a quiet, hesitant rapping on the window woke fletcher, who turned in his bed towards the sound unconsciously, thinking he'd imagined it. until it came again. then, the window slid open a bit, and in crawled a person. opening his eyes subtly, fletcher relaxed when he realized it was just his best friend, nadia.
"what's going on? what's so important you're waking me up at... 3 in the morn-"
"fletch, i'm leaving."
fletcher didn't see why she would come all this way just to say she plans to leave.
"well you can always just sleep here, you know I don't mind."
maybe it could be blamed on the fact that it was the middle of the night, but he wasn't recognizing the gravity of her words and nadia was getting upset.
"that's not.. my parents are moving us. out of town. we're moving away."
and almost immediately, fletcher shot up in his bed, suddenly very confused.
"what?! why?"
"you know why.."
fletcher couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"because of him? that's no reason to leave-"
"they don't care. they don't care about anything but themselves. their feelings. they don't even care about me. not anymore..."
and even in the dark, nadia could see the sadness flashing through his eyes.
"i'm sure that's not true."
"they watched me leave tonight. didn't try and stop me, and they sure haven't been out looking for me. all I got was a message saying I had to be back home before they finished packing the car, or they'd leave me here." fletchers heart broke, as it often did when nadia spoke about her parents. he moved toward her slowly, engulfing her in his arms, trying to make her feel as safe as possible, something he found himself doing a lot lately.
"would that be so bad? you could stay with me forever."
and for a second, it almost seemed as though she were considering it. until...
"I can't stay here fletch.. it hurts too bad. I don't think I could do it."
and because he knew she would say that, all he could do was sigh. he nodded and pulled her in tighter.
"I understand. i'll miss you?"
its said like a question because he isn't sure if that will help make her feel less bad about the whole thing, but he knew that missing her would be an understatement. and he still needed to tell her.
"i'll miss you. more than you know."
she began to sniffle, and fletcher pulled away when he felt wetness on his collarbone.
"hey, this isn't the end of us. you don't get off that easy. i'm gonna write you every day-"
"a letter?" he scoffed at her like his statement wasn't slightly odd. "yes, a letter. because i'm classy and shit. now hush and let me hold you some more."
• —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
"and you are... nadia fletcher?" the landlady, sasha, asked, checking her clipboard. nadia nodded.
"in the flesh. I know I sound different over the phone, I was sick when we spoke." the woman waved her off, gesturing for her to follow her inside the apartment.
"no worries, I'm glad you could make it. and also happy to welcome you to this lovely town."
"i'm actually coming back. I grew up here, I just went to school in a different state."
