Eric's Short Story

It was no secret that Eric had unresolved feelings for Madison, and not just the simple innocent type of feelings either. He had been in love with the girl since they were no more than naive teenagers growing up in Brooklyn; but even so, she had always been Theo's girlfriend and there were some lines that weren't to be crossed. After all, Eric was Theo's best friend and therefore Madison was and always would be off limits. Nevertheless, these nettlesome feelings had followed Eric into adulthood and throughout the years, he continued to hide his feelings, with of course, a few minor slip-ups. He was perhaps too protective of her, or maybe too quick to rush to her side, and sometimes his gaze may have lingered on her for longer than appropriate.
These instances were so subtle that even Eric sometimes failed to notice them, but it was apparent from an outsiders point of view that Eric was indeed in love with his best friends wife.

His desire for Madison had never faltered, yet after a certain amount of years Eric eventually learned how to keep his feelings at bay — where they belonged.
Theo forgave his indiscretions and Eric would never again risk his lifelong friendship for a love that was never even his. In the end, all interactions between himself and Madison switched to strictly professional and cordial. Seeing less and less of Madison also helped, but since she was his boss, there was no cutting it off all together.

It had been just over one year since he and Theo's last 'Madison argument' and since then things had remained relatively peaceful between them. Theo had called Eric and asked if he would be willing to work some upper class social event; Eric happily agreed to help out and just like that, a series of unfortunate events was set into motion.

In the weeks following Theo's death, Eric spent much of his time in a complete state of shock and depression. He spent countless nights fighting that familiar urge to drink his problems away and on some nights, that was a fight he lost. It was those nights that he wanted to call Madison — he wanted nothing more than to reach out for her, to hear her voice. He didn't know whether that was more for her comfort or his own. He hadn't felt bad about holding her the night of Theo's death because it wasn't about his feelings, it was about helping a friend who was in pain, though now it felt like he needed her for his own
good.

He knew his actions were despicable and yet he couldn't bring himself to check up on her; a mixture of shame and guilt always caused him to pull away just when he thought it was time to push past it. By now, he has lost count of how many times he had his phone out and her number on the screen, though he was never able to press that talk button.