We'll Meet Again

Chapter 1

"Nothing." Aria said while searching for something to eat in the fridge. She had stayed the night to keep me some company after yesterday's little encounter with substance in a nightclub.

"There's some bread in the left cabinet" I said keeping my eyes shut from the radiant light of day.

"You can't keep living like this Mads. I'm your best friend so it is my duty to help you."

"I'm going to the grocery store today, it's not that big of a deal." I said raising a brow at her preoccupied eyes.

"I'm not talking about the lack of food in your house, I'm talking about everything." She rose both her hands. "Look at you, you are a mess! When was the last time you ate?" I kept my mouth shut trying to remember. "And there you go drinking till you can't even remember your own name." She opened the fridge again angrily pointing at a six pack of alcohol cans laying there.

"I'm sorry" I said feeling a glimpse of relief by knowing that someone cared about me. "I just drank a little too much yesterday, will not happen again I promise."

"You always do. Every chance you get you take it. Mads you are not okay, none of this is" She shook her head with teary eyes while watching me.

"How would it be? My own mother disowned me, Aria! How would you feel?" I screamed.

"Every single thing you do, every single harm you cause in yourself, you always find a way to justify it with that. I love you Mads but feeling the pressure of helping you knowing that you won't change is too much." Her eyes were teary which made me feel worse. I knew what type of pressure she was talking about. I've been in her place, and it is torture. Am I causing that in her?

"Then leave!"

"Please understand, I want to help you."

"You don't have to Ari, you don't. Everything is good, there's nothing you could do that would help because everything is fine."

"I'm leaving town tomorrow for a few weeks. There is a school application I must attend. A recent but great opportunity" She confessed. Was she leaving too?

"That's great" I said showing my happiness for her through a hug.

"Promise me you will be alright." She said releasing from my arms. Why does she have to be that persistent with the seriousness that doesn't exist. I'm fine.

"Sure." I said tired of her doubts towards me. "I have always been alright Ari." Is there something she sees that I don't?

We went to the grocery store after and spent the rest of the day together talking about her departure. While we talked, I couldn't stop noticing how her blue eyes got brighter due to her excitement. How her golden waves flipped around and the radiance of her smile.

I never looked like that. I came back home and projected in the mirror what I had seen of Aria. Copying every little movement that she had made. Every laugh. Every blink. Every time she brought her hand up to accommodate her hair. Her expressions. Everything. I still looked like me. I hated it. My brown straight hair wouldn't move like hers. My gray eyes would look even duller. A moving corpse. Faces are masks one can easily manipulate and that's something I usually do. I never noticed how fake it looked to me at least. Do I need more makeup? Are my eyebags the problem? What am I doing wrong?

I woke up the next day to the sound of my alarm echoing in every room of the house. I was trapped in my bed sheets. Somehow, I blinked back to reality, and I was already in my car heading to school. The morning cycle was done.