"So this is your place," i said, when we stepped below the high ceilings of his practically 100% marble house.

"Yes," Kris said, "and its pretty damn empty!"

"The best part," siri added as she stepped up beside me.

It was 9pm.  We headed straight for the living room, set oddly with two seperate circles of overstuffed couches, and all three of us flopped down into one of them. It had been a tough journey to his house, isolated in a huge estate of huge houses with equally huge pools and gardens, way past the sphynx, the pyramids, and almost all other civilization around.

I got to Siri's house just before seven, and the obvious tension in the room - created by the electricity Kris and i naturally pointed at each other - didn't help my late arrival. We discussed how to get alcohol for such a rare night, and wound up leaving only 10 minutes after my arrival, to begin a twisted journey to the guarana estate.

First, we took a cab from siri's neighborhood to a place called dokki, pretty close by. And the three of us, being the only foreigners on a downtown street full of horny locals, got a lot of unwanted attention as we spent almost half an hour travelling down the long highway, lined with shops, to find Drinkies - the only chain of shops in all of egypt that sold alcohol and nothing else. Kris had promised us it would be around here, and we were growing more and more irritated by the lack of success.

She had already bought a few bottles before we came, but we knew we would need more. We had to cut our losses and give up, and started the even more difficult task of finding a cab willing to get us from Dokki, way past the pyramids to Guarana. Most of them turned us down, until a smitten local offered to help and found us a brokedown cab, as broke down as 95 percent of the black and white cabs were in cairo. While siri and i pushed into the back seat, amused by the hour we had killed just by wandering around in search of Drinkies, and later, standing in the middle of the highway trying to hail a cab.

It got worse. Kris glowered at us because he had to sit in the passenger seat, next to the cab driver with the serious BO problem. It got worse when the cab almost stopped moving, and he had to find people on the street to help him push the car into motion again. He stopped at a gas station, and while we were waiting for the fill-up, Kris's door swung open at its own will and refused to shut itself again. The driver leaned all the way over Kris, so that his expanse of stomach was pressed against his chest, as he tried to fix the door. Siri and i couldn't help bursting into laughter. He had turned to us and given us a long-suffering look, and the situation only became more hilarious when the driver started laughing with us - his bad breath misting over Kris's face.

It took almost an hour to get all the way to the guarana estate, and once we did, the cab driver refused to go inside and take us to Kris's house, also demanding double the usual rate because we're foreigners.

We wound up walking another 20 minutes through the eerily silent and dark maze of mansions behind high walls, as night-guards sitting at their posts gave us leery grins whenever we passed them. Then, Kris realized he forgot his gate key and climbed up the 14-foot gate to get inside, convincing us to do the same. Siri simply turned the handle on the gate and realized it was already open.

It was a damn relief to be inside his house after all that, with our booze, our music, our air conditioning and each other.

"I cant believe your parents would leave their 16 year old boy in a house like this for three days!" i said, basking in the luxury of an open house.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome," he bragged, stretching out further on the couch. "They expect me to be, like, a friggin angel. They can even see the halo. So i usually get stuck here alone, doing whatever i want."

"It's only cause he has such a pretty face," siri cooed, and he gave her a warning look.

"Pretty? How dare you name me a pretty boy! You and your nicely-masked insults!"

"Insult?" Siri placed a hand on her hip, amused.

"He basically thinks you're calling him a fag. And in a way i dont blame you for thinking that."

He gave us smouldering looks. "Assholes."

"Okay, now, dont start off the evening being miserable," siri said. "Show us the house."

He took us to the guest room, and then to the kitchen. "There's like... no food in this house right now. But there's plenty of alcohol."

He showed us his bedroom, and we laughed over the deep blue of his duvet cover that was covered in embroidered yellow flowers. "Are you serious?" i asked.

"My mom designed this room, ok? That's why there's yellow flowers everywhere. I swear, if i trust her with another goddamn room make over, everything will turn out pink."

We observed the yellow flowers on the wallpaper, and walked out onto his balcony, where we could get a slightly better view of the garden. After obsessing over how he managed to get his own private patch of grass in a place like we were, he sighed with boredom and said: "How long until we get drunk, god damnit?"

