Beep! Beep! Beep...

The sound of an alarm clock going off.

A small slender hand comes from under bed covers, trying valiantly but failing to stop the noise.

Groaning Gwen Thorne sat up blinking at the brightness of the sun streaming into her bedroom.

Sighing she reached her hand and finally stopped the clock.

"I can't believe it's morning already", she says to no one, as she was alone.

ALONE, LONELY, that pretty much sums up her life.

Sure, she had friends, a brother, an aunt, but at night when she got home there was no one to greet her or share her burdens of the day with. When she got into bed she was indeed alone.

Sighing again, she got up headed to the bathroom, did her morning rituals and made her way into the kitchen.

She put the kettle on to make some tea as she hated coffee.

"I think some tea would perk me up," she said.

The telephone rang and she grumbled when she saw the caller I.D.

"Hi Morgs," she greeted her best friend.

"Hi Gwen, how are you this morning?" Morganna chirruped.

"I'm quite well thank you. Why are you in such a chipper mood so early?" Gwen asked.

Morganna could tell that her friend was not in the best of moods yet, so she tried to calm her excitement down a notch.

"Well my brother Arthur is arriving today after spending three years away from home. He was away in America studying and I am excited that he is coming home for good," she stated.

"That is great Morgs, I'm really happy for you and your dad. I bet Uther will be glad to have him back," Gwen said.

"Yes he has been waiting for this day to come.

He wants to teach Arthur about running the company, so that he can take over one day when he retires," Morganna said.

"I'm so happy for Uther, he must be really proud," Gwen said.

Morganna detected a sad note in her friend's voice.

Gwen had lost both her parents, her mum when she was three and her dad when she was eighteen and just started studying.

"Yes dad is very proud of Arthur.

I think you should come over later tonight because you haven't really met my brother properly.

He'll be thrilled to meet you.

I have told him all about you, but I think he believes that I have an imaginary friend called Gwen.

He ribs me by saying why would someone so nice want to hang out with me and Merlin," Morganna said.

Gwen hesitated with her answer for a couple of seconds.

"I don't know Morgs, I wouldn't want to intrude on your family reunion.

I don't know if your dad would appreciate that I crashed a family event as special as this," Gwen calmly stated.

"Nonsense Gwennie," Morganna said, using her college nickname for Gwen.

"Uther loves you like you are his daughter, he won't mind at all," she said excitedly.

"Merlin will be there, he and Arthur are best buds, so it won't just be family,"she said trying to convince her.

Gwen didn't want to disappoint her friend.

Morganna seemed so adamant for her to come to her house and be with her family on this special night that Gwen didn't have the heart to say no.

"Okay Morgs, what time should I be there and what do I wear?" Gwen asked tentatively.

"Well, we will be having dinner to mark this occasion and Arthur might be a bit tired so dinner will be early.

So I'd say about six o'clock would be great to come by, that way we could have a few drinks before dinner and get a nice conversation going," Morganna said.

"Oh and you can wear a nice comfortable dress, like that peach off the shoulder one, that would be perfect," Morganna blurted.

The wheels started to turn in Gwen's head.

She knew her friend thought she was lonely, but she wouldn't try anything would she … yes she would.

Morganna would try to fix her up with her brother Gwen just knew it.

'I'll have to be on my guard for Morganna tonight,' she thought to herself.

"Okay Morgs, I will, shall I bring anything with me?" Gwen asked.

"You're so kind best friend, but everything is covered, just bring your beautiful, bubbly self and your wonderful, witty personality and that is all.

I'll see you at six then, have a great day," Morganna said.

"Thank you, bye Morgs and happy day to you too," Gwen just got in as she heard the click of the phone being hung up.

'My crazy best friend, what are you up to,' Gwen thought.

The sound of the kettle startled her out of her thoughts and she proceeded to make her tea.

At twenty-three years old she had accomplished much thus far.

She graduated top of her high school class and gained a scholarship to the University of West London. There she gained a BSc (Hons) Applied Sound Engineering, where the key strength of this course is the blend of traditional music technology and engineering related subjects.

She also studied acting at Queen Margaret University and she owned a music store, where she sells instruments, books and music cds of all types.

None of these things brought her the happiness she was looking for.

She was very grateful for all that she achieved, but something was missing.

She recalled some of the happiest times of her life studying at both universities, where she met some of her closest friends.

She can remember the nights hanging out in her room, or sometimes her best friends Merlin and Morganna's rooms, just having fun.

When Morganna had a date, which was pretty regular, she and Merlin would hang out and watch their favourite shows and pig out on junk food.

She and Merlin never really went out on dates, and that was mostly because, he was still hung up on his past love and she, well, guys hardly get close enough to ask her out and if one did, she was always too 'busy' to go.

This was all due to a bad break up with her ex- boyfriend Lance Cruz.

Her life was hectic she couldn't dispute that.

She was either in the music studio where she worked part time three days a week, or, she was in her store the other four days depending on how she felt.

Unknown to Gwen, her activities didn't go un-noticed by her two friends, they were taking special interest in her day to day life and both came up with the same thought,

she was lonely and they needed to' help' her out.

After taking a long, hot shower, Gwen set about getting ready.

She chose a pink strapless shirt with a knot pattern at the bust area and a white Capri pants and white ballet flats as her outfit for work.

She brushed her long, wild curls trying to tame them as best she can.

As usual, her hair wouldn't co-operate and she just sprayed some holding spray on it and hoped it would behave.

She decided that she didn't want any make- up, she rarely does anyway, and settled for cherry lip- gloss instead.

She pasted a smile on her lovely face and made her way over to her store, which was just on the other side of the street where she lives.

The morning wore on, with just a few neighbours dropping in to say hello to her as they go about their daily business.

The telephone rang startling Gwen and for the second time that morning, Gwen frowned at the caller.

'Why is he calling me,' she thought to herself.

She hesitated once more before she answered on the fifth ring.

"Hello, Music 'n' More, Gwen speaking, how can I assist you?" she answered, pretending that she didn't know who was calling.

"Hi," the person on the other line said.

"This is Lance, how are you?

I wanted to call and see how you were doing as I've just returned home from France." Gwen rolled her beautiful almond shaped, brown eyes.

"I am well, thank you," she said.

"How was France?" she asked.

"I hope it was all you expected," she continued sarcastically.

The fancy-taking Lance had decided to leave their relationship of one and a half years to go to France on a job attachment that he had applied for on line.

He didn't give Gwen a chance to really think about it after springing it on her over dinner one night.

He left the next week after a very big argument with her and this is the first time in over a year that she has heard from him.

"France was great, the job was okay, but I missed home and I missed...you, so I decided that I should come home and see if I could make amends in regards to our relationship," he said.

Gwen could hear the hope in his voice, but she was beginning to get very angry with him.

"Relationship! relationship! What in heaven's name are you speaking about Lance?" she shouted.

"You threw all that we had away.

You didn't even consider that I might have wanted to go with you, even if it was to see you settled and maybe visit afterwards. You made your plans for your life and left me in the dark.

This was a mistake in you calling me, everything that was between us is gone and that will never change.

Goodbye Lance and have a nice day, because you've certainly ruined mine," she shouted.

Before she could hang up, Lance spoke calmly saying,

"I'll give you some time to calm down Gwen and then maybe we could talk again."

Anger boiled in Gwen.

"You have some nerve Lance.

I take back what I said to you about having a nice day, have a rotten one instead," she screamed,

and proceeded to slam the receiver down.

.