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10 | friends

"Rory is my oldest friend" London starts. "Well, her actual name's Aurora, but I've spoken to her as Rory as long as I can recall. Anyways, we both gone to the same kindergarten, and there, we just clicked instantly. We both liked drawing and fashion. We used to sketch clothes together."

Laughing, London adds: "They weren't really good, of course, just some kid's shitty doodles, but it was a lot of fun."

I kick a round chestnut lying on the street in front of us, and it rolls out in the car's lane, just to a couple of seconds later get smashed by a Tesla's massive tires.

London continues her story.

"So, Rory and I went to school together, and it was in our third year we first met Cozy and Florence. Oh, Cozy's name is actually Cozette, but yeah, we liked nicknames very much. She used to call me Lonnie. However, we built a strong fou... whatever you call a trio plus one. And we hung out all the way to when we were all thirteen. Then, the thing with boys began. Suddenly, Rory and Cozy were all interested in flirting with boys and having such showing clothes, just to... I don't know. And all of a sudden, we began comparing us to each other, and when Rory got it together with a boy named Alec. He was... very toxic to the rest of us in the group. Yeah... he did things I can't speak of, but Rory loved him anyways. And after that, Cozy dropped off to study in France with her rich family, and there was only me and Florence left. It all happened so sudden. I wanted to speak to her about it, but when I ever touched the topic feelings, she got all weird and wanted to talk about something else. I don't know where all the other are right now, but I'm still friends with Florence, even though we don't talk a lot."

London's gaze drops again, trailing across the dirty ground with the fallen leaves making a thick blanket. "People are telling me that Rory and Alec broke up a couple of months after Cozy moved out, but she never told me. Oh, I forgot to mention that, but she changed schools after a massive argument that we had about Alec. It ended with me shouting that I hated her and never wanted to see her again... and she replied with 'fucking same'."

"And after that... you never met again?" I ask, slightly startled.

London shrugs gently. "I guess that we held hard on our promises."

"Don't you miss her?"

"Sometimes, yeah, but then I remember what Alec did to us. And then, it's not hard to hate her again."

I wonder if she would tell me what the terrible thing Alec did was if I'd ask her now. I don't think so – and I'm not even sure myself if I want to know.

"But... Cozy?" I say after a couple of seconds of silence. "Did she stay in France?"

A dark mask swipes over her face. "No. She came back."

"What happened?" I say gingerly.

"She sided with Rory. She thought that the things Alec did wasn't her fault. But she was away – she didn't experience the worst things he did. And sure; it wasn't completely Rory's fault, but she always insisted of us hanging out with him and didn't defend us when he offended and insulted us. Not even when..."

London's voice trails off, and she sighs, but doesn't pick up on the sentence again.

"I'm sorry for you" I say. "It must be terrible to lose so many people in such a short time."

She tilts her head. "Mm. But I'm grateful for the time I actually spent with them."

In some unpleasant and queasy way, this makes me think of Atlas. Should I be grateful for the time I had her on earth? But... the time we lost? Isn't that more important?

I can't continue my inner monologue, because just in that moment, we arrive at the bus stop.

As the bus rolls in just a couple of seconds later, the tires screeches out their rage and a puffing sound is heard when the bus slightly tilts down to the trottoir.