A Path Not Meant To Cross

It was no secret or mystery that their friendship had to end. One step towards a path unmeant to be crossed can ruin a perfectly beautiful journey of exploration. The problem with humanity is, as a whole, there is no such thing as "enough". There must always be something new to have, to find, to own, to discover. That includes how far a relationship between two people will go for the sake of friendship. What line can be crossed? If there is a line, should that be the sign to stop?

Most people called her Toni. A once lively, enthusiastic girl who had the world ready for whatever she had to offer. No one told her that she was as capable of destruction as well as creation. This girl of said friendship had just become a woman, feeling the loss of innocence and familiarity seeping out of her life and very dreams. Companions have abandoned her, both platonic and romantic. Every step she took seemed to cause damage. Her last act of wild, happy selfishness managed to kill her lifeline.

That lifeline went by the name of Michelle. A woman well in her years and accomplished. Her daughter is off in college, leaving her alone with the question of purpose. How she wished to hear the sounds of laughter or feel the touch of another's caress on hollow nights! The only life who sought out Michelle's company with no obligation was in fact Toni. The two met when Michelle was thirty five year old woman and Toni was only a seven year old girl.

A simple babysitting gig turned into a lifelong bond and friendship, a turn no one in their lives could have predicted. At first, it was Michelle's daughter Katie and Toni who were the best of friends. But as their lives grew wider, so did their distance. Once best friends have turned into a stored memory for another life.

How it started, neither parties are sure. But around the time when Toni began her own venture into who she was and where to find her missing pieces, the two women began to see more of each other. Merely as friends and new members of their respected age groups.

Loneliness was not a familiar echo in either of their lives before. Yet now, it haunted their space as a midnight fog in a graveyard. how is it that a missing presence can cause the lungs to shrink and the body to shrivel?

Weekend after weekend, weekday after weekday, day after day, they depended on each other's company more and more. But not as a younger woman looking for the wisdom through a more experienced woman. Or as a tired older woman looking for a youthful spirit in a younger woman. It felt far too close to detect that superficial surface.

No matter of age, the two women never had to argue or debate what they should do for the day together. It was as if they were two halves of the same whole and the only way to connect entirely, was to discover the new hidden aspects of each other.

Soon, weekends on the town turned into sleepovers at night. A simple companion who would fall asleep at the same show they would. On the other hand, there were nights that neither would sleep but instead spend their hours discussing personal philosophies or downgrade their intellect and gossip about their favorite celebrities that they've wish to bed.

Conversations would last a second of eternity.

Mornings would turn into opportunities to outshine the other when preparing breakfast in bed. A simple gesture laced with competitiveness and pride. Yet when eating the prepared meal, it was was always greeted with a grateful moan.

For Toni and Michelle, the other's company was mountain air in city smog. Each inhale before laughter or a content sigh grew more addicting than the last.

One night, after a particularly delicious dinner mixed with half the bar's supply, the two women are sprawled on the king mattress unable to contain their pointless giggles.

Given the occasion of going out to dinner, both women were properly dressed.

Toni had on a classy, but tight black dress with black pumps while the scent of what Bath&Body Works considers 'Wild Nights" caressed her body.

Michelle had on a stunning green dress that blended beautifully with her luscious red hair draping on the fabric.

Without thinking, Toni had cuddled into Michelle's hold as naturally as instinct could guide her to.

A simple hold, a touch, managed to defy physics and bubbled an awakening to a magnetic hold to a silk surface that was Michelle's skin.

A lick of the lip ignited the thirst and the desire to see if the irises in Toni's eyes were swirling into a whirlpool. It would have been the only comfort as her own head seemed to have spun unwillingly.

The black dress Toni wore was easy to pull off, but Michelle found herself still laying on her back while Toni was climbing on top of her.

A desire grew uncontrollably hot for the two. Something neither have felt in a long time.

The feeling of each other's lips pressed against one another were soft enough to feel like the first.

To both women's surprise, dismay, and relief, the phone rang.

The caller ID read "Katie", Michelle's daughter.

Toni quickly scurried off of Michelle so the woman can talk to her daughter. During the conversation, Toni was never mentioned or brought up. It was that fact, and that fact alone, that brought what they were about to do in a harsh, but truthful light.

Michelle, a once full-time babysitter was about to allow Toni, a once childhood friend of her daughter's, explore her body and succumb to deprived urges.

For months, the two never spoke. Neither were ready to come to terms with the reality of what could have happened.

Before long, they discarded the treasure of their memories before the first goodbye. Like many treasures, they are to be buried and only the participating parties are to know the whereabouts and conditions of the treasure. Only this chest had no jewels, gold, or silver. Merely the beating heart of their wonderful times.

Why tarnish the beauty of friendship with the knife of regret?