The Death of a Friend

Author's Note: Once again, this story was beta-ed by the brilliant Summer! :D

You may ask, "Why is she writing this story when she has yet to update her other one?"

Well the answer to that is: I. DON'T. FEEL. LIKE. IT. Hehe, I'm evil, right?

As I wrote my other story, I realized that I don't like writing in first person POV. So, from now on, all my stories will be in third person. It's less confusing that way, I guess. Enjoy this one-shot!

Disclaimer: I do not own the 39 Clues, Chanel, or La Leche.

It all started on a frigid autumn evening in New York. Ian Kabra and Amy Cahill had made amends and were now friends. Or so they thought.

Ian was in the elevator of Amy's apartment building, going up to her penthouse. It was odd seeing Amy so wealthy, since as a teenager, he had been so used to her being poor.

With a marble floor and golden walls, the elevator was a work of art. The floor was streaked with gold and the walls were intricately designed with swirling floral patterns. If the elevator is this decorated, I can't wait to see Amy's penthouse, Ian mused to himself.

Ding! The doors opened to reveal an excited looking copper-haired girl.

"Ian! I'm so glad you could make it!" Amy cried as she threw her arms around his neck. That is what a friend would do, right? She asked herself.

"Well, now I'm glad I could make it too," Ian replied with a hint of innuendo creeping into his voice.

Amy then stepped back with a slight pink tinge on her cheeks. She obviously caught on to that little detail.

"So… Um, what's new?" she asked awkwardly.

"Can I, er, come in?"

Amy's eyes widened in surprise, just realizing that Ian was still standing in the path of the elevator doors. She stepped to the side to let Ian come in.

As Ian took in his surroundings, he realized that her apartment was… magnificently beautiful, even with his high standards. It was simply just too hard to put into words. Amy has some taste after all, Ian thought to himself.

"Oh! You were asking me what was new before! Well, er, I don't really know how to put this…" Ian trailed off.

"What? Geez, Ian, you're filling me with anticipation here!" Amy teasingly said.

Oh dear, she's thinking it's some surprise for her, Ian thought.

"Um, Ihaveagirlfriend," Ian speedily replied, so quickly that it all blended into one word. He let out a huge breath.

Amy, being used to Dan talking like this, ignored the little tug at her heart and smiled.

"Really? That's… great! What's she like?"

"Oh, you two would be great friends if you met. Her name is Meredith Blackwood," Ian began. Once he started, he couldn't seem to stop. "She has curly caramel-brown hair and bright green eyes. They're like yours, but a darker shade. She's smart and has a sarcastic sense of humor. My mother and father approve of her because she is from a wealthy Lucian family. Meredith is very outgoing and talkative, but she has a caring side. She also has three-" Amy cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"I don't need to know her whole life story, Ian," she said with a forced chuckle.

"Well, that was only a small part of her life," Ian contradicted.

"Touché," Amy replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Since we're still on the topic of Meredith, you should know that I have a date with her tonight!"

"Wow! That's wonderful, Ian!" Amy exclaimed with obvious fake enthusiasm.

Ian, however, seemed totally oblivious to this fact.

"That reminds me," Ian said, glancing at his watch. "I should start preparing for my date tonight,"

"But it's only 2:30," Amy said with a questioning look on her face.

"I made appointments for my hair and make- Oh! I really should get going!" he told her, already heading for the elevator.

"You haven't even seen the rest of my apartment yet!" shecalled.

"Maybe next week? Same day, same time?" Ian called over his shoulder.

"Um, s-sure!" Amy said in a tight voice.

"OK, great! See you later!" he said just as the elevator doors closed.

"Right. See you," she said to no one.

One week later…

"My date with Meredith went great!" Ian exclaimed as soon as he stepped out of the elevator.

"Can I see a picture of Meredith?" Amy asked, ignoring his comment completely.

"Sure!" he exclaimed, once again, with a huge grin on his face that rivaled the sun. "Here she is,"

Amy gasped. The girl in the picture was breath-taking. Meredith made Amy look like some mangy cat that someone found lying in the street. Of course, Amy thought. Only the best for a Kabra.

"Wow, she sure is something," she said.

"Isn't she? As I was saying before, my date went great! We went to La Leche*, a fancy Mexican restaurant. Then we went for a stroll through Central Park and just… talked. We just have so much in common!"

Amy listened to him ramble on like this week after week. Each time, the speech was more painful to listen to.

But she stayed strong.

At least, in front of him.

Every night, when Amy was in bed, she cried herself to sleep. Inwardly, she smacked herself for caring so much about Ian and his girlfriends, but it was inevitable.

She was still in love with him.

The description of Ian's dates became increasingly more romantic. A giant knot had settled in the pit of Amy's stomach that she just couldn't escape.

One day, it became too much.

