Swiping Right | Completed

Thirty Five

          I had no words as my arms wrapped around my best friend, my heart racing as I tried to understand the extent of her pain. Nothing I could imagine would even come close to comparing to a mothers loss of a child.

We were all in silence, everyone looking anywhere that wasn't at another person. I held Ella tightly, as if I were trying to hold all of the broken pieces inside of her together. I'd expected her to be sobbing as I tried to protect her from all the pain the situation had caused, but as I held her close to my chest, no tears were seeping through. It worried me. There was no emotion; no anger, no sadness. My best friend was just well and truly numb. The time they were meant to move was approaching so rapidly, I couldn't imagine how devastated they must have been - not even to just to lose their baby, but to lose each other to a different state. At least I was able to understand at least half of the loss she was feeling. Brodie's leaving was already like losing something I needed to live. I couldn't imagine that loss after two years with someone. Colton looked between myself and Miles.

"Do you mind if we have some time to ourselves?"

          After saying our rushed goodbyes, Miles and I slowly exited the house. The moon sat perfectly in the cloudless sky as we walked away from the property and towards the sidewalk.

"Where did you park?" I asked, quickly scanning the road. I pulled my jacket closer around me, silently asking for him to take me home. He looked at me sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"In the rush to get here, I ran." We began walking down the street, and I was suddenly grateful we lived in the same direction. A year ago, Miles would have walked me to my doorstep before even thinking about making his own way home, but I wasn't sure that was the case anymore.

"Wouldn't that take longer?"

"Lost my keys." He shrugged, the left side of his lips lifting into an embarrassed smile as he shoved his hands into his pockets. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh, most of the messages on my phone from him were about him being late due to losing his keys. You couldn't say he didn't care, that was for sure, but he definitely never changed. So, why, in that moment did I feel so awkward around him? The silence surrounded us quickly, and I noticed our speed had increased as we walked, both of us eager to exit the awkwardness that an old friendship had brought to us.

The journey home seemed to take ten times longer than it would have taken me on my own, despite the increased speed. I saw him shove his hands deeper into his pockets, as if that was even possible. I pulled my jacket around me tighter, using it for both the warmth and protection it had provided countless times before. We walked past a park, one that we had spent more hours than I could count in. So many memories had been created in that small area. I caught Miles look at it as we walked past as well. The sigh left his mouth, and you could see the air in front of his face from his breath as if he was letting out a puff of smoke, showing how unusually cold it was for the time of year.

"I hate being like this with you, Rhea." I turned my head to him, his voice sounding distant. Only then did I realised he'd stopped at the edge of the park and was leaning against the unstable wooden fence that looked as if it was about to fall down any minute. I walked back to him before grabbing his arm and linking mine in it before beginning our journey again.

"That park should have been demolished a long time ago." I leant my head on his arm as we walked at a normal pace, the awkwardness lifting from us almost instantly. "I hate it too."

"I'm glad it wasn't, otherwise half of our memories wouldn't exist. Do you remember the time we went bowling?" I groaned, letting out a small don't remind me. Of course he ignored it and carried on, chuckling to himself as he spoke. I didn't know you could feel embarrassment from an event that happened three years beforehand. "I can't believe you actually threw the ball down the alley!" His laugh echoed off the walls of the alleyway and I used my free hand to rub my face, groaning once again.

"I was so embarrassed. I tried copying everyone else!"

"Everyone else wasn't using every bit of their force to send a bowling ball through the air to get a strike without even touching the ground, Rhea." I looked at him, opening my mouth, ready to give an answer to defend myself, but I was drawing blanks. "I wonder if they actually managed to fix the dent in the middle of the alley." The smile broke onto my face as the laugh escaped my lips.

"One go each before getting banned from a bowling alley, admit it, it's impressive." His smiled matched my own. "I still need to repay you for the Fine that you paid for." I grimaced as I recalled the hefty fee they'd given before kicking us out of the alley, something Miles had willingly paid for. "But I have improved at bowling."

"You repaid me enough in the past three years. Do you remember what we did after?" I nodded, silently picturing the memory in my head. We'd gone to the very dangerous park that we'd recently passed, where Miles had snuck us a bottle of vodka. We'd drunk and talked for hours and our friendship grew and grew in that afternoon. I'd spent hours making daisy chains, placing them everywhere I could. Miles had one on each wrist and around his neck, as did I. I hadn't even noticed his hands working faster than mine until he placed a daisy crown on top of my head. I still owned the cheesy selfie we'd taken, covered in flowers. It sat on my bedside along with another one of us from a family holiday he'd joined us on, where we were holding hands and jumped into a pool. My hand was holding my nose, my eyes squeezed shut as we fast approached the water. They were memories I'd cherish until my dying day, they were happier days.

I glanced back at him, the silence had returned as the memory possessed us both. The words after he'd placed it on my head were as clear to me as if they had been said only hours before.

"Promise me, no matter what happens, as long as we are friends, this chain will never break." He stuck his pinky finger out, the daisy chain slipping down his hand slightly.

"I promise." I took his pinky finger in my own, making a sacred pact.

"If we ever fall apart, for whatever reason, we'll always find each other. We'll be right back here, in this abandoned park, with all these daisies." I nodded in agreement, opening my arms to him.

"How could I ever forget that day, Miles?" We smiled softly at each other, all the previous tensions lifting as the importance of our friendship once again replaced the love.

          We'd arrived back at my front door faster than I'd anticipated, most likely due to the fact we'd spent the rest of the journey reminiscing. It was strange how quickly we fixed things, considering the amount of time we'd spent apart. A catch up was needed more than either of us realised.

He pulled me into an embrace as I opened my front door.

"I missed you." He muttered into my hair as my arms tightened around him.

"I missed you too, don't be a stranger this time." He smiled before waving and beginning his own journey home. I shut the door as I saw him turn the corner and pull his headphones out of his pocket.

I pulled my own phone from the back pocket of my jeans and my eyes widened as I realised how many texts I'd missed from Brodie. It started off with a simple apology for the way he'd acted, and had continued texting the whole time I'd been with Ella. Obviously unknown to the situation, he'd been asking if everything was ok and by the eighth and final text, he'd seemed to give up. I sighed as I checked on my mom, who was asleep on the sofa with Matt. Just friends, I scoffed, alright then.

Walking up the stairs towards my room, I felt awful. Brodie had really tried to change for me, had put in so much effort to make today good and I'd ruined it. I'd left my phone on Do Not Disturb and forgotten to call, I'd broken an unspoken promise of letting him know things were returning to a better time in our relationship. I'd checked on Callum before making my way to my own room, the thoughts overwhelming me as my movements became something I was doing unconsciously. It finally hit me as my head hit my pillow how much this S.O.S had affected everybody. It wasn't just Ella, Colton, or Miles. It wasn't just me. It was also Brodie, because he didn't know what was happening, as far as he was aware, on him was the last place I wanted my attention to be, and that wasn't that case. I liked the place I'd been in with Brodie, it was finally better than ever.

My response to him was left half written as sleep took control of my body, removing the stresses of the previous day.