The drive was a lengthy one despite the fact that the two places were only a few kilometers apart. There was a short route, and a long route to the desired destination. Most of the time the short route was preferred but tonight, the one steering the wheel wanted to take her time. She had much to ponder about, and did not want to pass by any cars that might have taken the shorter road. Red fingernails clutched the steering wheel with force. The driver let out an exasperated sigh. When was it going to end? A decade of tight bonds broken apart by one person; one girl had altered everything. Lauren, the driver’s name, bit her lower lip contemplating on the grave situation. She flicked the button on, and the voices came screeching out from the four year old speakers. She switched stations, yet nothing pleased her mood. Finally she gave up and pressed the off button with anger that the next sounds that came crashing was the soft humming of the car’s engine. Was too late to fix things? Lauren briefly looked outside her window. The scenery outside was glum, yet very peaceful. The sky was velvet black, and the air had that constant whooshing sound as it came colliding against the car’s velocity. The dirt road wasn’t a comfort either since every now and then the car would pass over a few pebbles, rocks, and sand that covered the path. Finally when she convinced herself that there was nothing that could take her mind off the dilemma, she allowed her consciousness to drift back into the past, to reminisce all the events that led to this morose moment.

Adam, the guy who had been there over the last decade was now slipping away. There’s that song that says “best friends can become strangers” and that was what was exactly happening. It was only six months ago that he left for Europe to finish his last semester of college when he met Yvette, another foreign exchange student who had just entered the same school. Now and then Adam would update Lauren on the sprouting relationship with Yvette, until finally the inevitable truth was that Adam had fallen head over heels for her. When graduation was finished, Adam set his way back home, bringing his girlfriend with him to meet his family, and best friends.

Lauren had perceived Yvette to be a reserved, intellectual girl, who cherished honest relationships. When the time came for Adam to introduce Yvette, she had lived up to these expectations, that was until Adam left for the province to fix his papers, leaving Yvette to border with Lauren a few days. Little by little Lauren could feel a change in the winds; something had gone aloof. Yvette was acting all strange, and ten times more eloquent than the first few weeks that Lauren had met her. It was like Yvette had a twin sister, who finally sprang out and showed her true evil self. Lauren and Adam had such a strong bond that Yvette was triggered by the green eyed monster to act in barbaric ways.

When Adam returned from his short trip, Yvette made sure that she was the first one to see him, and make him feel welcome. Lauren used to playing that role, was taken aback, but understood the boundaries of these kinds of relationships, and respected them. As each day would pass, Yvette would make up some story about Lauren not treating her right. One day it was about Lauren just randomly shouting at her for making a microscopic mistake. On another, Yvette said that Lauren had ruined her dress on purpose, when it was only an accident. Yvette would manipulate certain events, and make it seem like Lauren was the bad guy – the insecure best friend who couldn’t handle that her guy bud finally found his other half and she happened to be stunningly beautiful when the truth was that Yvette was the overly insecure girl friend, who couldn’t handle her boyfriend to have a girl as his best friend. Until finally, the decade old relationship with Adam had come to an abrupt stop one Saturday evening.

“What is your problem, Lauren?” Adam had half-shouted. His fists were clenched into tight balls. That was a gesture that Lauren knew too well. He would only clench his fists when he was really angry, but by the tone in his voice he was trying his best to constrict his real anger.  “This isn’t the first time I’ve had a girlfriend, but this is the first time that you have done such things to her!” Denial and doubt was clearly present in his tone. He had known Lauren too well and this sudden change of behavior he thought would never happen to her. “Aren’t you going to say something? Anything at all?” He snarled. Lauren knew that if she tried to deny his accusations it would only get worse. Yvette was to be blamed, but Lauren could not say so. Matters would only get worse. Adam sighed trying to let out the anger he had left. He had never shouted at Lauren before. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of tension-filled silence, “Lauren?” His voice was softer now. She could tell that he had calmed down. The anger was now gone, but that wouldn’t fix their broken friendship. “I-I’m sorry Adam,” was all Lauren managed to choke out. It didn’t even sound like a clear and distinct sentence, rather a soft gurgle of words. None the less, Adam knew she was apologizing. He could tell it wasn’t a sincere one, that she was only forced to say it because the situation had made her. 

