A huge smile spread on my face as soon as I opened the door to my bedroom. I rushed to hug the person that stood before me with a huge grin on her face.
"Rochelle!" I squealed, hugging her tight. "Oh my God. How come you're here?"
"I just decided to come here for the weekend to pay my best friend a visit," she smiled. "Happy Birthday Mavis."
"Thank you." I said. "How did you come here?"
"My uncle was coming here by car so I tagged along. I've been waiting for you to come home since an hour." She punched my arm lightly.
"Sorry." I gave her a cheeky smile. "You're staying for the whole weekend?"
"Yep."
"Mavis, why don't you ask the girls to spend the night here instead?" Mom asked.
"Do you mind if my new friends come over Elle?" I asked her. Apart from our Skype sessions a couple of times a week, Rochelle and I hardly had any time to catch up on each other's lives. I really didn't want to miss out on the time we could spend together.
"Not at all."
"Are you sure?" I looked at her thoughtfully. "They wouldn't mind if I cancelled the sleepover. Besides, they could always continue without me."
"I'd really like to meet them Mavis. We can have the whole day to ourselves tomorrow."
"Yes, it would be nice of you to introduce them to her, honey." Mom smiled. "I'll be down stairs if you need anything."
"Okay mom." I said while texting the girls, telling them that Rochelle was here. They wanted to meet her as well as I had told them a lot about her.
"I'm so happy to see you." I gushed, plopping down on the bed with Rochelle.
"Me too." She grinned. "Oh hold on. Your present."
She jumped off the bed, walked over to her duffel bag and pulled out a wrapped up present. She sat beside me and kept the present on my lap, waiting for me to open it with an excited expression on her face.
I took off the fancy wrapper, revealing a beautiful leather bound book. I carefully flipped it open to see the first page that said 'For dearest Mavis. Happy Birthday. Love, Rochelle.'
Turning the pages gently I saw that Rochelle had made a scrapbook of all the memories we had shared since we were little kids. There were pictures of our first day of school, the first birthdays we had celebrated together, our first trip to the mall together, the time we got our haircut done the same way and so many more. She had also pasted the drawings that we had made together when we were little. Seeing all this I realized how much I had missed this girl. I felt guilty for not making much time for her.
"It's nothing big, but I just didn't want to give you the usual expensive, store bought stuff. I wanted to you to know that you mean the world to me and I miss you so much." She gave me a watery smile.
I pulled her in for a hug. "I love it Rochelle. Thank you," I whispered. "Not just for this beautiful present, but for being such an amazing friend."
We were interrupted by Caramel who jumped up on my bed, sending Rochelle a few meters away.
"What is that?" Rochelle shrieked, sending me into fits of laughter.
"Say hi to my kitten." I said, wiping away the tears that escaped due to my dying seal like laughter.
"Oh my God," Rochelle gasped for air, still shocked at Caramel's sudden appearance. "That thing scared the hell out of me."
