A Returning Wait

Emily drowsily stared at the pristine, white clock hiding in the corner of the back wall at the café. The clock read 3:12. Liz was late again. Emily lazily reached her arm out to grab the iced coffee on the table in front of her to take a sip. After putting her iced coffee down, she turned away from the clock, propping her left elbow up on her table and laying her head into the palm of her left hand. With her other hand, she started scrolling through various social media pages on her phone.

The time was 3:20 now. Emily stared at her almost empty cup of iced coffee, bored from waiting for Liz. They had agreed to meet at the café at 3:00, but Emily had expected that Liz would come later since she was always late to everything. Liz always made the same excuse, claiming that her time management was terrible and saying that ever since she could drive and her mom stopped driving her, she didn’t have anyone to force her to leave the house at the right time. It was a poor habit that Liz had for a while now. 

Even though Emily always knew that Liz would be late to every scheduled hang out, Emily would still always get there on time. Actually, it took Emily a great amount of resistance to not get there early every time. Emily was the polar opposite of Liz; she loved to be early to everything while Liz was constantly late. Emily only came to gatherings with Liz right on time instead of early just because she knew she would have to wait for longer if she came early, and she hated waiting. That was another point where Liz and Emily were a complete contradiction of each other; Emily was impatient, and Liz had a boundless amount of patience, but that wasn’t much good since Liz wasn’t the one who always had to wait. 

Overtime, Emily had grown to become more patient from years of having to wait for Liz repeatedly. That’s how their friendship worked. The two of them had each other to help themselves grow, and they supported each other through everything. Emily and Liz had been friends ever since they were children. When they met in kindergarten and instantly became friends, they then did everything together. 

As Emily continued to finish her iced coffee at the café, Liz bursted in through the doors and ran towards the table Emily was sitting at. Still panting uncontrollably, Liz blurted out, “Sorry I’m late Em! I was playing on my phone, and I didn’t even notice the time! I had to get gas on the way too because my car was almost out!”

Emily laughed and said , “It’s ok, but you need to start getting control of your time management!” 

Emily would say the same thing every time. She could never bring herself to get angry with Liz no matter how late she was because she knew it was one of Liz’s flaws, and she accepted Liz just how she was. Rather, Emily found it amusing how Liz would come in out of breath and shout out what she was doing before she came that occupied her and caused her to lose track of time.

Liz sat down at the table Emily was sitting at and checked the time on her phone.

“3:24,” she exclaimed. “That’s better than last week!” Liz bragged excitedly. 

“Yeah it is, Liz,” Emily chuckled.

The two friends chatted at the café for hours, and before they knew it, it was time for them to split apart and head home. When Emily and Liz were together, time seemed to have no end; they could stay with each other for the rest of eternity and never get bored. They were inseparable just like that, but they never knew that they would shortly be separated; soon, they would be living in different worlds.

That same day that Emily and Liz had met at the café, Liz got a call at 8:00 pm. 

Liz had been playing on her phone again when she received a call from Emily’s mom, Mrs. Jones. She wondered what Emily’s mom would be calling about and picked up immediately.

“Hello? Mrs. Jones?” Liz spoke into her cellphone.

“Liz?” A small voice sobbed through the phone.

“Mrs. Jones, what happened?!” Liz sputtered worriedly. 

“It’s Emily. She’s in the hospital,” The voice cried as it continued to sob uncontrollably. 

Liz felt a lump form in her throat. As soon as she heard Emily’s name, she felt her heart pounding out of her chest because she knew something bad had happened to Emily. 

Moments later, Liz arrived at the hospital, rushing to the room Emily was in. She shortly arrived at the room where Emily was and saw Emily’s mom weeping outside the room in the hallway, waiting for her. 

“What happened to Emily?” Liz blurted in panic.

“She got in an accident on her way home. She’s in a coma.” Emily’s mom could barely get the words out. Her lips quivered hysterically while she spoke, and her swollen, red eyes barely met Liz’s.

Tears filled Liz’s eyes as she bolted into the hospital room to finally look at Emily. A river of tears started pouring out of Liz’s eyes as soon as she saw Emily. Her head was wrapped in a bandage, and multiple small bandages were scattered all over her face and arms. Around one of her legs was a large, bulky cast. 

Liz bit her lip to hold back the cries from her sobs and stood over Emily, looking down at her damaged face while drops of tears soaked Emily’s pillowcase.

Once night had fallen and black darkness filled the world outside of the hospital, Liz sat in a chair next to Emily, listening to the silence. She held Emily’s hand in her hand tightly as she waited for Emily just like how Emily had waited for her countless times before. And as Emily waited on Liz for years, Liz waited beside Emily for years too.