Crickets softly buzzed, and the wind had slowed. The dirt road was getting smoother, and the plantation of trees that surrounded opposite sides of the one lane road, had transformed into thorny shrubs. Lauren was close to her destination. The last of the pebbles bumped underneath her tires, and sand replaced it. She was not aware that she had finally come to her destination. It was only when she was parked by the coconut tree that she & Adam had parked in front of for years that she noticed that the car had stopped. “Oh.” She unfastened her seat belt, unlocked the car, and opened the door. Her feet met the ground, and for a while a whirlwind of memories came blowing by. How many countless times had her feet touched these grounds yet it felt entirely different. Every time she had gone here Adam was always, always with her; every time except now. As her gaze left her feet, and shifted towards the sky, she noticed how lovely the horizon looked against the hue of the ocean. The sky was a mix of the different shades of blue, and it was like a splash of yellow and pink was splurged out across the tip of the horizon. The dawn was approaching. In a matter of minutes, the sun’s beams would shine across the horizon and bring light to the ends of the island.

Subconsciously, she could feel her feet dragging her to a place knew too well that even with eyes closed she would still know the way and wouldn’t stubble over any rocks, or bump into coconut trees. The walk was only about ten minutes away from where she left her car, and though there were no other cars parked in that area, she knew it was a safe place; it had always been a safe place. But after that incident with Adam, nothing was ever as certain as it once was before.

As the skies changed and twisted colors from dark blue to a softer shade, her eyesight had cleared because of the presence of light. Her feet shuffled against the sand. She slowed down and stopped to take off her footwear. She walked towards the shoreline and waded her feet along the water. Her eyes stuck to the shoreline, observing each splash and ripple her feet created as she walked onwards. Suddenly the breeze shifted, and she came to a halt. She could feel Adam’s presence nearby. Nervously, and hesitantly she looked up, and indeed Adam was seated on the flat rock that both of them would sit on whenever they visited the place. To her relief, he was not looking at her direction; rather he was staring out into the ocean – watching the waves crash against the shore. She left the water, and walked towards Adam. From the corner of his eye, he saw a silhouette moving forward. He glanced at her, but was not surprised. He knew that she would come.

Lauren could sense that he was not rejecting her presence, so she walked towards him with more confidence now. Finally, she sat beside him. For a while both said nothing and just listened to the sounds of the ocean. It was so calming, so peaceful. It helped clear their minds and string their words into sentences. “Adam,” Lauren softly whispered. “Lauren,” he replied equally. “I’m sorry,” she said, but this time he could tell it was sincere; a real apology. “I know,” he replied. Nobody said anything for the next few minutes until finally Adam spoke up, “We broke up.” He said it like it concluded everything. “I don’t know what to say,” Lauren confessed. Was she supposed to be happy that the girl who ruined everything was finally out of their life? Or was she supposed to pretend to be sad in order to console him? “It’s okay; you don’t have to say anything. I know.” “No, Adam. You don’t know.” “I do. When I broke up with her, she told me everything. I couldn’t believe she was jealous of our friendship. I should have noticed that from the very beginning, but all I ever got from you was silence.” “I didn’t want to make matters worse. I didn’t know how not to damage our friendship anymore than it already was.” “Oh. I didn’t think about that.” Lauren wanted to laugh at the way he had said his last sentence, but the matter was nothing to laugh about. “I’m really sorry Adam.” “I’m sorry too, Lauren. Things shouldn’t have gotten this bad.” “Yeah, it shouldn’t have, but what matters now is that we’re here, and we’ve still got our friendship, right?” “Right,” Adam said now smiling. That was when Lauren knew that things we’re much, much better now. They definitely weren’t back to their old friendship, the one before Yvette, rather the problem had strengthened it even more, and that was when she truly appreciated all the pain she had gone through. Lauren looked at Adam and smiled back at him. They both turned their gaze back to the skies, which was just in time to watch the sunrise.