 I remember smiling happily and wondering what could be better than an empty house with my two best friends and now empty bottles of vodka pops. At that time, nothing could compare. The three of us had a friend-chemistry that wouldnt work within any other combination of the seven people in our group. When it was all of us together, yes, we had our own charm and our own happiness at being accumulated in a circle where we belonged - but there was something special about the trio we were. Suddenly, when i remember all of this and look at my life now, i wonder where my youth has gone. In time, when all the memoirs of 2008 come out, i think everybody who reads will know why and how it disappeared so quickly.

After all the alcohol had been chugged by the three teenagers, rendered powerless and potato-like on the couch, we sat around waiting for it take effect. Siri was naturally more tolerant to the stuff, and Kris, being male, was naturally more tolerant than i was, so i guess i was feeling the effect the most at the time. Kris put on a rock CD - eighties rock, he said. We head banged, we laughed, we clung to each other to keep from falling, we got into giddy group hugs and blurted out random words of appreciation towards god for giving us such an opportunity tonight, and when siri's phone rang, she saw that it was her boyfriend dani calling from the army and jumped with excitement.

"Order pizza while i take this call you retards, i'm starving."

Kris obeyed, and i watched as he had to repeat his address and his order four times - yes, the alcohol was starting to set in, we both thought pleasurably. When he was done, he slammed the phone down and sighed hard. "Gosh! Damned egyptians! It's impossible for them to understand anything over the phone! you'd think his brain was upside down. 'Eh, am sorri meester, bot can uh youuu uh pleazze repeate that forr me?' Jesus."

I broke into laughter and for a moment we listened to siri's voice from upstairs.

"She's gonna be on the phone for a while," i said, "so how about we do a disappearing act outside?"

"I like the way you think, womenz." We exchanged a smile.

We felt the world sway when we stood, and i stumbled towards the patio doors. But as i was opening the door, i felt something crash into my back, and it turned out to be Kris. I felt something rip my side, and it turned out to be the steel door handle's harsh edge that did it.

"Gosh, woman! See what happens when you make me drink too much!" he growled playfully

"Fuck!" i hissed, seeing a thin line of blood escape the stinging scratch.

"What?" he demanded. "What is it?"

Kris apologized countless times, giving me that threatened, vulnerable, please-dont-castrate-me look, and when he realized i was bleeding, he pulled off his own t-shirt and kneeled on the ground before me.

"What are you doing?"

"Staunching it," he said, and he pressed his bundled t-shirt into my side. I was surprised and delighted by the obvious display of care, and smiled down at him as he allowed my blood to seep into his t-shirt.

"Is it ok?" i asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said gently. I had never heard four words being spoken so gently before that moment, and the feelings i had for him only swelled in my chest.

And we stayed like that for a while, our heads floating with the liquor that had caused it, in our own, peaceful, silent little bubble. It didn't take long for the bleeding to stop, and when it did, he smiled up at me - the view took my breath away. God, i could have sworn i adored him.

"Hey," he said, before standing, "what's this?" he ran his finger over the cigarette burn that still marrs my side.

"It's nothing," i said tensely, and he stood. I was surprise that he even replaced his shirt. For a moment, he gazed at the bloodstain on his shirt. He ran his fingertips over it. And i knew exactly what it meant, and i knew for sure that my feelings were reciprocated.

 Siri returned shortly after, and if she noticed the bloodstains, she didn't question why they were there. Kris turned on the patio lights, as well as all the ornamental outdoor lights, paired up with all the date palms on his huge square of grass, and siri and i took one look at the pool and gave each other knowing looks.

"You thinking what i'm thinking?" She asked me.

"Only if you're thinking it's time to pull another elmo's house stunt."

Elmo's house had a waist-deep cooling pool in the basement - strange placement but it was pretty cool. One day, while the group, minus skander because he's too much of a nut to spend enough time with us, and minus Kris (this was way back in september of 2007, when Kris and siri and i were becoming a unit, but he hadn't completely fit into the rest of the group yet) sat around discussing cars and aeroplanes and business and siri and i were bored, we took one look at elmo's pool and knew what we had to do to turn the day into something more interesting. As they lazed in the seating area next to the indoor pool, siri and i disappeared into the back, stripped down into our underwear, and plunged inside. The way the conversation came to a fast halt was hilarious. Within seconds, they were rushing through the house finding elmo's extra swimsuits, and eager to join us.

There was no hesitation. Siri and i pulled the doors open, got to the pool, and took our clothes off.

