Forget-me-not

Cynthia

"What is that?" Cynthia stared at the small device Flora held outstretched to her. 

"That is a cell phone. All you have to do is turn it on, swipe up, and it does a bunch of things. You can find out every question you want to know because of the internet. You can call and text me when I'm not home. It even has a GPS, so you don't get lost." 

Cynthia cautiously took the device. Flora showed her a button to press. The phone lit up with a wallpaper that had cartoon bears on it. A smile appeared on Cynthia's face and Flora sat down beside her. For nearly a half hour, she explained how it worked. 

Cynthia tried to keep up with it all, but she didn't know how much she'd really be able to understand. By the time Flora finished showing her everything, her brain hurt. She rubbed her temples and yawned. Flora laughed at her reaction. "Did you get all of that?" 

"I guess so? I'll probably forget it in the future." She shrugged and placed the Samsung phone on Flora's coffee table. "I like that you can take photos with it." 

"Do you want to take a photo together?" 

"Huh?" 

"They're called selfies." 

Before Cynthia could react, Flora grabbed the phone from the table and began opening the camera app. She shifted, so Cynthia was in the frame and smiled. "Say cheese!" 

"Cheese?" 

"Just smile." 

Cynthia did what she was told and Flora snapped the photo. When she finished, she set the photo as Cynthia's home wallpaper. She turned the phone, so she could look at it. "So what do you think?" 

"That's really cool." 

Flora grinned and sat the phone back down. Cynthia watched her and the pair made eye contact. Flora's grin grew wider and she settled back in the arm of the couch. The two remained silent for a while. Cynthia found herself playing with her fingers. 

"Something on your mind?" Flora asked. 

"I have questions about our friendship." 

Flora perked up and adjusted herself, so she was up straight. "What do you want to know? I'm an open book and I'll tell you anything." 

Cynthia considered all the questions she had and decided to start at the beginning. "How did we meet? Did we grow up together?" 

"We didn't grow up together. We met the summer after we graduated high school. You were a barista at a cafe I liked. We started talking every day and you memorized my order. One day, I asked you if you wanted to hang out after you finished work and you did. We've been friends since that day." 

"So we didn't go to high school together?" 

Flora shook her head. 

"Did we hang out a lot?" 

"Nearly every single day. We had so much fun together. We used to go to parks and we went to a few amusement parks. One time we went to the zoo together and we used to go to the mall a lot." 

Flora was thrilled to reveal all this information to Cynthia. She had been waiting for her to bring up their friendship. She didn't want to overwhelm her. When she attended the occupational therapy appointment with Cynthia, the therapist made sure to tell Flora that these things take time. She was supposed to let Cynthia ask and move at her own pace. 

"Why didn't we live together?" 

Flora's smile slowly fell. "Well, you had your own place and I had mine. I suppose it's because we had two different ideas when it came to interior design. You liked your own style and I had mine. It was easier for us to get different places and design them based upon our interests." 

"Did I live here in the apartment building too?" 

"Unfortunately, no." Flora shook her head. "You lived about ten minutes away in another apartment complex. This one only had a few openings and you liked the other complex better. These apartments were filling quickly and you decided on the other one." 

"Oh. Well, did we have any other friends? Did we have a group or something?" 

"Just us," Flora's smile returned. "It was just us against the world. We only had each other to get through all of this." 

"What about your family?" Curiosity began to creep over Cynthia. "I know what happened to my family, but what about yours? Don't you see them?" 

Out of all the questions Cynthia asked, Flora never thought her family specifically would be brought into the mix. "My family?" She let out a forced laugh. "My family is full of assholes. The moment I had my own place, I left them." 

"Were they mean to you?" 

"All the time." 

"I'm sorry," Cynthia frowned. "That must be hard to deal with. Everyone deserves people who love and cherish them." 

Flora forced herself to hold her tears back. She wasn't going to break down in front of her best friend. "It's okay because I still have you. You truly do mean everything to me. It's why I got so upset yesterday when I found you with a stranger. Without you, I have nobody." 

"If I didn't have you, I'd die. You've been there for me through everything. Nobody gets me like you do. You're the only person who understands me. That reminds me," Flora stood up, "I got you something today." 

She disappeared into her bedroom and came back out with a small gift bag. Cynthia stared at it confused. "What is that?" 

"Just open it, silly." 

Cynthia grabbed the light blue bag and opened it. A small velvet box sat at the bottom. She pulled it out and glanced at Flora. Flora smiled and gestured for her to keep going. Cynthia popped the box open to reveal gold. "You got me a necklace?" Her eyes widened. 

"It's a locket." Flora bent down, grabbed the heart shape, and popped open the small heart to reveal a tiny photo of Flora and Cynthia. "We used to joke that we were soulmates." 

"This is beautiful, you shouldn't have." Cynthia began to pull it from the box. She unfastened the back clasp. Flora walked over and helped her fasten it. "It looks good, I think." Cynthia adjusted the golden heart, so it sat in the middle of her collar bone. 

"And now you'll never forget we're soulmates."