a/n: this is like 7.5k words, so my apologies in advance i just couldn't stop writing...also this was supposed to be next week's chapter but hey, whatever.
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«Last night, I was taking a walk along the river and I saw him together with a young girl and the look that he gave her made me shiver 'cause he always used to look at me that way. Then I thought maybe I should walk right up to her and say "ah-ha-ha, it's a game he likes to play".»
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When Aurora was thirteen she met Sloane. It was a hot summer in Italy and both had tried to reach for the same ice cream flavor, except there was only one left. Aurora, ever the charmer, let Sloane have the ice cream, knowing full well she'd have the opportunity to get another one when they were back in the store, she wasn't sure if Sloane would have such an opportunity considering the girl didn't seem to be from around there.
After that, they kept sharing ice creams during summers, winters, and pretty much all year around. Sloane, unlike Aurora, had been given more freedom throughout her life. Her parents had enough money to guarantee their daughter could follow her dreams of becoming a model — someday, somehow, Sloane's mother had told them. And through pictures, a lot of messages, and visits from Sloane, they had managed to build a friendship that seemed to be destined to fail from the start.
What did a girl from Bari and a girl from Rotterdam even have in common? Well, it was certainly more than either of them could ever imagine.
Aurora loved Sloane, more than words could express it. To some extent, she had learned proper English so she could communicate better with Sloane — because as much as she wanted to brag about how smart she was, there was no way she would learn Dutch — and it had worked, their friendship, it had worked for so many years.
It hurt her to even think about what they built as friends being threatened by something far more delicate than ice cream. Aurora wanted to cry at the mere thought of that.
"You squeeze quite hard," Sloane whispered in her ear as they both hugged like it was the end of the world.
It felt like it for Aurora.
"You're squeezing just as hard," Aurora told her. It was one thing to talk to Sloane over the phone, and another to have her there.
Sloane chuckled, making sure to give her another squeeze before she pulled away just enough to look at Aurora. "I missed you.."
It was sincere. The way Sloane looked at her, the way she sounded...Aurora felt the same, except for the guilty monster living inside of her. She didn't want to make it about Charles, she wanted to make it about Sloane — her best friend — but it was hard not to when all she could think about was the different ways Sloane would hate her if she found out about everything.
"I missed you too." Aurora opted for a smile. A sincere and truthful smile. Sure she was a bad friend for doing what she was doing, but the love and appreciation she had for Sloane was nowhere near disappearing.
It was hypocritical, Aurora knew.
"Come inside." Sloane grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. Somehow the girl always managed to make any place feel like it was hers.
Sloane guided her to the sofa, and soon enough they both sat there, so close as if they didn't have more space. There were a lot of things going through Aurora's head, especially as she looked at Sloane being excited to be there, but the one thing that resonated with her the most was genuine happiness. There were both negative and positive feelings regarding having Sloane there in tangible form, maybe more negatives than positives, but despite every single sense of guilt that ran through her body, Aurora felt genuine and pure happiness in a twisted way.
