Save You Tonight - Under Construction!

Chapter 2 - No Going Back

-Nikki's POV-

"I can't believe she's really going", I said to Ben over the phone. "I’m so upset; she's the one person that’s close to me, other than you."

"Yeah babe, don't worry about it. I won't leave you," he uttered, quickly. I love Ben, I really do, but this expectation of me listening to him when he’s got problems and him ignoring me when I share mine is absolutely ridiculous. I groaned into the phone, frustrated by his lack of attention and ability to be of any sort of help.

After saying goodbye, as soon as I could, I shot Lana a text saying, ‘taking you to the shop tomorrow, call you in the morn. night ily xx.’ I sighed, rolling in my bed to find some comfort in going to sleep tonight, my closed eyes and the darkness that surrounded me assisted in doing nothing but cause me to replay the thoughts constantly invading my mind. My best friend was leaving. I hadn’t ever thought we’d get separated this quickly; I’d known her for as long as I could remember. Our first day at school was a vivid memory, my terrified expression contradicting her excited one, and when the tears began to flow unstoppably from my eyes, she sauntered over and handed me a tissue. We just clicked. I smiled, thinking back to our years of friendship, and how our arguments ended in an easy couple hours. There was nothing either of us could do to stop her from leaving, but the limited time that was still in our hands, couldn’t be misused.

***

I awoke the next morning with a bright light piercing through my window, the humidity of the sun in my room causing my body to release sweat. I quickly peeled the covers off me, allowing the trapped heat to disperse into the room. I picked up my phone from the bedside table, unlocking it and seeing nothing new. Scrolling through my contact list, I dialed Lana’s number.

“Hello?” Her voice spoke over the phone.

“Morning bebz”, I replied.

“You’re up quite early?”

"You’ve got a problem with me sleeping in and getting up early, so I’m not answering that.”

She giggled, “Alright, I’m just about done packing up my things, yeah? Come around whenever you want and we can head out. Is Ben coming along?”

“Nope, just you and I today”, I sighed.

“Oh”, she hesitated, “sounds good then.”

“See you in a bit.”

-Lana's POV-

I paced around my partially empty room, gathering my things as I attempted to put my sock on while hopping over to my closet. I rummaged through the endless hangers and grabbed my satchel from the back, stuffing my wallet and phone in it. I was excited to spend the day with Nicole today, just the two of us. We barely hung out alone ever since Ben came into the picture, but I couldn’t find a reason to blame her because I knew she tried including me in her activities, although I wasn’t a big fan of being the third wheel.

Once the doorbell and the murmurs of greetings downstairs indicated her arrival, I took no time waiting to go down. After meeting her and heading out to her car, we were standing in the line of teenagers waiting for their cue to buy tickets for a movie. My mind wandered in various courses, questioning if I’ll make friends like I have here or if I’ll be the new kid that’s unaccepted. It terrified me to extreme limits because the one thing that bothered me was that I wouldn’t fit in, I would stand out as a blockade for people to poke me with sticks and try to move me elsewhere. Attention was never something that I was good at taking, I felt most vulnerable when people talked about me, as if I was stripped down for others to view what I didn’t want on display.

Nicole continued talking, although the sound of her voice seemed miles away. The words leaving her mouth were incomprehensible, however I caught some along the lines of “call me every day” and “video chat on Skype.” I nodded my head, pretending that I was listening to every word that fell out of her mouth as we walked into the darkness of the theatre. I strained the voices in my head, attempting to raid my mind with more undesired thoughts and set my concentration fully on the screen in front of me.

***

Not long after the movie was finished, we decided to go to the mall. We were now sat in the food court, eating hamburgers with slightly salted chips while continuing talking about how we would keep in contact. Having Nicole as my best friend was one of the greatest things I’ve ever had to experience in my life, to have someone understand you as just well as yourself and be there for you without any other expectation in return. We might have to separate but I’ll always remember our weird memories, and try to keep in contact with someone who was practically my sister.

I leaned back in the uncomfortable chair while Nikki reached inside her purse and pulled out a rectangular box. “I’ve been saving this for your birthday but since you won’t be here for it, I’m going to give it to you now”, she spoke, opening the navy blue box. Inside was a chained bracelet, and along it were a couple of tiny silver charms shining from the light. I gasped, it was absolutely stunning. She placed it in front of me and I picked it up gently, gawking at it.

“It’s so pretty”, I mumbled, tracing the ‘Friends Forever’ charm. I gulped, a watery liquid coating my eyes and blurring my vision, definitely wasn’t expecting this. I glanced up, watching the grin from Nikki’s face turn into a frown.

“Oh my god, Lana, why are you crying?”

“I- you- why did you get me this? It must have cost you like an entire paycheck seriously. It’s so beautiful but I just-“

“No, you listen to me”, she interrupted, “our friendship isn’t worth a paycheck. I’d literally get you everything in the world if I could really, so this is practically nothing compared to what I could have got you.”

I laughed, “thank you so much. I love it.”

After throwing away our trash in the rubbish bin, we headed home and according to the clock, I only had a few hours left until our early morning flight. I hugged Nicole goodbye, and no doubt there were tears shed and words of comfort exchanged. My nerves decided to reappear right before going to bed and it was difficult getting any shut eye. My mind was wandering in so many direction at the same time that it made it difficult to concentrate at one thing. Before I knew it, the door to my bedroom creaked open and my mum came to sit by me on the bed.

“Good morning love”, she whispered while moving the hair on my forehead back. “It’s time to get up, we’re leaving in about an hour.”

“Okay, I’ll be up in 5”, I smiled.

Showered and dressed in a comfy crewneck and sweatpants, my family and I walked through the boarding gates of the plane. I took a deep breath. No going back now.