"Nice get-up," siri said, reffering to my matching underwear. Within moments we dived into the pool. We should have been shocked by the cold, but we were drunk enough not to feel it. By the time Kris came out, he was wearing his swim trunks and ready to jump in with us. We swam around each other, we laughed, we called out into the silent sky, and we were liberated from whatever stress the three of us held on our backs - siri's boyfriend being in the army, my boyfriend being almost non-existent, and... i guess Kris never took anything seriously enough to have any stress.

At one point, when Kris and i were in the pool together, holding each other close to ward off the cold, i felt something against my leg and knew exactly what it was. The desire was unmentionable, as well as unmistakable. We both felt it and we were both being driven by it.

The night continued in a wave of drunkenness and desire - we went wild, going from the pool to the living room to the pool to the grass outside, and as the three of us sprawled out in it, we forgot every care and every worry, living in the perfect moment.

Because of the radiant moisturizer i'd put on, siri touched me once and was suddenly curious. "Why do you feel like a snail, lynn?"

"Moisturizer got wet in the pool, i guess."

"Kris," siri said, placing a suggestive hand on my thigh, "feel her. She's all slimy."

He sat up and looked at me. He placed his hand on my hip, and all of a sudden, his hand was moving slowly upwards, over the outward curve of my hip and sharply inwards to the curve of my waist. The look on his face was of discovery, as if he was seeing and feeling something for the first time, and he was dazzled by it. When he got to my ribs, siri pushed his hand away.

"Control yourself, you idiot. She's my bitch."

After Kris made another stupid joke, i asked the question i'd intended to ask for the entire week. "Why dont you just tell the truth for once? None of us know who you really are, man."

"I have no truths to tell besides the ones i already do, woman." he turned his head and looked at me. "Dude," he began, and he broke into laughter, "if i knew who i was i would have told you months ago."

We all started laughing, and contiued to gaze at the date palms that stretched towards the sky.

"I dare one of you to climb one of those," siri said, and we all got up to try and do it.

We began another phase - going from date palm to date palm, determined to reach the clusters of leaves that burst above our heads. And then, at the slightest warning of sobriety, Kris took us by our hands and led us to the kitchen, where he revealed a large case of beer cans. "There. No worries now, just drink up."

We chugged them as fast as we could, and when the pizza came, the three of us answered the door, wearing nothing but underwear and towels. The poor delivery boy's eyes went from Siri's legs, to Kris's bare chest, to my face, over and over, and his hands shook when he sifted through a wad of cash to give us change.

While shoving pizza and coke into our mouths, Kris revealed a half-full bottle of pure russian vodka, and siri and i went straight for it. Somehow, in the middle of the shots we took, siri pulled me towards her and kissed me. I had never kissed a girl before, but siri and i had always teased the guys with flirtatious looks and suggestive touching. I immediately got into it and when i pulled away, we remembered Kris and saw him standing there, jaw dropped.

"You taste like coke," i merely observed. "yummy."

The three of us couldn't help but laugh.

The night took a complete turn after that kiss. It became something much more red-light. Siri unhooked my bra while i was swaying in my spot beside Kris on the couch, and when i gasped in shock, she said simply:

"You look so much better without it, Lynn."

As i struggled to get it back while trying to cover my chest, she flung it across the room to Kris. "Enjoy the view," she said. "you'll thank me later."

I was so drunk i couldn't really care, but demanded that we all go topless just to make it fair. It really had turned wilder than usual. Alcohol had a way of getting the truth out of people, because i sat down next to Kris and nestled into his chest, and while i did so, Siri pressed her mouth against Kris's lips. When i look up and saw it, i was enflamed with jealousy, and Kris almost instantly pulled away upon feeling my head lift to his level. None of us had seemed to notice the fact that siri was in a relationship already, and it was completely wrong.

But he placed his hand on my face as siri leaned over us, and in an instant, our lips were locked. It was strange how it happened so casually, but once we started, we simply couldn't stop. The electricity and the sparks it invoked were just too hard to resist. He tangled one hand in my long hair while the other was on my neck, and my jaw, and my cheek. I ravaged him and he ravaged me. Once or twice his joker side came out again and he said "This is so messed up," but if i tried to pull away at a comment like that, the hand in my hair would press my face back into place.

