Page 16 of Five Years
Leah didn’t like to think of that chapter as the most significant—beautiful, life-altering, yet soul-destroying—but it was. It changed her perspective on love, and it made her realise that her unrealistic idealisms about life in general were exactly that—unrealistic. Like any book in its infancy, there was always another chapter, and she still wasn’t sure when that would start, if it already had, or if she was bang in the middle of it.
The move out of Michigan had to be the start of something, right? A change in state, a new job, a new city to navigate, new people to meet—that had to be more than just a break in chapter.
Then along came Ariana, on an unsuspecting Thursday evening in the heart of the most wonderful city in the United States of America. There she was, looking phenomenal as she sooften did, causing a pang of yearning to climb its way up from the depths of Leah’s heart.
Maybe, the chapter wasn’t closed.
There was a picture in the metal box, a picture she didn’t need to remove to see because it was etched on a giant white, freshly painted wall in her mind. It was a picture of Ariana, Grace, and Leah. A picture taken before they crossed the boundary of friendship. Leah had known Ariana for as long as she’d known Grace. The attraction didn’t form until Ariana became single—and the possibility of something more became very apparent, very quickly. Prior to that, Ariana had simply been Grace’s older sister.
They could be friends.
Ariana had told Leah in the days after their break-up that it could be a possibility, should they both choose to pursue it. At the time, the thought made Leah want to vomit uncontrollably. Now, the nausea was considerably less severe.
Could they be friends? For the first time in five years, Leah asked herself that very question.
The caller ID on her phone flashed, pulling her from her Ariana-fuelled daze.
“Ezra back in bed?” Leah asked.
“For now!” Grace paused. “So, I have a proposition for you,” she said, suspiciously.
“Are you making me the guardian of a second child I didn’t know about?” Leah joked.
“No! But it does involve helping me with Ezra...”
“Go on . . .”
“Well, you know I said Jonathan was useless? Turns out my low expectations weren’t low enough. He’s just informed me he needs to work next week, and he’s tried every which way to get out of it—but he can’t.”
“Okay . . .”
“How would you feel about accompanying me to Lake Michigan for a Harrison family vacation?” Grace’s high-pitched voice didn’t drown out the uncertainty in her question.
“You’re kidding, right?” Leah sat upright, her glass of wine almost taking a tumble onto the carpet below.
“Look, Ezra misses his Auntie Le-Le. I miss his Auntie Le-Le too. You said yourself your dad is on vacation, so you can work from home—or from a cabin in Lake Michigan. It’s perfect!”
“And what about Ariana and Hannah?” Leah asked.
“It could be the perfect opportunity to put all that to bed, right? You said yourself you need to find a way to move on and be friends with her for the betterment of the universe.”
“I don’t think I said that,” Leah disagreed.
“Maybe not those exact words, but trust me, this will be such a fun trip, and there’s nobody else I’d rather ask to accompany me! Please?” Grace pleaded.
“I will consider it, on one condition,” Leah said.
“Anything.”
“I don’t want to be seated next to your step-monster...at any point.”
“Deal!”
“Okay, I’ll come,” Leah sighed, reluctantly.
“I love you. I love you. I love you,” Grace squealed.
What the hell was she thinking?
