To Our Pinky Promises

Chapter 25

I turned around and my eyes widened at who I saw sitting there, a bottle of liquor in her hand. Yes, not a cup, a bottle. And between her fingers of her other hand was a lit cigarette that emitted wisps of smoke that was slowly engulfing the room.

"Beth?" I said out loud, unable to believe my own eyes.

"Elizabeth? Is that really you?" I asked again just to make sure as I walked closer. At first I thought it was the dim light that was making my vision unclear, or maybe it was the smoke that I was inhaling in the small bathroom space that was already starting to cloud my head but in this proximity, I realized that it was neither.

It was just time. I guess puberty had struck my dear old friend hard.

And I'm guessing the same has happened to me over the years since it was taking Beth an even longer time to recognize me.

Her eyebrows drew together as she squinted at me through the faint wisps of smoke that was curling up in the air a little over our heads. I let her take a good look at me, wanting to see if she could still remember her oldest friend.

I imagine I'd be pretty offended if she couldn't guess who I was. After everything we've been through as children, no amount of change caused by puberty should be enough for her to not recognize this old friend.

After a minute, with a confused tone she made her first guess. "Em?"

Her eyes widened when she finally realized that it was really me. "Oh my God! No way! Em?!"

I nodded feverishly. Beth got off the toilet seat that she was sitting on and rushed towards me.

"Goddamn girl! How long has it been?! What are you doing here?" She practically screamed into my ear as she held me in a tight embrace.

I laughed a little through the tears that were starting to stream down my face uncontrollably. I couldn't make out whether the tears I were shedding were from joy or from the humiliation I experienced.

"Are you that happy to see me?" Beth joked once she pulled away from the embrace and saw my tear stained face.

Another breathy laughter escaped my lips as I punched her arm lightly. "Right, like I would miss your retarded ass," I joked.

Even after such a long time being apart, everything was just like the way they were with Beth. It felt like nothing had changed and I was beyond grateful for the familiarity.

Beth's hands patted down her shirt with a slight frown before pulling the fabric away from her skin and lifting it to her nose. She looked at me in confusion before she brought her head near my chest and sniffed.

"Did you spill something on yourself?" She asked.

I gave her a sheepish look and nodded. "I was going to clean up, I guess I got some on you too. Sorry."

Beth took a closer look at me and the crease between her eyes deepened as she finally sensed that something was wrong.

"Those aren't the good kind of tears, is it?" Beth asked.

I casted my eyes downwards and brought my arms together to comfort myself.

"What happened?" Beth asked.