It's Nice To Have A Friend

20) Family

"How are you doing?" Mary smiled when she walked into their apartment at lunchtime and saw her friend. She had been worried about her, especially since they had last found out she had been using Aderall again.

Alice was sitting on the couch, with a notebook in her lap and gave her a weak smile.

"I'm tired, but I work less hours a day now, Pop understood." Alice stood up and sat down next to Mary at their dinner table and sighed quietly.

"He's good like that." Mary said, knowing that he would always try to understand someone's situation, whether he had been through it himself or not.

Alice got up to pour herself some coffee, but she could feel eyes burning in her back. She turned to her heel, and found Mary staring at her.

"I know that look, and I don't even blame you." Alice said, feeling her tears well up. Mary knew she should feel guilty, but she was just trying to look out for her.

"You can check everywhere you like. I won't mind." Alice said, giving her the green light. She had nothing to hide, this time.

"Can you promise me there is no secret drawer, or any other secret place where you have anything hidden?" Mary felt bad, but she had to ask.

"I promise. I want to get better, Mary. I really do." Alice said softly, this time meaning it.

"Then I believe you." Mary said sweetly, knowing that she needed to have faith in her friend. Her word should be enough.

"I don't get why you still keep on having faith in me. I don't deserve that." Alice said quietly, looking at the steam coming from her coffee mug.

"Faith is the one thing we can never lose." Mary took her hand and squeezed it softly. Without that, life would be meaningless.

"What were you doing?" Mary wondered, now noticing the notebook she had placed on the table.

"I'm writing." Alice smiled a little. She never spoke about that with anyone.

"About what?"

"About all the thoughts I cannot seem to say out loud." She looked down at the notebook, thinking of how every word represented something out of her head.

"You can tell us everything, Alice." Mary gave her a warm smile. She didn't want any of her friends to think they couldn't share what they might want to share the most.

"I know that, but some things I can't even say out loud to myself. Writing it down is the first step, you know?" Alice said, explaining what the notebook meant to her.

"Maybe someday what I write can help others." She smiled softly.

"You want to read it?" Alice asked, surprising herself when those words came out of her mouth.

"You trust me with that?" Mary's eyes twinkled. She knew this was a very personal matter for Alice.

She nodded softly.

"That's very brave of you." Mary said, slowly opening the notebook and looking at Alice once more to check if it was really fine.

She began to read, feeling Alice look at her nervously, as if she was afraid it was totally awful.

"And? What do you think?" She asked, when she couldn't stop her own impatience.

"Alice, this is amazing. I've never read something like this before." Mary said, her eyes still glued on the page.

"I like the parts where you write about the customers at Pop's. It's heartwarming." She finally looked up at Alice. What she had written was so pure and genuine that hit right into her very heart.