It was almost two years after Ian had first started dating Meredith. Two years of a slow, painful torture. It was probably the worst torture anyone could ever experience. It was even worse than all the Lucian tortures. Amy silently wondered how she knew this when she herself had not faced any.

Little did Amy, know that the worst was yet to come. After Ian had finished his daily date speech, seeming more giddy than usual, he began something else.

"So I asked Meredith to marry me last night," he said casually.

"Go on," Amy urged, pursing her lips and bracing herself for the answer to come next.

"AND SHE SAID YES!" he shouted.

"Th-th-that's… G-great. I'm so happy for you," Amy said, clearly meaning the opposite. Ian, however, did not let that dampen his mood.

"I'll definitely invite you to our wedding! I might not be able to make our weekly meetings because of the wedding preparations, so don't expect me back for, er, a couple months," Ian sheepishly said, while literally prancing to the elevator.

"Oh, um, take all the time you need! This is a very big thing!" Amy replied with a wistful smile on her face.

"Thank you so much for understanding! Good-bye now!" Ian called.

And with that, came the emotional breakdown. Since Amy was Amy, she kept all those horribly depressing emotions bottled up. When Ian wasn't around, she became a shell of what she once was. Every day, she slowly died a little more. Not physically, but mentally. Yet she still powered along, only staying sane for Dan's sake.

Ian Kabra and Meredith Blackwood

Cordially invite:

Amy Cahill,

To their wedding which is set to be

On:

Wednesday, March 15, 2011

At:

St. Mark's Church at 2:00 PM.

The reception will follow immediately after at the La Leche* restaurant

Only since Ian was expecting her to be there, just as a friend, she went. Dressed in her finest dark blue silk Chanel dress with matching heels, Amy would have looked stunning to anyone viewing her from the outside. On the inside, Amy looked terrible.

She fluffed her hair in the mirror by the door, grabbed the purse that matched her dress and heels, and stepped into the elevator.

As soon as Amy stepped into the church, she knew something was wrong. It was 2:05, so she was a bit late, but no one else was there. The church wasn't decorated in any way. Then she noticed him standing by the altar.

When she started walking down the aisle, Amy was quite confused. Step by step, she got a bit angrier. By the end, she was in a rage. She didn't even wait for him to say something.

"WHAT THE HELL, I-IAN? WAS THIS A SET UP? D-DID YOU MAKE ME SUF- DID YOU LIE TO ME AGAIN? G-GODDAMN YOU IAN KABRA!"

After Amy's rant, Ian sighed. There was silence in the room, save for Amy's panting. Smack! She slapped him. Hard. Ian seemed unfazed by this.

"Yes, yes, and yes. I lied from the very beginning. No, it was not to make you suffer," Amy glared at him as he said this.

"After what I had seen for the past two and a half years, I thought you were completely over me. Yet I kept at it.

"Somewhere inside of me, I wanted to know if you felt the same way about me. Until now, I hadn't the slightest idea that you still liked me in that way. The picture of Meredith that I showed you was actually of Meredith Blackwood, the girl I was dating at the time. So all those times I had to rush off because of our dates was real, but I didn't tell you that I broke up with her, and I hatched the plan that you saw in action. Oh, and that wedding invitation was made just for you."

"The printers were questioning me about the latter, but I waved them off-" For the second time in two and a half years, Amy cut him off.

"You know what? Shut up. I don't really give a damn about your convoluted scheme. So what, exactly, are we doing here?" Amy asked with a bored expression on her face.

"This," Ian stated simply.

He kissed her. It was the first time in six years, three months, and nineteen days, Amy had kept track, he kissed her. It was a gentle, passionate kiss that made up for all the time they had spent… not kissing.

When they finally gasped for breath, Ian took something out of his pocket. A robin's egg blue velvet something, to be exact.

Then, he opened it. Inside, nestled among the dark blue velvet, was a simple, understated diamond ring that was probably very expensive. It was Amy's dream ring.

"Amy Cahill, will you marry me?"

Author's Note: *La Leche is an actual restaurant I saw in Mexico. I am not sure if they have it here in New York.

Check out the poll on my profile, asking if there should be a sequel to this story...

MWAHAHA! I left you hanging there, didn't I? It's really up to you, the reader, to guess what happens. Plus, I didn't really feel like writing anymore. XD! It probably would've turned into some extremely clichéd ending showing Amy and Ian's life after marriage. This ending is still pretty cliché, but whatever.

This is probably the longest piece of writing that I have ever written in my entire life. So you should be proud to read it! Or maybe I should be proud to have you all read it… Anyways, sorry it was so long for a one-shot.

In addition, so many people read my other story, The 39 Clues: Life After Amy, but only around 35 people reviewed! Please, don't be an unkind person and review! An author always loves seeing them! For the love of vanilla ice cream (or any kind of ice cream :D), REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! And did I mention REVIEW? :DDD