Lasting Impressions

Chapter 14-You Gotta Friend In Me

Chapter 14- You Gotta Friend in Me

“So, I heard you wanted to talk to me?”

I straightened up from my hunched over position and minimized my English essay on my laptop. Rachel leaned casually against the door frame of my room.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen you in a while. It feels like forever since we just sat and talked.” I said as I swivel my desk chair around to fully face her. That’s when my eyes take in her appearance.

The Rachel McIntyre I had grown used to over the past few weeks would never and I mean never leave her room looking like she did now. I’m not being mean or anything that was just her nature.

Today, Rachel sported a pair of navy sweat pants with a rather large hole in the right knee. Her once white tank top was now a grey colour with age and her normally sleek blonde hair was messily thrown into a sloppy bun atop her make-up free face.

“Are you alright Rachel?” I asked her cautiously, I didn’t want her to think I was judging her on her appearance; it just seemed strangely….odd.

Rachel’s heavy-lidded eyes narrowed at me and her chapped lips tilted up into a scowl. “What? Just ‘cause I didn’t dress like normal today you think you can just go ahead and judge me?” She snapped. I gasped in surprise; she seemed so different from usual. This wasn’t the bubbly, carefree Rachel I knew only a matter of days ago.

“Rachel, I swear I didn’t mean anything by it. You just seem different… sadder.” I realized suddenly. Her eyes seemed more down cast and after close examination, puffy and swollen.

“Have you been crying Rach?”

“Why the hell would you care if I had been? Why would anyone care about me?” She cried, throwing her arms up in the air. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

I quickly stood and as fast as my legs would carry me, wrapped my arms around her in a hug. I didn’t know what was wrong, I wasn’t sure if she was even ready to talk about what had gotten her so wound up and upset. I just wanted her to know I was there for her.

After a few minutes of us standing there, Rachel managed to control her breathing and calmed down some. I sat her down on my bed and wrapped a blanket around her shaking shoulders.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I offered, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye. She sniffed and grabbed another tissue out of my now almost empty box.

“I got a call from my parents. My aunt,” She paused to blow her nose. “She’s had cancer for a few years now… we thought she was going to be alright. But she’s been in hospital for the past two months. She- she died last night.” She whispered before breaking out into sobs again. I frowned at her crying state and once again, wrapped my arms securely around her shaking body.

“Oh Rachel, I am so sorry. I know losing a loved one is hard on anybody.” I soothed as best as I could.

“You don’t get it though. They knew, they all knew that she wasn’t going to make it. Hell, she been in hospital for ages and nobody even thought to let me know.” She cried again. I could hear the swirling emotions within her voice, her sadness, her anger and of course her feeling of being alone. I knew these emotions all too well.

“We were so close,” She stood up, the blanket still tightly wrapped around her and walked over to my window. “When I was little, she used to come over all the time when my parents were fighting or when they left for weeks like the always used to, just to get away from each other. She was more like a mother to me than my own mother ever was.  She taught me to cook and took me shopping. She was there when I bought my first bra, when I broke my arm, even when my first ever boyfriend dumped me, she was there waiting out on the porch like she knew it would happen.” Her eyes stared straight ahead through the window, like she was seeing all those memories flash across the cold glass in front of her.