BAMBI

XL

It had been five days since I watched Prince barrel down the street away from me. And as much as I tried to keep a strong facade, I felt completely broken and hollow on the inside.

Knowing that he essentially walked away from us with that much ease was heartbreaking. I loved Prince with all my heart and I wouldn't have ever given up on us that easily.

But that was neither here nor there, this day was supposed to be a happy day. Karen was finally getting out of the hospital. She was still pretty sore but couldn't wait to leave that hellhole, as she called it.

"You ready girl?" Karen asked, while I sat in one of the visitor's chairs, mindlessly staring at the black and white clock on the wall above the door.

"Yeah." I stood up and silently helped Karen into her wheelchair. Although she could walk, it was hospital policy to have their patients wheeled out in a wheelchair upon release.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Are you happy to be going home?"

"Hell yeah! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. Plus I'm excited that my mom's gonna stay with me. I'm gonna have her in the kitchen making me all kinds of shit." Karen laughed as I wheeled her down the isle towards the exit. "Nice job changing the subject by the way... so what wrong?"

"Girl, nothing! Let's get you home." Karen had been through enough the past few days and I didn't want to load my drama onto her as well so I just kept mum on the subject of Prince. Plus I wasn't so sure what was going on with us either. I didn't know if he was planning on coming back to me or if he had already wiped his hands of us.

After loading Karen into the car we began our journey, through the snow, back to her house. It was a quiet ride. Every few minutes I'd look over at my best friend and see her gazing out the window. Her eyes were in awe, as if she'd been seeing all those passing trees for the first time. "How do you feel?" I asked, breaking the deafening silence.

"I feel good." Karen paused, looking at me then back outside, "You know... this whole accident kinda put a lot of things into perspective."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhmm. I mean, I realized just how much I took for granted you know?" I hummed in response before she continued, "You mean so much to me Viv. And I'm... I'm so sorry about Jake."

"It's alright Kar-"

"No it's not." She paused for a long time, trying to come up with just the right words she wanted to say next, "I was starting to resent you because of what you have with Prince. Like yeah I was happy for you but all I could ever think about was why her and not me. Why do you get this amazing man and I'm over here wading through these losers." Tears started to tumble down her cheek, looking at me for only a split second before focusing on the passing scenery once more, "How fucked up is that right?"

I didn't know what to think about what she was telling me. As her best friend I should've been able to confide in her without feeling like I may be making her jealous or upset. But on the other hand, I knew Karen had been struggling to find someone just right, so all of my gushing may have come off as rubbing it in her face.

"It's fine." I shook my head, deciding that dropping the subject and keeping my friendship was more important than dwelling on her lapse in judgement.