YOᑌ ᗩGᗩIᑎ

Chapter 3

“So there is this girl I met a couple of days ago. She invited me to an event this Saturday. Wanna hit it up?”

My best friend yelled from the other end of her apartment while the two of us worked for the column of the magazine we worked for. I still remember the day when we first met. For most people it was scary or creepy but for me it was so awesome and I admired the girl for it.

It all goes back five years ago, a year after Austin and I moved to Miami. She mistaken me for someone else and kept an eye on me for as long as I could remember. She knew more about me than I did myself without even saying a single word to me. Turned out, I looked like her ex-boss who made her life a living hell and she just wanted to find a way to ruin hers. It all went downhill for her when I started to become suspicious. I saw that same old black Corolla right outside my house almost everyday and the girl who followed me everywhere and then I approached her. I still remember how she said “I fucking wasted my whole year over a wrong girl.”

And that was how I met Dinah Jane. My best friend and my other half.

Dinah knew about everything. My love life with Lauren, the marriage with Austin and when I had Allison, she was the utmost support. Sometimes I think that Allison wants Dinah more than she wanted Austin which doesn't surprise me at all, Allison was Dinah's absolute world. Dinah didn't grow up in a very friendly environment. Her family was huge, like really huge and that meant having financial issues. Older people at her home preferred working more and in the end, the kids were left out alone. Maybe that was one of the reasons she was so in love with the three years old because she never had love. Maybe she didn't want Allison to feel that way too.

I was so occupied with my own thoughts that I didn't even see the flying shoe coming my way and hitting me on my head. Groaning, I laid down on the bed and cursed at Dinah with all the possible curse words I knew. There was one thing  keeping quite, ignoring the Polynesian girl was the death. She absolutely hated being ignored and I always pushed my luck until she does something like this.

“No, Dinah, I can't come with you. I have to be somewhere.” I said loudly while keeping the details to myself but I knew that Dinah wouldn't give up that easily.

“Where?” She asked.

I gathered my stuff and moved out of the room, it was finally time to tell my best friend about the art gallery I was visiting this Saturday. She already knew about me meeting Taylor and all about Lauren's life so I don't think it would be a surprise for her if I tell her about meeting Lauren now. She wouldn't be mad though, other than knowing that I was ditching her for my ex-girlfriend, she wouldn't be mad but that didn't mean that I wasn't up for her yelling.

“It's um–Lauren's friend's art exhibition. I thought maybe–”

She interrupted me, “Don't even finish that sentence. Camila, you are my best friend and I love you but you have to let her go now. I have seen you mourn over her for the past five years and you have been mourning over her even before that. She is in a long-term relationship, probably in love with that girl and you are married to Austin and have a child. Does that mean anything to you?”

My feelings were all over the place. I knew how right Dinah was but how could I just stay back and watch Lauren slowly forgetting about me. What if she has already forgotten about me? I knew about the consequences and how she would react if she saw me but I couldn't go another day without seeing her. And even my best friend wouldn't stop me from seeing Lauren.

“I love her.”

It felt like I was talking to a statue. Dinah didn't move, blinked, I even thought for a second that she didn't breathe. As the two of us sat at the dining table with our files in front of us, Dinah just looked at me as if I was an alien or something. I waved my hand in front of her face and suddenly she slapped the back of my head. I knew it was coming, I never should have admitted this to Dinah but I needed my best friend that moment. Nothing could have made me feel any better about the situation.