We only stopped when siri started a panic attack. Whether it was real or not, it didnt really matter. She had had a lot of vodka, and she was panting, holding her head in her hands, mumbling that they were gonna kill her boyfriend in the army.

We took her upstairs for a while and placed her under the covers in Kris's bed, using our body heat to stop the shivering. It took nearly half an hour, but when Siri came back to her senses, she brought the duvet downstairs and fell asleep on the couch.

"So it's finished," he said. "Finally."

"What the hell were you thinking, telling her to finish the bottle?"

"Hey, she told me she could control her booze, ok?"

"Yeah sure, but not five shots after a ton of beer! That's enough to make anybody go crazy!"

"Well i didnt know she'd have a friggin panic attack, ok woman?"

I sighed. "Whatever. Looks like she'll be sleeping all night."

When i turned from Siri's face to look at Kris, i found himstaring. For a moment, no words were passed. He just watched me with his grey-blue eyes and i stared back. God, the cat was so out of the bag it wasn't even funny. We were on the edge of something big.

"Lynn," he said anticipatively, "how long until sunrise?"

I searched for Siri's wrist under the covers, and when i found it, her silver watch gave me the time. "About six hours."

He took Siri's wrist from me. "12:45 am. Not bad." He looked at me, with that mischievous, scheming expression. "You ready to stay up all night, until the sun comes up all grouchy and demands to put us into bed?"

"Hell yeah," i grinned. "I'll chug beer to that."

Nothing could possibly have been better than that.

We shared beer from the same can. We sat on opposite sides of the couch. For a while we just listened to music as we made a senseless game out of throwing a chinese pillow back and forth at each other. My aim was to make him fling it at me - he simply made the pillow bounce from his fingertips and land softly in my lap, accompanying his blows with a strange sound that i could liken to that of a piglet being stepped on. No matter how hard i threw it at him, he wouldn't take the bait, and simply bounced it back at me.

We killed an hour and a half with a full-blown pillow fight and later a session of relaxation on the floor. I was finally in my pyjamas - a pair of velvet purple pyjama pants and a short midriff top to go with it. He had replaced his bloodstained shirt. We talked, him sprawled on the sofa, me sitting on the floor, leaning back on the said sofa with beer in my hand. We talked the night away about anything and everything. We were burnt out after the pillow fight that had begun with small chinese pillows and ended with us hauling the sofa cushions from their places, to attack each other with. Now, after a truce, it was time to relax.

And then, we started talking about Skander.

"I cant believe he didnt screw you," he said, shaking his head. "I cant imagine a guy in the world who wouldn't agree to satisfy your needs, if you were on a bed with him and even mentioned the word sex."

I laughed. "I know right? I always had a high libido. And whenever he was in my bed, all we did was touch, and then endure him crying, and then touch again, and then i'd have to sit through his singing and his out-loud fantasies of our first time without ever taking any action. I swear i could have raped him."

"Oh please. Skandy? Bad idea woman. He'd press charges on you while others would ask for more."

"God. I dont know how i lasted so long without jumping him. Somehow it feels like i was always the man in that relationship."

"Well poor you, then," he said. "See that's the problem with relationships. You never get satisfaction. It's always a trial. Man, when the time comes for me, i'll make sure i'm with someone who's as much of a sexpot as i am."

We were being assholes, i know. but we were drunk. Excuse our vile talk.

I laughed. "When the time comes?"

"You know me. I'm not there yet. You saw what happened with siri... it takes a hell of a girl.. and the right one. Otherwise.. i cant do that. I cant deal with a girl. They're a waste of time... and money for that matter."

I should have taken the signs. But i didnt care. We both knew what existed beneath all the easy words.

"Watch your mouth!" i growled. "Nowdays, couples split the bills!"

"Still." he said.

"Well, thats probably why you're so damn inexperienced." I said.

"Oh hell yes. I'm totally inexperienced."

Our conversation continued until he stood and promptly said "Hey, lets go for a swiiiiim!"

"Okay!" The clothes slipped off, and in seconds we were racing through the doors and diving into the pool. The temperature was impossible to deal with, as sobriety was getting to us enough to awaken our minds, our rationality... and our nervous systems. He pulled me into his arms, trying to warm me up, but we began shivering violently together and had no choice but to get out of the water. I picked up a beach towel that was sprawled across the floor, and he lay down on one side of the couch while i curled up on the other. We listened to music. We talked the way we always did - with lots of ease and lots of laughter. Stick us in a room, and within ten seconds that room would be filled with laughter. We enjoyed being with each other more than we enjoyed anything else, and that much had always been obvious to us. We were simply bound, by friendship as well as something much deeper than that.

