𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐘 → original

three

The present

Ophelia had called Lou. Which was odd, considering the two of them hadn't talked in two years. Lou was shocked and confused, but she answered all the same. Some part of her assumed that Ophelia just wanted to confirm details for the next week, plan out any meals or snacks, that sort of thing. 

Ophelia did want that, but she also wanted to test the waters. Lou and her had left off on such an odd foot, she no longer knew where they stood. Her plan had been to call Lou under the guise of vacation planning, then see where the conversation led. 

It had now been 45 minutes, and they were still talking. It felt natural, even to Lou, to fall back into the way they used to talk over coffee and color-coordinated notes. It had been so long that it should have been awkward, but it was surprisingly easy to simply pretend they were the two girls who had once spent so much time together. Perhaps it was because even back then, they were pretending.

"So," Ophelia started after a moment of silence. She wanted to ask the question that had been plaguing her for months. "Do you think Tyler's going to be there?"

Lou had considered it, of course. She wanted to say he wouldn't be, or more accurately, she hoped he wouldn't be. 

"I mean, I think Vallie would have mentioned if he was coming, right?" Lou responded. She was in her kitchen, her cellphone on speaker as she prepared herself a salad for lunch. 

"Would she have, though?" Ophelia pondered. She was sitting at her desk, her knees pulled up against her chest as she swiveled back and forth in her chair. "I talk to Vallie every once in a while, and she like never mentions him."

"Maybe they're getting divorced." Lou snorted out blankly. She didn't mean it seriously, but when Ophelia didn't respond, she began to actually think about it. Why had Vallie decided to reach out now? Could it be that her and Tyler were going through a rough patch, and this was how she wanted to break the news?

"Don't get my hopes up." Ophelia smiled to herself. Spending a week with the old Vallie, the one before Tyler, would be a dream. "Enough about them, we'll see in a week if he's there or not. Have you spoken to any of the others?"

Lou paused her motion, sitting down the knife she had been using to dice a tomato. She hadn't really spoken to anyone outside of the group chat they had been using for planning. Marc and Nadia were two people she hadn't kept in touch with at all since parting ways so that wasn't much of a surprise. Amory and her had texted a bit, nothing of relevance worth noting to Ophelia, though. Then there was Caspar, whom she had not spoken to at all since the morning after Vallie's wedding. The thought alone made her stomach flip.

"Nope, not really." Lou answered nonchalantly, resuming her motions. "I assume you have, though."

"A bit." Ophelia shrugged, though of course Lou could not see her. "Everyone except for Nadia, but I guess that's to be expected. She was hard to pin down even before the time difference."

Lou hummed noncommittally. It had been about 4 months since she accepted Vallie's invite, and in all the time since she had actively avoided thinking too hard about what the week would bring. She didn't want to fall into a cycle of overthinking and worrying, because if she did she might just back out altogether. Too much had changed, including her. What if these people whom she once held so closely, saw her now and showed the disappointment that she had already been feeling?