Graphite || h.s

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"I can't believe that you're actually going." Cara laughed, her face stained with tears.

"Neither can I." I smiled, reaching under my bed and retrieving the box that contained all my memories. At least a hundred photographs from the past sixteen years lurked beneath the cardboard exterior. Some happy memories and some equally unhappy memories.

"This is it. Twelve years of friendship and now we're finally going in separate directions." She sniffed. Desperately, she dabbed at her face with a tissue and willed her makeup to stay in place.

"I'll be back in four years. I'm not leaving you forever."

The box in my hands was bound for the loft. There it would stay, until I returned in the near-future. Hundreds of stories reaching their end, and a hundred new ones beginning.

"I know, I know but four years is such a long time. I mean, we've been practically inseperable our whole lives and now you're going to be across an entire ocean from me." She let out a reluctant gasp of breath, an unsure look wavering across her face.

"Oh Cara, what am I going to do without you?" I whispered, pulling her into a hug.

"It's more like what am I going to do without you?" Her body shook a little under me as she giggled.

"It's only an ocean Cara. I mean, we can still Skype and message and whatever else." I retreated from the hug and looked her in the eye. Both of my hands were on her shoulders. "Before you know it, I'll be back."

"What if you find a new best friend? What do I do then?" She hiccuped, tired from the crying and the laughter. This goodbye wasn't even the hardest one, but it made me regret my decision. For a moment, it made me rethink my entire future.

"You'll still always be my go-to girl." I reassured her. Nobody could replace her, we'd been too close for too long for me to even consider finding somebody new.

"Oh god, I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too. In fact, I think I'll miss you more than you could ever know."

"Right, I'm fed up of being sad now. Can we do something a little bit happier?" She finally mused after a brief silence. Opening the box full of photographs, I rifled through the folders I had organised them into. I stopped at the one that read 'Cara' with a smiley face, and tugged it out. Moving the box aside, I set the folder on the floor and sifted through the mass of printed photos.

Cara's tear-stained hands had started to pick up the photos that I set down. A nostalgic twitch tugged at her lips as she glanced at each one. There were pictures of nearly every moment that we shared as we grew up.

"I don't want to go." I looked up from the pictures and over at Cara. Everything I needed was right here. The only problem was that everything I needed wasn't everything I wanted.

"Don't be silly. Of course you do. Who doesn't want to go to LA?"

"I don't know. It just feels so wrong." I shrugged, feeling the overwhelming penitence that rushed over me.

"You'll be fine. It's probably just last minute nerves. You're going to go LA and do everything you've ever dreamed of."

What good is having your dreams come true if you have nobody to share it with?

(A/N) I'd like to think that this chapter is short but sweet. The end is almost upon us and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this fanfic. It'll be emotional bringing it to an end.

However, I have managed to think of a plot for the sequel and for other stories when I have finished this little series.