"Hey lynn... Lynnn... are you getting sleepy on me?"

Yes... i was... my head was dropping and i was beginning to dream.

"What the hell... come on, girl, wake up." He grabbed my ankle and shook my leg hard.

"Huh? Yeah, i'm awake, i'm awake. God i could drop dead right now."

"Well don't." he said, as he leaned over to grab the can of beer. "What am i supposed to do with two sleeping girls?"

I gave him a suggestive look and he handed me the beer. The cold, sharp fizz brought me back to life, and he took the beer from my lap and placed it on the ground for me. I was watching him, and when he looked at me, he gave me a genuine smile. I smiled back, and something incredible passed between us. I couldn't explain what it was back then, and today i cant, either.

"You're shivering," i observed.

"Yeah. Well. I am topless. And wet. And in an air conditioned room."

I smiled and leaned over to drape my towel over him, but when i was about to return to my place, he pulled me down on top of his chest. I couldn't be happier that he did, and i rested my head beneath his chin, hearing his heart beat from the ear that was on his collarbone. I waited for his shivering to cease, but didn't move from him when it did. Something extraordinary was happening. My right hand, which had been on his chest, was suddenly in both of his hands, caressed and squeezed and played with. The bliss was exquisite, and i closed my eyes.

"What do you think is gonna happen with skander now?" he asked me. His voice rumbled in his chest.

"Who knows?" i said. "Apparently i'm still his girl.. we're just on a break."

"Duh, woman. You told me that before. It can't stay like that forever though. I mean, what the hell are you supposed to do for the rest of your life as his girl on a break?"

I scoffed. "Oh please. All i know is that i hate being yelled at and i hate being dominated. I get enough of it already so i dont need any more from him. And you've been with me this whole time, you saw how it was."

"Always late, never around, always busy, and still a controlling ass," he said. "Yeah, i know."

"He even wanted to come tonight, to give me some supervision."

"From what though?" he asked.

"I'm not sure... he hates siri, and that of course never helps. Maybe the whole idea of the three of us being so close bothers him too. Maybe the idea of us drinking, partying, hanging out all night alone in an empty house.. gave him the idea that i would. i dunno. Need his supervision."

For a while, he was quiet. But he still played with my right hand, sometimes using one of them to rake his fingers through my hair.

"Maybe," i began, propping myself up, "he thought i would be unfaithful."

Our eyes met.

"Maybe.." Kris said. "He was right."

The eye contact didnt break. I gaped at him, surprised by how easily he admitted it.

"Come on, Lynn," he said. "How long do you think we'd keep denying it for?"

Suddenly, it became known to both of us in the same instant that his playful mask had been peeled away. It happened so quickly we missed it when it did, but the fact was, i looked at the real kris, and the real Kris looked back at me. for the first time, there were no jokes and no suggestive, perverted connotations and no sarcastic comments left in him to use.

"God..." he said. "Who the hell am i?"

"You're Kris. That's all."

He felt for my lips and pressed himself against them, and so much understanding passed from me to him that all of a sudden, there was no need to hide. His hands slid up my back, while mine slid over his chest. His hands raked through my hair, while my hand slipped around his neck. The kisses grew stronger and deeper. The desire swelled into an intimate wave. We communicated without words. For the moment, we could see inside each other. We knew everything we had and everything that we were.

Sure, we would sometimes glare at each other, sometimes hate each other, sometimes push each other's buttons or blame each other for having such a pathetic friendship - one that consisted of sitting next to each other and exchanging insults and sarcasm and inside jokes. But it was all just a small part of something much, much bigger. Sure, we pretended we hated each other, or we pretended we appeared hideous to each other. Sometimes i would call him a lousy friend or an idiot. But that was all to cover up the intense and illegal sexual drive that plagued us and simply couldn't leave us alone, and would not until we cut off all strings attatched.

And then the music stopped. His tongue withdrew from my mouth. We looked about ourselves, rediscovering the room.

"Looks like the CD played itself out." he said.

"Yeah."

"Should i go and.. change it?"

"Are you sure you want to move?"

