Books Chapter 14...

 Books Chapter Thirteen

Ellie hung up the phone. She had been talking to Jade, making plans for when she would be back on campus. They were going to meet for coffee and a quick summer catch up. Or not exactly a catch up since they had been talking all summer. But a face to face catch up, and Ellie was pretty sure Jade was going to let her read something she had been writing. That was a big step for her, and Ellie knew it.

Ellie was more than ready for the semester to begin. She was ready to get back into the full schedule of classes instead of the small handful she had taken over the summer. She was also hoping to see more of Gloria since she wouldn’t be working full time. Maybe she wouldn’t be working at all, just going to class. It would be nice to actually just have some down time with her best friend for a change.

Which she knew was pretty selfish. She knew Gloria was working to be able to afford the day-to-day things that Ellie just took for granted. Having money in her back account was just a thing that had always been. Not that she could spend however much she wanted, or at least she assumed she couldn’t, but her parents kept her account topped off. It had never been an issue for her. And she hadn’t minded paying for everything, and her parents hadn’t minded if Ellie paid for things for Gloria as well. But Gloria had, so she worked all summer.

And Ellie had missed her terribly.

Is this what it was going to be like next year when they were done with school? What if Gloria got a teaching job someplace away from Ellie and they only saw each other during the holidays? If that? What if their friendship tapered off and disappeared? Most people didn’t see their best friend from elementary school past well, elementary school really.

She just couldn’t imagine what life would be like if Gloria wasn’t part of it. They had been Ellie and Gloria and Gloria and Ellie for so long that it was almost impossible for her to picture a life of Ellie without Gloria.

The front door of the apartment opened, and Gloria hadn’t even gotten three steps into the living room before Ellie had launched herself at her best friend and wrapped her arms around her.

“Whoa…are you okay? Is everything okay? What’s going on?”

Ellie let go of her friend and let her take a step back.

“I just missed you.”

“I was only gone for a few hours?”

“No, I missed you forever. Like pre-missed you. I’m just being stupid and emotional. I guess our last year of school has me freaked out about the changes coming. But I don’t need to freak out right? I mean we’ve always had a plan for our lives, and we will always be in each other’s lives and…” Ellie trailed off. “I’m being weird. Sorry.”

Gloria smiled, “It’s okay, you’re allowed to be weird. Creative temperament, right? In fact, we should probably make you a little weirder. You’re going to give off way too conventional vibes on your first book tour. All writers have to have some sort of trauma and you…well…”

“My only trauma is imagining that my best friend might move away.”

“Well let’s not go full blown trauma. That’s a lot for your first time. I mean, not having me close by all the time. How would you ever survive? The horror!”

“Okay, now that I think about it maybe it wouldn’t be terrible after all.”

They both laughed and then Ellie said, “I mean I don’t know why I’m worried about it. We are set. Nothing has changed. We have plans. We are the most locked in people I’ve ever met.”

Gloria nodded and smiled at her friend, “Yeah, we have plans. It’s what we’ve always wanted.”