The New Housemate's Secret

"She is a smart, beautiful girl". You have thought to yourself several times."Why isn't she surrounded by guys and girls?"

She also doesn't go out much. Sure, a lot of her time is filled with studying and work, but she rarely hangs out with anyone and she hasn't gone out drinking on the town at all. Instead she spends a lot of time on her Laptop, or hanging around with you. You think there is a mutual attraction, but she has always seemed guarded so you haven't pushed anything at all.

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After a long day's work you drive home and pull up in the garage way. As you open the front door you are not surprised to find Rachel lounging on the sofa with her Laptop.

"Hey". She says without looking up at you.

"Hey". You reply. "who are you e-mailing?"

Glancing up at you she replies. "Just Katie"

Again that doesn't surprise you. Rachel comes from a small town an hour or so drive from here. She doesn't talk about her upbringing much, but she spends a huge amount of time e-mailing and Skype-ing this one particular girl from her home town.

"You spend a lot of time sending messages between the pair of you. Were you two close friends?" You ask gently.

Rachel smiles a sad smile. "Yes we were. We were both quite lonely in our early teens until we found each other. We felt different from other girls and we became best friends. We were inseparable through high school, kinda like sisters we did everything together". She says wistfully". "When I left to go to Uni we promised to stay in touch, and we have, but there are some things unresolved. We didn't part well."

You are surprised that Rachel told you so much. She has barely said anything about Katie previously.

"You got a picture of Katie on there?" You ask.

Rachel quickly gets a photo of her and Katie on the Laptop's screen. The picture is a couple of years old you can tell, but you get a good view of Rachel and her previously faceless friend.