He gave me one look and shook his head. "No way."

We grew more daring and more passionate. I rested my head on his chest as he figured out how to undo my bra strap, and when he did, i pulled it off and dropped it to the ground beside us. It became more than just a kiss. We moved faster than either had before. The first time skander had ever seen my bare chest, he quivered as he approached what he'd just uncovered. It was awkward and timed and acted out. But here we were on a sofa, almost sober, in each others arms, and everything happened so naturally it was addictive. I fell in love with reality and all its bad and its good, simply because it was so real. We were the only two people on earth. And right then, that was the best the earth could have ever offered.

But soon, as things moved further, it became apparent that we weren't the only two. Kris looked across the room to siri's sleeping form on the couch and he knew that if she woke up she'd be seeing something she shouldn't.

"Wanna go upstairs?" He asked me in his gentle voice.

I redid my bra. We tiptoed up the steps. All of a sudden i was incredibly self conscious, but when we got to his room, he kissed me, and walked me backwards towards the bed as he did. I flopped onto the mattress on my back and we giggled as we kissed. Things got very far - further than i ever had with skander. The only sounds in the room were of heavy breathing.

"What do you want?" he whispered into my ear.

"You," i whispered back.

"That's the only thing i want right now," he said. We both knew what we wanted and what we needed, but we tore apart the house looking for a condom and came up with nothing. I lay in the bed waiting as he tore apart his sisters' bedrooms, and eventually he gave up and returned.

He grabbed both of my knees, pulled them apart, and lay on top of me. "Nothing," he said, pressing his nose against mine. "Damnit."

"Yeah," i said, "That's too bad. There's always next time, though."

"mmm," he replied affectionately, burying into the nape of my neck. We could barely register where we had gotten ourselves to, but there was no reason to stop such natural desires. We became entangled again, and once again, the bra was off, as he said "who needs bras, anyway?"

We merged into one being for a while. And for a while, we were happy to kiss, grind, and wrap our arms around each other. By that point, we had hit all the bases but the home run. I was dazzled by how far we'd gotten in one night, where skander took six months to get most of it done. It could have been a good thing, or a bad thing, but at least right then, he had said, we would rather be there, in each other's arms, skin on skin, than we would be anywhere else in the world.

Simply put, we had fallen in love. And right then, we both had the awareness in us to know it. Whether it would remain until morning was not on our minds. All i knew is that he was changing me, at record speeds, and all i could do was ride change with him.

And as we tangled up in each other, half dressed and heated and intoxicated with the emotions that he had previously scorned, as the room filled with our heavy breathing, and our legs became entangled and whatever clothes still remained on our bodies was pushed out of place, we heard footsteps from the bedroom. For a few seconds, it hadn't registered in my mind that someone else was in the room with us, we were so wrapped up in each other. But when i opened my eyes, i was looking directly into siri's. All movement stopped. Kris froze in his place above me. He turned around. We watched siri walk numbly towards us, clad only in a t-shirt, and sit on the edge of the bed beside us. For a moment nothing happened - nobody moved and nobody spoke. But then we knew it was time to untangle, and time to zip up the swim shorts, and time to find the bra that lay somewhere on the bed. All of a sudden, the bubble had been burst, and whatever we knew while we were inside it, now became a total mystery.

"Siri..." i said, as i sat up and watched her.

"Fuck you both," she said, and she crawled into Kris's bed, as if ready to sleep.

Kris and i exchanged a look. We were questioning what had just happened, not with siri but with each other.

It's not many people who can take a life-changing event and make it into something real for people reading it, Lynn. But somehow, you have done just that. While reading your post, I was reminded of how it was when my husband and I first got together; it was very similar, emotionally, to what you have written about with Kris. We've been together 14 years, and married for nearly 12 of those years. When it's right, it's right...

I completely agree with you, holly :) When it's right, it's right. With kris, it definitely wasn't right. It wasn't right for the rest of our lives, but it was for a certain period - and within the time that we spent in close proximity we changed each other's paths immensely, pushing them further away from each other, but pushing them also in the right direction. He put me on a path to wessam and i put him on a path to maturity and self discovery. It's funny how life seems to work itself out and how fate seems to have such a huge hand on us. Everything we go through, all the bad experiences and all the good ones, happen for a reason - they happen to bring us to the place where we're meant to be.