The Waves of You

The Letter

"Sometimes even pretty girls need to cry."

I wish summer could last forever, but I guess everything good ends eventually. It's August 15th, and I start my first day of college tomorrow. Well, this is my second year of college, I don't even know what I really wanna be, but I'm deciding that when the time comes. I just have to get through another year again. The only good part about school is being able to avoid my mother. Being at classes all day allows me to stay out of the house, and normally after classes, I go to the library to study. I know you might think that I should move out as soon as possible, but I was the one that had to pay for my tuition, and I have a job to pay off the tuition, hint why I don't have a car or my own place. I wanted to move out as soon as I turned 18, I really did. I was so done with always having to be cautious around my mother, but I didn't have the money to move, and I wasn't really interested in getting into deeper debt. So here I am, 19, starting my 2nd year of college, and still living with my messed up mom. I wish summer could last forever.

"Briella!" That voice breaks me out of my trance, and I look up to see the one and only Ronny running up to me. How did she break into my house? "Look!" Ronny shoved a letter into my face. "Read it." She demanded, and so I did.

I was at a loss for words. "That's amazing Ronny!" I jumped up to give my best friend the biggest hug I could muster. "I know! I can't believe I actually got into Cornell! It doesn't even feel real." Ronny looks down at her shaking hands, then back at the letter in my hands. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. "Wait, but that means... I won't be here with you." Her voice shakes as she says that. I knew this day would come, I just wished it wasn't so soon. It's the day I lose my best friend.

Cornell is my best friend's dream university, she applied before but was rejected, so I told her to take a chance and apply again, and to keep applying til she gets in. And she did. Sadly Cornell is located in New York. Miles away from Florida. Miles away from this small town. Miles away from me. "I know, we won't be able to finish college together as we dreamed, but this," I held up the acceptance letter and allowed Ronny to really look at it, "this is a bigger dream. A more important one. Even though we won't be together every day, I will always be your best friend, but that also includes letting you go, and not holding you back from something that could make or break your career. You've always wanted to be a fashion designer, this right here is your chance. I am not letting you let go of that chance." I try my best to reassure her that I will be okay without her here every day. I need to rely on myself more anyways. What better way to do that than to let go of everyone else? I just wish I wouldn't have to let go of her so soon. "I know, but you are my best friend Bri, I vowed to always be there for you, and to always be by your side, and I can't be miles away from you. What if one day you really need me and I don't get there in time? I just don't know if I want to leave you or anyone else behind right now." Ronny's expression went from excited to doubtful very quickly. I grabbed her hands. Out of everything, Ronny has been there for me more than anyone, and this is the time for me to be there for her. "You, Rona Moe Conter, deserve everything and more for what you've done for me, but now it's time to be selfish, and do something for you. This is your life, and you need to live it the way you deserve to, even if I'm not in it for a while. Know this though, I am your best friend and I always will be, no miles, or oceans can destroy that. We will see each other again. But do this, if not for yourself, then for me. Please." I see that Ronny is now crying. "Oh Bri, I'm going to miss you." She says, and that's all the words I need to know my best friend, my family, is leaving me.

Normally when I think about my best friend leaving me, I imagine being hurt, but here I am, standing right in front of her, smiling.

| <3 |

It has been a week since Ronny had gotten into her dream school, and since she got the letter pretty late she needed to pack and move as soon as possible, so throughout the week I helped her get her stuff together after classes, and instead of going to the library in this afternoon, I went to say goodbye to my best friend at the airport. I lay in bed remembering what she told me,

"I'm gonna miss you so much Bri, but you have to promise me something before I leave okay?" She was acting like I was gonna try and jump off a cliff or something, but I just nodded my head. Words were useless to me right now, because no one could express how heartbroken I was at this very moment. Still, I kept my head up and didn't show any signs of it, in case Ronny decided to change her mind, and I was not going to let that happen. "You have to promise to continue to live the way you want to." So she did think I was going to jump off a cliff. Wonderful. Ronny laughed, it must have been the expression on my face, I'm not so good at hiding those. "And no, I don't think you're going to jump off a bridge or something. I just want you to also be happy, and to also continue to chase your dreams, whatever they may be." The one thing Ronny doesn't know about me is what my dreams are, but to be fair I don't even know what they are either. "Okay. I will. You also have to promise me something too." I say and hold her hands. Ronny sighs and rolls her eyes at me. I grip her hand harder. "I mean it," I demand. Ronny just smiles. "Okay. What is it?" I think for a moment.  There was always some sort of words unsaid between us, and I guess this is the last time in a while I would be able to voice those words. "You have to promise to keep going too, and I don't mean jumping off a bridge either, I mean don't come back here just for me, go and be somewhere else, meet that someone you've always dreamed of meeting, and live the life you've always dreamed of. And one more thing." I let go of her hands, and I can see in the corner of my eye Ronny wiping her tears away. I grab my backpack and see that I still have the letter and the clay figures. I pull them out and once Ronny sees them she begins to cry. I hold out the clay bunny I made for her. At our first sleepover, we had gone to Target and bought some clay, we were planning on using it to make clay boyfriends, but found that bunnies are way cuter. She made a pink and blue one for me since they're my favorite colors, and I made a purple and red one for her. We had kept them at my house and put them on a shelf, which turned into a box, in the back of my closet, We just kind of forgot them, until I was cleaning out my closet hoping for something to give to her that was mine, and that's when I found them, and of course the letters we wrote to our future selves. Technically we weren't supposed to open them til after we graduate college together but now seems like a better time. "The bunnies. I completely forgot about them, oh, and the letters we wrote." Ronny's tears are sliding down her cheeks and onto the dirty airport floor. I hand her the bunny she made for me and wipe the tears off her face. "Pretty girls don't cry." Ronny laughs at that. "Sometimes Bri, pretty girls need to cry." She holds my hand. 'Now calling for flight 145 to New York.' that was Ronny's flight. Ronny looked at me. "I promise." She whispered. She poked her pinky at me, and I did the same. "Pinky promise is more serious than a regular promise." She says and even though I wanted to laugh, I couldn't. "I'm gonna miss you," I say as tears spring to my eyes. "I'm gonna miss you til the ocean drys out." She says. "And until the stars no longer shine." I finish. 'Now boarding flight 145.' the intercom comes on once more. "Hey, one last thing. I want to let you know that you are my family, my real family, not my mom, or my dad, but you, and I felt like I never thanked you enough for not only being there, but for being my best friend, without you I don't know what I would do. I love you" Ronny squeezes her eyes shut. "You never had to thank me for being your friend Bri. You are one of the most amazing people I have ever met, anyone would be lucky to know you. I love you too." Ronny drops my hand and brings me in for one last hug. Then she leaves for her flight. My best friend, the only person that has ever truly been there for me, my family. Is gone.

|<3 |

I lay in bed, with tears going down my face. I wish the summer could last forever, but I guess nothing good can last.

| <3 |

Thank you for reading

-Sydney (A small story goes a long way)