Somewhere Along The Way [English]

So Long

Only a few days left until Christmas. Zooey had the feeling that nearly everyone in London was in a Christmas mood. The streets were decorated, people were hustling through the streets, looking for Christmas gifts and enjoying their time at the Christmas markets. Zooey tried it as well. Her friends convinced her to join them for a few cups of mugged wine on the Christmas market at Hungerford Bridge. But although she really tried to, she wasn't in Christmas mood at all.

This year's Christmas would be different than all the other Christmas fests before. Zooey didn't have the money to buy plane tickets back to the States and since she didn't want to ask her mother or sister for money, she decided to stay in London. Although her mother was sad about the fact that her youngest daughter would not come home for Christmas, Zooey tried to make the best of it. She would enjoy Christmas all by herself and she was sure that it would be an interesting yet hard challenge.

"Isn't there any possibility you could book some cheap tickets? Maybe not a direct flight" Cathy suggested when the girls sat down in the living room on Cathy's last day in London before heading home for Christmas.
"No there isn't. It's just too expensive" Zooey told her.
"Fuck" her friend sighed. "Well, you know, as I already told you, I'm sure my parents could advance you the money for the tickets" Cathy tried it again. But Zooey refused her offer.
"Thank you so much, but I really don't want your parents to pay for my tickets"
"But you could pay them back" she said.
"When? I don't have a proper job" Zooey reminded her. Although she was working in a small café in Shoreditch for a few weeks now, she didn't have enough to fly back home. "I have to pay a lot for this tiny room in our apartment with my savings and you know how expensive living in London is" Zooey explained her. Maybe Cathy couldn't really relate to her problem since her parents seem to be quite rich, but Zooey didn't want to her friend to feel bad for having parents who could give her daughter enough money for her semester abroad.
"Don't feel bad okay? Just go home, have a nice little Christmas with your family and enjoy every minute of it, okay?" Zooey smiled at Cathy who even looked a bit disappointed.
"I will do that!" she assured Zooey.

"And what about Adam?" Zooey suddenly changed the topic.
"What do you mean?" her friend asked while sipping her rose wine.
"Well, we both know what I mean. How do you feel about him going home to Liverpool to see his family and....Leslie" Zooey helped her along.
"Hm...." Cathy suddenly sighed and looked quite sad. "You know, I accepted seeing them together. I really did. But the other day when I came home and heard them having sex....I just....I couldn't....I burst into tears." She admitted.
"I can relate to that...." Zooey mumbled but at the same time she remembered Adam's weird behavior towards her in the past weeks.
"I mean" Cathy sobbed. "Why did I fall in love with someone who already has a girlfriend? Why does he have a girlfriend? Why does Leslie have everything I ever wanted? It hurts so much!"
Zooey put her arms around Cathy's neck and just listened to her friend's words. She knew the feeling. It was the same she felt when hearing about Eric's new girlfriend. Suddenly there was someone who took her place. Who replaced her. Suddenly she really had to face the truth that Eric and her relationship belonged to the past. No return.
"It sucks" Zooey stated. Cathy nodded, the tears still streaming down her face. "It totally sucks."
Zooey didn't really know what to respond but her friend just changed the topic.
"And what about Jesper?" Cathy looked at Zooey, her eyes still puffy from crying.
"Well...um, don't know. Nothing I guess" Zooey shrugged. "I haven't heard from him since the winter festival"
"And you didn't really try to, am I right?" Cathy wanted to know.
"Why should I? He seemed to have more fun with this blonde chick. I mean, why would he do that if it's not for her?"
"You didn't want to believe me when I told you, I found a girl on Myspace who looked exactly like the blonde chick and it turned out, she's their manager's girlfriend"
"Yeah, I know, you've told me about your stalking skills. But seriously, where was their manager at the winter festival? Why wasn't he with her when Jesper talked to her? Why was he nowhere to be seen?"
"Do you even know him?"
"I do" Zooey nodded. "I saw him back in April at the L.A. show"
"Well, maybe he was sick. Or we just haven't seen him with her? I mean, we didn't really observe her, right?"