says at the beginning of September. I know that's only a few weeks away, but good lord am I impatient!

Speaking of which, Cayden is coming to visit Texas for the first time in his life in 25 days!! Well, it's almost midnight as I write this, so I can pretty much say 24 days. He'll be here for his birthday! I'd give anything for a fast-forward button right now because I'm dying to see him again. I get those drunken butterflies in my stomach when I think about what it's going to be like to see him when I pick him up from the airport. Hopefully this time he'll recognize me.

Last update before I continue with Will's story: I have a Facebook page, and I'd love it if you all "liked" it! Go here. I hope to start posting more pictures soon, but I'm awaiting permission from some of the guys. Ideally, I'd LOVE to have a picture up of each of the guys to help distinguish who's who. Feel free to write on my wall and ask me anything, or just write to tell me what you think about the posts you've read. I love hearing from yall! Oh, and if you're not following me on Twitter yet... you should :) Follow @whitforbrit! I've really enjoyed tweeting back and forth with some of you (@aecarter, @cubanalaf, @bethlynch, @kateolynch, @lala0laci, @Chicgeekdesigns, @geeimjoe, @jynaphre, @joyandpayne, @zenscara, and about a billion others. Oh, and ladies, from what I can tell that @geeimjoe guy is sexy and single... I'm just sayin).

Now, back to the story of Will...

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The day after the funeral, Will was back in class, smile on his face, laughing as usual. You'd think nothing happened. Luckily, his younger sister survived the accident, but his whole family had a lot of recovering to do. I knew Will was being strong for them. He had to; everyone looked up to him. If his mom was the glue that held that family together, Will was the super glue, an adhesive for the toughest of situations.

Every time I looked down at my ring, I said I silent "thank you" to whoever might be listening up there for giving me a friend like Will. I also throw out a few "thank yous" for my wonderful family and blessed life. When tragedy hits that close to home, it really shakes your world. It makes you remember to appreciate what you have. That's one of the reasons I'm glad my parents taught us to always say, "Goodnight, I love you," to them before we went to bed when we were little. To this day I can't go to bed without a phone call home to tell them that. That way, if ever something did happen, I wouldn't kick myself for not saying it enough while I had the chance. So that's why I felt like I had to tell Will how I felt about him. I had to tell him there was something there, something more than friendship, but I didn't exactly know what.

But Will was with Jaelyn. Jaelyn was good to him. She was there for him through the hardest part of his life. Will was happy. Well, as happy as he could be, given the circumstances. If I opened my big mouth and told him there might be something more than friendship between us, Jaelyn would hate me, and Will would be confused. He was dealing with enough right then, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

A month after the accident, Will and I celebrated our 22nd birthdays. Here we are, the Birthday Twins:



(No, I don't always roll with a flask in hand, but my roommates bought me one with my name engraved on it as a gift.)

We were the best of friends. No one knew about my hidden feelings for him, and I wanted to keep it that way. We still flirted like we always did, but not in a way that would piss his girlfriend off or give away my secret. I locked away my feelings for Will, and I went to sleep next to Casey, while spinning Will's ring round and round my finger.

This went on for another month, and then all hell broke loose. Refer back to Chapter 10 and Chapter 10.5 for the definition of all hell breaking loose.