Truce

“Is everything okay?”

Jonah asked as he watched me leave Connor's apartment. I stood with my face against the door as I gently closed it. After everything that happened with Connor that night, and my unexplainable behavior, Jonah was the last person I wanted to see. He had been standing down the hall outside of Dina's doorway. There was a tall olive skinned girl with dark luscious hair standing in front of him. She looked a lot like Dina. Maybe her sister, or cousin.

I sniffled and cleared my throat. “Yeah, I'm fine.” I said in that deep voice you use when everything isn't okay. I collected myself once more before I headed towards the elevator. I could see Jonah in my peripheral watching before he pulled the girl aside and did a slow jog towards me.

“Hey” he said softly as he tugged at my shoulder.

I flinched away. “Really Jonah?” My sharp voice caused him to hold up his hands as he took a step back.

“I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You don't look so good.” His apologetic tone grew quiet.

I covered my face with my hand, shaking it back and forth, before I sighed. “I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me.” I took a deep breath. “I'm fine, really.” I faked a half smile and proceeded to the elevator.

Jonah stood in place for a few seconds before he turned back to Dina's apartment. I pushed the button for the elevator and waited. The girl standing outside walked into the apartment and he followed behind. Just as he was about to close the door, I called for him.

He peeked over the door, questioningly. “I could use some coffee. You wanna join me?” I asked as the elevator door slid open.

“Are you sure?” The look on his face turned into concern. His eyes jolted towards Connor's door.

“Yeah” I nodded my head.”Of course.”

He gestured for me to wait as he grabbed his keys off a nearby table. A few seconds later we were on an awkwardly silent elevator ride down to the main lobby. I knew I needed to talk to Jonah about everything that had been going on, but I didn't know how to bring it up. We continued walking onto the street and down the corner to a tiny little coffee shop. I laughed, on the inside, as I realized it was the same shop I'd spent the night talking to Jonah's sister, Casey.

As we approached the shop, a couple walking down the street stopped Jonah. “Oh my God, honey, that's Jonah Cohen!” The young girl said to her boyfriend. “Congratulations on the show! Do you mind if we get a picture?”

Jonah smiled at them, “Of course not” I watched from the sidelines as the three of them took a selfie.

“You're going to do amazing!” the girl cooned.

“Yeah, we can't wait for the show to start!” Her boyfriend said in equal excitement.

“Thanks, that means a ton!” Jonah said before they walked away.

“So, is this a thing now?” I asked in a whisper.

“I hope not.” He whispered back while holding the door to the coffee shop open for me.

The weather in the City was finally enjoyable, so we ordered our drinks and took a seat outside. “So...” Jonah looked around at the people walking by.

“So...” I responded. Neither one of us knew what to say. “Was that a relative of Dina's I saw?”

Jonah nodded his head. “Her sister. She came by to grab some stuff from Casey.” I knew she looked eerily familiar. Besides a few distinctions they could of been twins.

A moment of silence flooded over our conversation again.

“Is everything okay?” Jonah asked. “I mean, with you and...” his eyebrows twitched. I stared at him for a second before I responded.

“Yeah it's fine.” I shrugged my shoulders “Just a rough patch.” I smiled, sheepishly. “You know how those are.” I said rhetorically, but for some reason Jonah decided to answer.

“No, I don't” He sang back in a slightly joking manner. “I'm sorry for what I said that morning. I feel so stupid. I knew you were with someone and I shouldn't have put that thought in your head. It just slipped.”

“It's fine, really.” I shook my head. “It didn't bother me. I think I was more upset by the way you left. Without explanation.”

Jonah rubbed the back of his neck before he sighed. “I'm not gonna lie. It was kinda hard seeing you with him that night.” His eyes jolted up “Not that I'm not happy for you or anything. It's just...you know...”

“No I don't know...”

“I was just expecting-”

I cut Jonah off abruptly, “You were just expecting what? For me to wait for you?” I waited for Jonah to respond, but he stayed quiet.

“Well you did move on kinda fast” He said in a sarcastic tone under his breath.

“What?” I sat up straight, leaning over the table. “I didn't expect to meet Connor and fall for him the way I did.” I caught myself off guard as I spoke those words out loud. It was verbal confirmation on how I knew I felt, but just needed to hear out loud. “You left without knowing when you'd be back. We gave each other our blessings, Jonah. You can't honestly tell me you're surprised.”

“I was just expecting for things to be normal between us.” His voice was slightly louder, as if to correct me. I slouched back into my chair waiting to hear what he had to say. “Put the romantic aspect of it aside, what we had” His hand gestured between the two of us, “meant everything to me.”

A part of me melted over his words because I felt the same way. No matter where we were going in our lives I always hoped we'd remain friends. There was this connection between us that was unexplainable and on a different level. “Jonah, you'll always be my friend no matter what.” My fingers intertwined one another as I wrapped them around my cup. “I think we just need to figure out how to make this work.”

“It's not the same, Lynn” Jonah shook his head. “I can't treat you the way I did. It's different now.”

“It doesn't have to be.”

“Yeah, and how do you think your boyfriend's going to feel about that?” Jonah mocked my posture and leaned over on the table. “You really think he's going to enjoy you spending time with me?”

“Why wouldn't he?” I squinted my eyes, questioningly. “It's not like you're giving him a reason otherwise.” Trying to lighten the mood, I bite my tongue and smiled, teasing Jonah.

“Oh, ho, okay.” He leaned off the table. “I see how it is.” He stuck out his hand for a shake. “Let's just call it a truce then.”

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