I steeled myself. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you any more.”

America looked up at me, her face stricken. “But, I thought we were friends.”

We’re not friends… I’m just the poor fool who happened to fall in love with you. That’s what I wanted to say though I’m sure on some level she knew it. Instead of telling her the whole truth, heartless words trickled out of my mouth. “Yeah, I know.”

She swallowed and I could tell she was choosing her words far more carefully than I was. “You and I are still the same people, so what has changed?”

Part of the problem was that both of us were still the same people. I still loved her and she still didn’t love me. It was long past time to go.

Those thoughts died on my tongue. Tears began clouding her eyes and triggered a bevy of emotions inside of me. A woman in need of comfort summoned the chivalrous part of me that needed to help her. That White Knight warred with the part of myself that was trying to save my sanity, all while a guilty part of me looked on in silence.