As soon as Diana had left my house, I approached Emily.

"What did she look so upset about?" I demanded. "She looked like she was about to cry."

"Well, she just wanted to talk with me about... things."

"What things?"

"Just ...things."

"What kind of things?"

"Boy-related things....."

"Why? Did she break up with James?" I dared to hope for a moment.

"Actually, yeah," Emily said slowly, trying not to get me too excited. My heart soared anyway. At least I had a chance now. I didn't even bother to ask what had caused the break-up. "But she was totally fine with that. Actually, she ended it herself."

"Well, what was it, then?" I was even happier when I heard she wasn't upset about James, but my curiosity was unbearable.

"Well... she... she heard some things..."

"What things?" Why did Emily have to be so vague sometimes?

"I can't tell you," she frowned. "A lot of stuff Diana and I talk about has to be kept confidential. I'd really like to tell you, but I can't. You just go have fun on your date with Ella."

"You can't even give me a hint?"

"Not really. Not unless you want her to kill me."

I gave her a little glare.

"Well, maybe I can give you a really small one. She's going to hurt me for telling you, though."

"So, what's the hint? If you don't tell me something, I might hurt you!" I was exasperated now. I needed to know.

"Okay, okay! Jeez, man! Umm... I don't know...I think you'd be happy if you knew what she was sad about... That's your clue."

"What kind of hint is that? Why would I be happy about her being sad?"

"Trust me, I think you would. I can't give you any more, so you just think about that for a while. You'll probably figure it out."

"Not with that lousy hint," I muttered.

Even with Emily's vague-ness, My good mood couldn't be beat. Diana had finally broken up with James. I didn't think I could get any happier.

Little did I know...

**

I sat next to Ella in the movie theater, but I was hardly watching the movie.

What could Emily have meant?

I mulled it over, considering tons of possibilities, but none of them would have made me happy. Diana would only cry about so many things, so it had to be something bad. Maybe her dog had died? No, that would definitely not make me happy. I loved dogs.

Honestly, Emily, I thought. You need to give some better clues. Watch some detective shows or something.

Before I even knew what was happening, the credits were rolling.

"So, what did you think?" I quizzed Ella. I sure hoped she wouldn't ask me the same thing. I had lost myself in my thoughts after the first preview.

"I loved it! I looove romance! I thought it was so cute when Jeremy told Lisa he liked her! So adorable," she gushed. "What did you think?"

Crap.

"I'm not the biggest fan of chick-flicks and romances, but it was okay." I hoped she could work with that. I hoped with all my might that we hadn't been in some crazy action movie or something.

She laughed. "We could have gone to a different movie if you wanted."

"No, I wanted you to choose." After all, why should I choose a movie if I wouldn't even be paying attention?

"Thanks! That's nice of you."

"You're welcome."

**

We decided to sit in the park and talk for a while, so I sat on a green park bench with her next to me.

"Hey, Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we talk about something?"

"Sure." I felt bad for hoping, but I wondered if she was going to say she didn't like me or something and end it. I couldn't take it anymore. I was losing my sanity. No offense on Erin's part, but I couldn't continue dating a girl I didn't like.

The worst part about my not having a crush on Ella was that there was nothing wrong with her. She was nice, she was cute, she didn't gossip, and she was polite. That was better than a lot of girls I'd met. I just didn't like her. I had no reason to NOT like her (except for the fact that I loved another girl), I just... didn't.

"Um, listen. I've had fun tonight, but - And I don't want to hurt your feelings, but... I don't know if we should do this again."

I continued listening, in case she had something else to say.

"You're a really nice guy and everything, I just don't think of you as my boyfriend or anything like that."

"Okay, I'm fine with that." And I truly was. "I just needed to have some fun, and you seemed like the kind of girl that would make a date... fun."

"Thank you. So no hard feelings?"

"None whatsoever." In fact, quite the opposite. I was thankful to Ella for at least giving me a night away from my family, a night away from everything. I realized that I actually did have some fun on the date. I had gotten some thinking time, and talking with her on the way to the movie had been enjoyable. "Thanks anyway, Ella."