Hello, Again

Chapter 11

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What a mess I leave to follow

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Not even in a hundred years would Amelia forget how thunderously furious Sarah looked as she stormed towards her in a crowded bar.

"You bitch – how could you – two bloody years – not even a note – do you have any idea how much I missed you?"

Amelia stood stunned, her arm stinging where Sarah had hit her, her ears ringing from the sheer shock of it.

"Ow", she replied articulately.

"Ow? Sarah's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

It is a characteristic of lifelong friendships that they are never truly devoid of Moments. There are moments when you realize that you've found your companion, moments when you realize that this new-found friend is one to weather your personal storms, moments when their brilliance and solidarity shines through like a literal silver lining in the metaphorical clouds of personal strife.

Then there are moments like these.

For Emily, Armin and Adam, this was a moment of forgiveness, betrayal and shock, respectively. For Amelia and Sarah, however, this was the continuation of a routine they were far too familiar with, of evasion and confrontation, of relentless affection and guilty acceptance.

In other words, the silence of two years solidified between them like a nebulous cloud, only to precipitate in a flurry of emotion.

"I'm – I'm sorry", Amelia muttered, not meeting Sarah's eyes.

"How – what – where've you been?"

"I got an apartment in Upper West."

"Upper West? Of all places – dammit, are you – "

"No! It's nothing like that – I haven't spoken to him in years!"

Armin cleared his throat loudly, but the two pretended not to hear him, guilt hammering away at Amelia's and Sarah's chest alike.

"What have you been upto?"  Sarah asked imploringly.

Amelia opened her mouth to reply, but reality came crashing down on her instead. Two years – two solid years since she walked out with a single plea to the one person who had the audacity to slap her on the arm and ask questions, while the man who still haunted her empty house stood and looked impassively on.

Her head swam from the absurdity of it all, and she did what she did best.

She decided to escape.

"Heres's – Sarah, here's my card," she spoke rapidly, avoiding eye contact as she fished through her purse, "call me, whenever you get the chance – we'll meet up, okay? Whenever you can, just give me a call and we'll fix something up. We really need to talk," she said, urgency dripping from her words, and a visibly confused Sarah let go of her shoulders and clutched at a nondescript visiting card instead. Grasping her fingers lightly in farewell, Amelia shot her a feeble, guilty smile, and walked away just as rapidly as she'd appeared, her blonde companion following her with an exasperated look on her face.

Sarah turned to face Adam and Armin, dazed, only to find matching looks of disapproval on their faces, Adam's visage just as cold as Armin's was aggravated.

"So, um, drinks on me?"

...

Once upon a time, Mia and Abby were best friends.