Hey Sarge

Chapter 6 : Friends; with each other but not together

"I think we should be friends."

Friends.

God. Pip never knew that a word with such positive connotations could feel so cold. Pip didn't want this. Friends? No. Never.

"Yeah, I agree. I mean we just got back in touch and a lot has happened."

Pip had her hands placed in lap and looked down at them as if she was 4 and had just been told that she was in trouble. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up, she should've known.

"But that doesn't mean that we could become something more like what we had."

Now she looked directly in his eyes. A little shocked, to be frank.

"Oh." That was all she was able to say. Oh.

"I mean if you don't want to, we-"

"No, no, no. I..I want to. I mean, Ravi. You were and still are one of the most important things in my life and when I..um, I'm saying too much, I'll stop."

"No. go on." And then he went to hold her hand. It calmed her down but also made her heart run at an unsteady pace. Was she really going to tell him about all the blood, tears, and painful expriences that she had gone through this year?

"This year was just really hard for me."

"I can relate to that. You don't know how many times I've thought about going back in time."

Pip had too. But this was how it was supposed to go. And look, they're back, maybe not together but with each other. Reunited.

—

After coffee, we decided to walk around central park for a while. It didn't take us long to start talking as if none of it had ever happened. About college, books, podcasts, just life in general.

"So, I heard something really fascinating a while back."

"Oh yeah? And what might that be, Trouble?"

"I heard that you got into Yale!"

"Not just Yale, Yale Law."

"Even better, Ravi. That's absolutely amazing! I'm proud of you."

She really was. She had seen how much he'd worked to get there.

"He would be proud, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know." He looked up at the sky as if he was looking at him up there. Smiling though.

Then out of nowhere, a dog came running towards him. A golden retriever. It started circling them but then settled and chose to greet Pip. She seemed like she was frozen. And then she gave an unusual smile, it was real but it wasn't true.

"Pip."

"Hiya boy," she said as she started petting his head.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry!" The dog's owner came running over, seeming out of breath.

"Oh, it's fine. He's a very good boy. What's his name?"

She knew what wasn't his name.

"This is Reggie. Looks like he likes you."

"I like him too, reminds me of a dog I used to know." she said, kneeling down to get a better look at his face. He looked just like him. He was sticking his tongue out at her. She gave him a crooked smile, slowly making its way in a frown.

"I hate to interrupt but we really need to be on our way, Pip."

"Wait, but-"

When she looked up at him, she knew that he was right.

After they left Reggie, they walked in silence. Until Ravi spoke up.

"Have you seen your family recently?"

"It's been a while."

"You should, it's not good to be all alone in this big city all the time."

"I know but ever since 'the breakup', it's been weird. They know that something happened but I never know what to tell them."

"You don't have to tell everyone everything."

"But then how will I make it disappear?"

She looked at him with porcelain eyes. He saw how desperate she was for all of it to go away. She looked over back to see kids running around, playing around with each other. So innocent and so clueless about life's difficulties. And dangers. A tear slipped.

"Hey," He took her chin and tilted her face so she was looking at him again.

"What you went through is unforgivable and you have every right to be upset but you can't let it get to you."

"But I did something unforgivable too.." It came out as a mire whisper but Ravi heard it. And instead of saying something she's heard him say a million times, he just hugged her.

He could feel her sink into him, and suddenly, he wanted to cry too. She had gone to hell and back and she could never erase the memory of it. But ever since that day he found her after she was taken, he promised himself that he would try his best to erase as much as he could.

"Come on, let's go see your family."