forever fades away

chapter 4

After her plane landed, rachel picked up her rental car and made her way through the familiar streets of Roswell. As she passed through the downtown area, she was hit with so many more memories from her past. 

She passed by the places where she and finn met so many summers ago, where they had their first date and where he kissed her for the first time in his Jeep. Rachel struggled to push through her thoughts and feelings, not wanting them to drag her down. She was going to see her best friend and she wasn’t going to be anything but happy today. 

She had called Maria to get directions, Rachel was very familiar with the area but she wanted to make sure she had the right house. A few minutes later she pulled up to a two story, light beige brick house that was simply breathtaking. 

“rach!” Maria flung open the front door as soon as she saw her best friend pull up. Rachel didn’t even have a chance to put the car in park before Maria was standing by the driver’s side door to pull her friend out. 

“I missed you so much!” Maria said while anxiously trying to pull rachel from the car. 

“Maria, do you think I could put the car in park before it rolls down the damn street?” rachel said trying to sound serious, but feeling just as giddy as her best friend. 

“Oh, shit! Sorry. Just hurry.” rachel watched as Maria walked back to the sidewalk. After parking the car they stood in front of one another without a single word passing between them. Then suddenly Maria lunged at rachel and both girls wrapped their arms around one another. 

“I missed you Maria, you don’t know how much.” rachel said while the tears began to sting her eyes. She never realized how much she missed seeing Maria and just being around her. 

“Let’s get inside before people start to think you’re my lesbian lover or some shit like that.” rachel just shook her head; she definitely missed Maria’s sense of humor. They made their way up to the front steps but rachel stopped realizing she forgot to take her bags out of the car. 

“What the hell do you think Michael is for?” Maria waved rachel on shaking her head. 

A few minutes later Maria was in the middle of giving rachel the grand tour of the house, starting with the enormous and completely modern kitchen. “Wow, Maria this is just amazing,” She commented sounding somewhat awed. Rachel knew that the kitchen was really Michael’s haven. After all he isn’t the part owner of one of the swankiest restaurants in Roswell, as well as the head chef, for nothing. 

“rach, what are you drooling over? I mean, you are inside some of the biggest houses on a daily basis, making them look all great. I’m sure this is nothing compared to that.” rachel didn’t even get to comment on that, because Maria was already dragging her through the rest of the house. 

Finally about forty-five minutes later, they were done with the tour and Maria was still talking about the plans her and Michael have for the house. “Maria, it all sounds great. Don’t worry, we’ll have this place done in no time.” She paused for a moment, her eyebrows drawing together. “By the way where is Michael?” 

“Did someone request my presence?” Michael said while closing the front door. Both girls were now in the living room, and he was just waiting for his fiancé to come back with a sarcastic comment. 

“Oh please! Just cause she said your name didn’t mean she actually wanted you to show up.” Maria said, already making her way towards the door to greet him properly. Rachel couldn’t help but watch them interact, and feel somewhat saddened. She missed that, missed having someone to tell all her problems to, having someone to just be there to hold and kiss her. What it came down to was that she missed finn, and she didn’t want to.