The Last Goodbye

“Goodbye.”

As that word echoed in my ears, I realized that this really was the last goodbye. I would never see her again, hear her laugh. I reached out to touch her arm but stopped just before making contact. I looked into her eyes, hoping against hope that she would retract this declaration of separation. She seemed to know what I was thinking. I wasn’t surprised, given how long we knew each other. Seventeen years. And this was what we had to show for it.

“Ana,” she sighed. “I think we’ve both had enough of this. I want to go to Australia. Besides, you won’t be alone. Kyle will still be here for you.” I felt tears welling in my eyes, unbidden, and unwanted.

“Kyle and I broke up last week.” Kayla’s eyes widened.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.” I stepped out of her reach as she tried to hug me. For the past year I’d been hoping that she wouldn’t move, that somehow, her heart would bring her back here. Back home. Back to me. But her heart had remained stubbornly in Australia. She had been offered a job researching wild plants in Australia, and I knew that there was no cell service in the middle of the outback. We wouldn’t be able to communicate. But the harder I tried to keep her here, the more she slipped away. I’d been a fool, thinking that I could persuade her to stay. Now I could see, for the first time in crystal clarity, that she was no longer the Kayla that I used to know.

“Maybe you’re right,” I said. “Maybe you should leave.”

Kayla looked at me, her eyes more than a little disbelieving. I’d always been the one trying to mend our friendship, ever since this job offer came. But I hadn’t understood how pointless it all was. Kayla had been becoming more and more distant lately, not really living in the present. It was almost as if her mind and her heart were already in Australia, and her body was just a little slow in following.

“Ana?” Her voice trembled slightly, and I could see that her eyes were becoming watery. I managed one word before I lost my composure.

“Go.”

And with that, I turned and walked out of my best friend’s life.

Monday. A day of new beginnings. A day of supposed hope.

I felt miserable.

As I lay in bed, wallowing, my eyes roamed my tiny bedroom. They landed on a rough drawing on my bedside table. It was a drawing of a young girl in a blue dress with black hair and gray eyes and another girl, slightly taller, in a red dress with blond hair and dark eyes. I felt my lips curve into a small smile as I got out of bed and approached the drawing on my bedside table. I had done it myself when I was barely five, and I had kept it for the past twenty years. I picked it up, my smile growing fonder as I noticed the crude clouds and trees, the smiley face on the sun, the roughly drawn plaits on the blond girl, and the triangular dresses on both girls.

And with that, I realized what I had to do.

I got into a hoodie and leggings that looked presentable enough, then grabbed my car keys and ran to my car. I was at the airport in less than ten minutes.

Everything was a blur before I finally ended up in the waiting lounge for Cathay Pacific. I pulled out Kayla’s boarding pass, of which I had taken a photo a few days back, and went inside. I scanned the lounge, trying to find my ex-best friend. My eyes fell on a girl in a tiny corner, reading a book and occasionally wiping tears from her eyes.

I approached her and tapped her shoulder gently.

“Kayla?”

Her head snapped up, and her face broke into a huge smile, then crumpled into a sob almost immediately. I sighed and sat next to her, letting her bury her face in my shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” she managed to get out in between hiccuping sobs. “I was an idiot. I never should have accepted that offer.”

I rapped her forehead sharply with my knuckles. “Of course you’re an idiot. You should have taken that offer sooner.” Kayla just stared at me, then burst into sobs again. An elderly woman a few seats down shot us a confused look, then smiled faintly and gave me a small nod before turning back to her game of Solitaire. I patted Kayla’s head gently and hummed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star softly.

She looked up at me, her eyes full of love. “I’m not going.”

I recoiled as if she had stung me. “What?”

“I’m not going,” she repeated. “I want to stay here. With you.” She wiped her cheeks and sat up straighter. “I realized this morning how much you meant to me. If I left for Aussie, I might never have seen you again.” Her eyes searched mine. “And I love you too much for that.”

My jaw dropped slightly as she gave me a weak smile. But her smile grew wider as she added, “But mostly because someone needs to help you find a boyfriend. Heaven knows you couldn’t find yourself one.”

I stared at her, debating between whether I should get up and leave, or slap her. Before I could decide, however, I started to laugh.

I laughed like I hadn’t in more than a year. I laughed until my sides hurt, until my cheeks were sore, until my throat was hoarse. Kayla stared at me like I was going crazy.

Then she joined in.

I was thankful that the lounge was mostly empty, or we would have gotten a lot of strange looks.

After we were done laughing, we straightened and looked at each other. Kayla cleared her throat and looked straight at me.

“I know I haven’t been good lately,” she started. “And I was hoping that we could start over?” She met my eyes hopefully.

I held out my hand formally. “Hello, good ma’am. My name is Anastasia Blake. And you are?”

Kayla smiled widely and shook my hand. “Kayla Rogers. Nice to meet you.”

Then we hugged.

And stayed there for a long time.

When we finally pulled apart, Kayla held up her boarding pass and tore it in half. “I canceled my flight this morning,” she said.

I frowned. “Then what were you doing in here?”

She grinned. “Stealing their brownies.”

My jaw dropped. “You’d better have saved some for me.”

Kayla winked at me. “You know that’s right.”

She held out a tissue package. I unwrapped it and found five brownies inside. I looked up at her and nodded approvingly. “Good work, soldier.” Then I stuffed a brownie in my mouth.

Kayla looked at me and sighed. “You have crumbs all over your face.” I glared at her and continued to eat my brownie. My new best friend shook her head in exasperation, then stood up abruptly and yanked me up. “Let’s go.”

I shook my head and spoke through a haze of brownie-induced euphoria. “Brownies.”

Kayla hesitated, then made me a deal. “We leave now, we can get Chinese takeout.”

I felt my resolve wavering, and she must have seen it too, for she added almost immediately, “On me.”

I jumped up. “Done.”

I turned and ran back to my car. It was then that I realized that I hadn’t seen Kayla with any luggage. Berating myself for my stupidity and my skills of being unobservant, I ran even faster. I reached the car first and yelled, “Shotgun!”

Kayla came running up to the car, panting slightly, and yelled, “It’s your car! You’re driving! You can’t call shotgun when you’re driving!”

I hesitated, then shrugged and slipped into the front passenger seat. “You can drive.”

Kayla muttered something unflattering under her breath as she started driving. But I didn’t care. I had my best friend back.

And that was all that mattered.