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smaragdine

smaragdline- emerald green

Juniper's POV

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Monday morning comes around and I don't have to be into work till 9. I make my daily coffee, most of it French vanilla creamer. I go down to get the mail, taking a second glance at apartment 221 and memories resurfaced, of calloused hands and the smell of coconut and whiskey, of Ace.

I walk quicker to the elevator, a smile on my face. The cubbies for each apartment are wooden and old. It's about 15 inches wide and 5 inches in height, big enough to hold the brown paper package with string wrapped around and a flower, and I double check the tag to make sure it's actually for me.

I carefully opened the package, making sure not to rip or damage anything. Inside the box was smaller navy-blue box that looked like something an engagement ring would be in. I popped it open and my hands start to shake. I put the box down on the counter and took a deep breath, it didn't help ease my dizziness. The ring that her, Opal, used to wear, it was a thin gold ring and a natural emerald. The stone was from her great-grandfather, who was a miner in China before the 1949 revolution, he was eleven when he found it and it was place in an engagement ring to his wife after they fled to the United States. It was passed down from mother to daughter since, her mother, Chao-Xing, give it to her when we went to Stanford.

This was her prized possession, she had it cleaned every Thursday after she got it. It was the one thing she wanted more than anything in the world. Now her mother gives it to me. The best friend who failed, the best friend that was to involve with herself that she didn't see the self-destruction of one of the most important person in her life, I wasn't worthy of this ring, something that gave Opal joy. I don't put it on, I place it back in the ring box and then put that back in the original box. I walk back to my apartment, the box pressed against my stomach and the top of my boobs. I get back and Bianca is making breakfast, blueberry waffles it smells like.

"Hey, what kind of mail did we get?" She looks behind her and sees me starting at the brown package in my hands.

"That, was it?" She walks over to me, her eyes also fixated on the package.

"I- I don't know, I saw this and- and." My stomach knots and my body feels far away. I try to reach out to Bianca but my arms don't respond to my brain, like my my nervous system has a glitch.

"Juniper, what's wrong?" One of her arms wrap around my waist, the other tries to grab the package, but I'm too tight, like I'm already dead and rigor mortis has set in. After a couple times of trying to pull it out of my grasp, she succeeds. I hear her open the package but I don't see her even though my eyes are wide open and she's so close I can hear her whisper the note under her breath.

"Junie, wa- was this from her." I don't move, and it answer her question.

"What's wrong then?" I look at her, my eyes bloodshot and glaze, even though I haven't cried.

"I can't wear it."

"Okay I understand but why are you reacting like this?" I stand up suddenly, black spots cover my vision but I still stand.

"Don't you get it? I failed her! I failed her has a friend and a human being, I never saw her when she weak and broken, I didn't see that shell. And since I failed her that stupid ring is with me, not her, like it was supposed to be." My voice dies down, the anger I felt before turns off like a switch, my throat feels tight and raw. "I'm not- I'm not worthy of something like that, something that she loved so much."

Bianca's warm hands, come up to me face and she takes a long look and me before she engulfs me in a hug.

"Don't you ever think you're not worth it, because God damnit Juniper White you are amazing and beautiful and smart, and the only, look at me, the only reason why you didn't notice her falling apart was because she didn't want you to, because she didn't let you. Okay?"

It takes a minute to dwell on her words before I whisper an okay back. She helps me back to bed and leaves the ring box by the night stand.

"I called work and said you weren't feeling well, call me if you need anything." She kisses my forehead before shutting the door and heading for work. I sit up in my bed and grab the navy-blue box and open it, the ring glows in the semi-dark room. I slip it on my right ring finger and the weight of it is foreign but I leave it on there anyways.

I leave it on all day. 

***

p.s.

Sorry for the short chapter, got a case of writers block, but I was able to finish this chapter. Hope for the best for the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Irma, I myself went through Irma. Wish everyone a safe and happy week and see y'all next update/

p.s.s.

Also found a good actor for Frank, I know its Doctor Sexy but just imagine hime creepier and less selfless.

Patrick Dempsey as Frank Mullen