The Premiere Day

Epilogue

"My God, this hot dog is divine," Natalie said as she chewed.

"It really is!" Ben agreed.

"I still can't believe you guys had never been here before..." Joe said trying to photograph the two of them as they ate.

"Oh no!" Natalie said with a laugh. "My mouth is full, this picture will look awful!"

"Ben doesn't agree with you!" Joe smiled back as he photographed his friend making faces.

"Hey!" Diana shouted. "That's disgusting," she said to Ben, laughing. "I refuse to see the remains of your hot dog!"

That was the last stop of the day, at Nathan's. Ben had already said that he was leaving the next day and Joe, who was feeling much better, would spend a few days with him in England and then he planned to go to LA to talk to some producers about a project he had in mind. Natalie and Diana were obviously sad, because even though they knew they could see Joe again, with Ben it wouldn't be the same. He had said he would always come to visit Joe, but of course they wouldn't see each other so often.

After eating lots of hot dogs at Nathan's, they decided to go home. Although they had had a very fun day, and despite all the jokes they made, after Ben and Joe had informed them that they were going to travel, the drive home was less joyful. Joe kept showing them places and trying to make everyone laugh, as he was used to do, but despite his good intentions, everybody was feeling nostalgic.

"You shouldn't be pouting like that..." he said, looking at Natalie and Diana in the rearview mirror. "You can say goodbye to us tomorrow at the airport."

"Let us suffer in peace, Joseph," Diana said, and stuck her tongue out at her friend as he looked at her again in the rearview mirror.

Natalie, on the other hand, didn't say anything. Diana could have sworn she'd seen her wiping away a tear and was genuinely sad knowing how Natalie was feeling. Things were more difficult for her, since she had been very close to Ben, and didn't know when she would see him again.

So, Diana decided to send her a message.

I know you're sad. I understand you. But you know what? You can say you're friends with Ben Hardy! I bet you never imagined that could happen ...

And she hit the "send" button.

Natalie felt her cell vibrate and saw that there was a message. She read, smiled, looked at Diana and began typing.

You're right. And you, Joe's friend. We're really lucky...

Diana read it and smiled. She grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed it lightly, staying like that until they parted, when Joe left her at her house.

The next day Diana and Natalie met at JFK airport. From there, Ben and Joe would go to England. It wasn't long before the boys got there and found them.

"So, what time do you board?" Natalie asked.

"In 50 minutes," Joe replied.

"We still have time," Ben added.

"How about some donuts?" Joe asked next.

"Joe, you've just had breakfast and now you want to eat again?" Ben said, looking astonished at his friend.

"Sometimes I think I should trade you for Cardboard Ben. He knows me and knows I like to eat."

Natalie, Diana and Ben started laughing. Since Joe always won when it came to food, they went to Dunkin' Donuts. During the moments they stayed there, they talked very little. The time flied, and it was Ben who warned them that the boarding was near.

"We need to go," he said.

"Okay," Joe got up and grabbed his backpack. "Time to say goodbye..."

He hugged Natalie and thanked her for everything. "The idea of ​​the basket was yours, huh?"

Natalie smiled. "How do you know?"

"Diana would never have imagined doing something delicate like that," he answered, and they laughed together. "Thank you. It was a perfect idea."

"She gets a point because she agreed with my idea," Natalie said and Joe just nodded.

"Thank you so much for taking Natalie with you," Diana said as she hugged Ben.

"You're welcome, she's a wonderful person," Ben replied.

Right after that, he went to say goodbye to Natalie. "Remember what I told you," he said and hugged her. "And don't accept anyone less than what you deserve."

"Okay," Natalie replied. "Thank you for inviting me to go to the premiere with you. It was one of the best days of my life."

"No need to thank me," he said, and pulled away. "It was my pleasure." Then she kissed Natalie on the cheek, which made her blush immediately.

"I will not hug you," Diana told Joe. "You don't like smooshy stuf..."

She couldn't finish her sentence because Joe gave her the tightest hug she'd ever had in life. "Sometimes I do," he said with a laugh, his head resting on her shoulder. "Thank you for everything... And for all the things you said to me..."

"There's no need to thank me. No matter how sad it is, it's always so good to meet people who have gone through the same thing as we do... We don't feel so alone anymore..."

Joe held her for a little while, and realized that if he continued like this, he was going to start crying. Then he stepped back and looked at her with a smile on his face. "I think I'm going to have to wipe your tears today," he said, running his hand over her face.

"We really have to go," Ben said, looking at them.

"Yeah, let's go," Joe said. Natalie and Diana moved closer, putting their arms around each other's shoulders. Joe and Ben waved one last time and they waved back at them. As Joe an Ben entered through the gate, they headed out of the airport.

"We had a lot of fun with them, didn't we?" Diana asked Natalie.

"Very much. It was some of the happiest days I've ever had," Natalie replied.

As Diana remained silent, Natalie looked at her to see if she was ok, and she saw tears in her eyes. Then she continued to talk.

"But... it's so good that I have my best friend always close to me and I can have fun with her whenever I want," she said, smiling.

Diana smiled and they looked at each other. It was true. They had each other. And now they had two more friends. Hopefully, for the rest of their lives.

******************

Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one." (C. S. Lewis, "The Four Loves")

THE END