Epilogue - Shortly Before the End
How long did we all think this all would last?
Who could have counted days as they flew past?
“Excuse me,” I apologized quickly as I bumped into a couple who were strolling past me holding hands, as people are prone to do on Valentine’s Day. It was an unusually sunny day outside for February 14th in New York City, so most of the people who had a Valentine were taking the opportunity to take long, romantic walks. Well, they might have been more romantic if they hadn’t been on the NYU campus, but I guess when you’re in love you don’t care where you are as long as your with that special person. Or something like that.
I myself was on my way to library to do some heavy duty studying. I had a huge exam coming up and exams do not stop for anyone, even those in love. I rushed into the library, narrowly missing another couple who seemed unaware of my existence and more than happy to run into me. I had to twist my body into a rather strange position to avoid them, but I still managed to do so.
Naturally, my good luck couldn’t last for long, and as I untwisted myself and stepped the rest of the way through the doors I walked right into a mane of long, blonde hair that presumably had a person attached to it. I couldn’t say for sure at that moment, though, because as I ran into her, her hair went flying forward, obscuring her face and she stooped down to pick up the books she had dropped.
“Sorry,” I whimpered pathetically, briefly contemplating helping her with her books. I decided against it as she almost had them together and I had a feeling my help would only make things worse.
“It’s fine,” she replied and as she stood, I finally recognized my...well, I don’t really know what to call her anymore. At one point she was my best friend, my only friend, even. Now? Now she was...just Bianca, whom I hadn’t spoken to in at least six or seven months. That isn’t for lack of trying or anything. I spent the entire summer back in Orlando trying to get her to forgive me and talk to me, but to no avail. Of course, within a month Justin had groveled to her satisfaction and she had willingly taken him back. But me? Her best friend? Did she give me the same leeway she gave him? No. And it was at that point that it stopped being worth it. I stopped trying to talk to her, I stopped caring that she was mad at me, and I stopped hoping that we would go back to being how we used to be.
It wasn’t easy, of course. My mother kept asking me why Bianca never came by anymore, and I had to find excuses so that I wouldn’t have to admit that I’d managed to lose the only true friend I’d ever had. Abraham was suspicious, so I avoided him all summer. The few times Justin stopped by to see him in particular, I would not leave my room for fear of having to interact with the one person who meant more to my best friend than I did.
Then when school started up again, I had to find someone else to live with (unfortunately, it ended up being Anna, the overly cheerful girl from our dorm) and I had to try and anticipate Bianca’s course schedule so that I wouldn’t sign up for any of the same classes as she did. And I missed her a lot, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
Now here we were, standing face to face and awkwardly feeling as though we had to say something to one another. I was the first one to speak, as generally seemed to be the case in these situations.
“How are you?” I asked politely.
“Good,” she replied with a nod. “Really good. You?”
“Fine.” I shrugged. “How’s Justin?”
“He’s good. He’s coming into town tonight to take me out to dinner. And Jake? How’s he doing?”
“Oh, you know. He’s Jake.” I smiled and she smiled back. It was probably the first time we’d both smiled within a two mile radius of each other in nearly a year.
“That’s good. Listen, I have to get going, but uh...we should hang out.” I nearly died of shock when I heard those words coming out of her mouth. Bianca was never one to be polite, so apparently she really meant it.
“Oh. Yeah. Definitely.” I nodded, trying not to look confused at this apparent step towards reconciliation. “See ya.”
“Bye.” She waved and walked away and I stood rooted to my spot, still finding it hard to believe that Bianca and I could actually be friends again. I finally decided that it was up to her. I had done all I could to fix what had happened, and if she wanted to apologize to me for being so unreceptive, then maybe we could actually get somewhere But I didn’t expect it to happen, to be honest. Bianca was always a little too proud for apologies.
“Hey, baby, sorry I’m late,” Jake apologized as he approached, giving me a quick kiss on the lips in greeting.
“Yeah, you should be,” I replied with a smirk.
“Fine, I’m sorry. Sheesh. And here I thought my girlfriend might cut me some slack on Valentine’s Day.” He rolled his eyes at me playfully.
“You wish.”
“Yeah I do.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“That’s what I just said.”
"Yeah you did."
"Please stop talking."
Completed
Fionnuala is the author of 6 other stories.
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