What If?

Chapter 1

Today was the day. Ophelia was finally gonna tell her. Ophelia was always a very shy and quite girl, beautiful but shy. She had the most beautiful short brown hair, that brought warmth to all her features, a simple frame for her smile and eyes that held more love than she would ever care to admit. The hue would alter as the strands curled and moved, as free as autumn leaves playing in the sun light. Her eyes were the softest brown infused with green, as if she held the new spring growth inside. They were the forest floor and the gentle flowers, somewhere to rest and breathe. But no one saw this beauty, besides her best friend for almost 8 years, Cassandra, who reminded her every day, which Ophelia didn’t believe. But mostly Ophelia would just keep to herself, no one disliked her, she was always just there. In the background of everyone else’s happily ever after. But she did not mind. She had her books, her novels, he stories. With each book she read, she learned something new. With each book it was an escape. An escape from this god forsaken world. In her books, anything was possible, she could go on adventures, explore new magnificent places, have magical abilities and always got the girl at the end.

Ophelia was currently sitting on her wooden framed bed reading one of her favourite novels, The Demon Road, she really enjoyed this book, she found she read it very often. She adored this book, it had the right amount of everything, it was like every genre in one book, and she fell in love with each character as they are had their own distinct personality. Her eyes glided from left to right as she let every word sink in. She picked up her bookmark and placed it in between the pages she just finished.

She placed the novel on her bed side table and look out her window to the grey sky, knowing its probably gonna rain soon. She checked her phone to see like it was almost 11, and she was supposed to meet Cassandra at the park to get coffee at 11:30. She still had a little time. No rush. She got up and started to get changed out from her plain yellow pyjamas into her casual skinny jeans and dark red flannel. As she did so a thousand thoughts flooded her mind, “What if she forget? What if I go and she is not there? What if she is there? I need to tell her. What if she doesn’t like me anymore after? Ophelia calm down. She is your best friend; she’ll accept you no matter what. But what if?”

She finished getting changed and through on her black and white converses. She grabbed her wallet and her phone and placed them in her back pockets.

“Okay Mom, I’m going to meet Cass at the park now” Ophelia yelled through the house before she opened the front door to leave.

“Okay sweetie, stay safe,” her Mother yelled back at her with a sweet tone.

Ophelia’s house was only a 10 minute walk from the park, which was an alright distance for a place she can meet her best friend whenever needed. As she walked, she thought on how she’ll tell Cass the truth, she tried to think about other things to distract her and calm her down like her favourite novels, but it all kept coming back to the conversation she’s going to have shortly, but its not like Ophelia was being force, she decided to do this. She wanted to do this, it felt right. But she was just nervous. Without realising it she had reached the park. She looked around and saw her. The prettiest girl she has ever seen. Her best friend. Cassandra. Her hair was as waves of pure earth, softly reflecting the light of the sun; each strand moving freely in an cool breeze, a compliment to her silence. With eyes of river waters, in glossy serenity, her aura seeped into the summer air between us. And in that moment, in that fraction of time, her smile was in every God given feature, and Ophelia knew she was home.

“Hey friend, how have you been? It feels like I haven’t seen you in like forever” Cass says with a cheeky smile.

“What do you mean? We saw each other at school on Friday,”

“And?”

“It’s Sunday.”

They both chuckled and looked each other in the eyes and at that moment it felt there were no problems in the world, like this was home, and they were safe, that no matter what happens they’ll be by each other by their side forever. Ophelia snapped out of it at and looked away. For a second she swore she saw Cass upset that she looked away, but Ophelia brushed it off. She’s always thought Cass wasn’t interested in her like that, and that wasn’t going to change now.

“So?” Cass asked.

“So what?”

“How have you been? What have you been up to?” Cass asked finishing her question, as they both started heading to the coffee shop.

“Eh I’ve been fine; just been reading a lot” Ophelia said cutting it short. Ophelia knew it was going to be soon when she was going to tell Cass. She knew Cass would accept her no matter what. But what if? BUT WHAT IF?? BUT WHAT IF?!? She couldn’t lose her. She just couldn’t. The thoughts started accelerating inside her head. She wanted them to slow so she could breathe but they wouldn’t. Her breaths came in gasps and she felt like she was going black out. Her heart was hammering inside her chest like it belonged to a rabbit running for its skin.

“Hey are you alright? What’s wrong?” Cass asked sincerely, putting her hand on Ophelia’s shoulder. She could notice something was wrong with her best friend. Ophelia turned and looked in Cass’s eyes. The first thing Cass noticed was the panic in Ophelia’s soft kind eyes. Ophelia’s eyes were becoming to go red and were beginning to tear up. Cass knew something was wrong now. This was Ophelia’s biggest secret, it could change everything if people don’t accept her, she could lose her family and most importantly her best friend. Ophelia felt she had to tell her now, but she couldn’t. Nothing was coming out, she tried to talk but she couldn’t. Her mouth had gone completely dry and it felt like there was a ball clogging her throat from speaking, it was like she had completely lost her voice. She didn’t know what to do. It felt like everything was spinning but closing in on her, she couldn’t decipher the difference. She felt sick and her legs had gone weak. She felt like her legs couldn’t hold her, and she felt right. Her knees buckled.

Suddenly she felt a pair arm wrap around her. She looked up to see Cass embracing her, their heads resting on the others shoulder. Cass could feel Ophelia starting to ease, and in her embrace it was like the world stopped still on its axis. There was no time, no wind, no problems. Cass's mind was at peace. How could it be that she hadn't seen Ophelia's love for what it was before? Pure. Unselfish. Undemanding. Free. She felt her body press in, soft and warm. This was the love they’d both waited for, prayed for. They both inwardly thanked God and hugged all the tighter. A love like this was to be cherished for life. It was moments like these that showed the world had hope, a friend stopping at the side of the road to make sure their best friend was okay and give them the embrace they needed. Ophelia could breathe clearly once again; her breaths weren’t gasps anyone but just her regular pace. She never wanted this to end, neither of them did.