We'll be together again

Five hundred miles. No matter the city you moved to, whether it had been north, south, east, or west, it had always been that much difference between us. Differing schedules and timezones offered no reprieve. Sure, video chats and phone calls help to fill the gap, yet the wound of not being in your presence still bled. It eventually resorted to making extra unnecessary calls throughout the day in order to hear your voice or even writing letters because one mode of communication simply wasn’t enough. How I missed it when we were together. Every single day from the moment we met was like a sunny summer day, playing on the beach or dancing at the family barbeque, those days where stress, hardships, and adulting didn’t matter.

The day had been cold and stormy, with no indication of day or evening. Vee had gotten up late for her meeting with her lawyer about some estate business her grandfather left for her, so in an effort to hurry to the meeting, her tire caught a flat, not good when one don’t know how to change a tire, a three car accident caused a forty minute delay, and by the time she got there, the lawyer sat there red faced huffing about “the new generation” not caring about decorum. The old man shoved the papers in her face and barked at her to look over things herself and to call when she learned some manners. Her shoulders slumped. She lowered her head into her hands and just sat there as an incessant throbbing began to form. Her vision blurred as tears trickled down from her eyes.

After a good cry, she went down the street to a coffee shop, grabbed a snickerdoodle latte and headed back home. By the time she sat on her couch it was close to dinner. With nothing prepared, she decided to order takeout and stay inside for the rest of the day. She reached into her pocket and thought of the only thing that could possibly make it better, her cousin Minnie. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and eventually went to voicemail.

“Hey, how’s life going? Mine’s pretty dull, but hey can’t complain. Anyways, when you get this just call me. Chat with you later loser.” Click.

Minnie, an enlisted Navy sailor, was currently hard at work writing up reports about who knows what and dealing with the same horrible nonsense that comes along with office culture, annoying higher ups, incompetent peers, and the never ending pile of work that always gets placed on her. Coupled with gossip and civilians who don’t understand that their military counterparts are paid pennies for their work as opposed to the dollars in their civilian pockets, life is not going the way Minnie planned it. It had been seven years since she first graduated boot camp and from the moment she got out of school training for her job, nothing seemed to be looking up. One of her first friends betrayed her, nearly causing her to be masted for something she hadn’t done, a creepy Chief hit on her, married by the way, and a few instances of being passed up for ‘Sailor of the Quarter’ due to retribution from reporting the creep.

Today was no different as a few people were talking beside her cubicle when one person brought up a fellow sailor being counseled for his ‘unsavory’ comments.

“ I honestly don’t think what he said was all that bad.”

“ Yeah, like, ever heard of dark humor. I mean c’mon it’s just a joke.”

“ Well, let’s see how you guys would like it if he talked about you two.”

Their words muddled in Minnie’s head as another pounding headache began. Two more hours. Then I can talk to Vee, she thought to herself. Vee was the only person in her family who would even speak to her after the gaudy display of love their family put on at her graduation, just to abandon her when she needed them most. No matter the command she went to, Vee always kept in constant contact with her.

The two had been inseparable from the moment they could crawl. All throughout their aunt’s house they would wreck havoc and laugh at the adults that chased them down. Vee and Minnie were like a storm, Vee the thunder and Minnie the rain. No one’s home was safe when the two got together. Even upon growing up, the girls would pull pranks on their family and run when their Uncle Charlie would try and scold them. For twenty years the two stayed in a room together, shared the same bathroom, went to the same classes at school, and worked at the same convenience store across from the hospital. They both even got matching first cars. Vee and Minnie decided that they’d both join the military as kids, yet when it came time for their prescreen to join, Vee was considered ineligible. Once the two saw each other in the waiting area, they knew. They just knew this would be where their road finally broke in two. Minnie was the first to react; her legs gave way as she stared to the ground. Vee ,completely disappointed in herself, tried to encourage her saying things could get better, but Minnie wouldn’t hear a word of it. Her body shook as sob after sob came flooding out. That sinking feeling of stepping into the unknown without her person overtook all reason. The poor girl sat there, unable to speak, unable to stop the tears, and just cried. Vee’s heart felt as though a ball and chain was attached to the bottom as it was tossed into a river. Not long after, the girls would be separated once again.

Minnie, finally off work, sat in her apartment scrolling through social media as a picture of Vee came across her feed. It showed her smiling as she stood along the pier in their hometown with the sky’s pink and orange sunset filled in the rest. Her lips curved slightly, but quickly fell. She hoped Vee wasn’t asleep at this hour although it was a bit late. Scared yet hopeful, she dialed her number and waited.

“The person you are trying to call is not…” Click.

The phone was tossed to the side as she went into the kitchen. Some wine, pizza, and a good movie occupied the rest of her evening before she went for her nightly run.

Vee got up the next morning feeling worse than when she went to bed. That stubborn headache never went away and now she’s pissed. She texted her boyfriend to hang out, but he was busy watching college football. Her friends were either at work or with their boyfriends. Finally, she tried talking to her mom, but all her mom did was ask about grandchildren and marrying the son of one of her church friends. Her mother paused her rant about people not having kids when she noticed her daughter no longer muttering her usual “uh huh’s” in between her lines.

“You can always call Minnie. I’m sure you’d rather speak to her anyways. Or better yet, just FaceTime her.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Is it that hard to just video chat with her? All of those years ya’ll been together and now the two of you don’t know how to act. Ya’ll talk all the time a-”

“I haven’t been able to speak with her regularly since she went to her new command. Yes, I know she’s busy, but can’t I just want to talk to her? Can’t I just want to see her with my own two eyes and she sees me with hers? Why is it always that you, my friends, my boyfriend, the rest of the family all think that I should just be okay with not being around her? Do you know how hard it is to have some much you want to say, yet it has to sit there in the back of my throat, stowed away for when I possibly get the chance to speak to her. Do you even want to know how much I have to cut out information from the last time we spoke to the next time we speak just to be able to talk within the twenty minutes we can talk? My mind has so much stored that I try desperately to keep in order to one day when we see each other that I can let the dam break and it can finally flow out. I’m sick of everyone thinking that ‘just a call’ is enough when the one person who truly knows me can’t even sit across from me. I can’t hug her when she’s sad nor lock arms when we go on walks. We haven’t even gone on our gossip walks! Look, I… I’m sorry I can’t do this. I’ll talk to you later Ma. Bye.”

Vee’s apartment became quiet save for her heavy breathing. As she ran her hands down her face, she noticed the wetness on her cheeks, not realizing she’d been crying. She went to the kitchen for a drink of water and headed back to bed.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Vee’s phone lit up the dark. Texts from Minnie and her mom popped onto her screen.

‘I know it’s tough, but it’ll be okay’ was sent from her mom two hours ago.

‘I’m finally taking some time off and will hopefully be home for a couple weeks’ was sent from Minnie about an hour and a half ago.

Her body sprang up from the mattress, and, going a bit too quickly, she fell out of bed. She called Minnie. Please don’t be a dream, please don’t be a-

“OH SUGAR! VEEEEEEEEEE! Hi girly, I missed you.”

“I miss you too, you Minnie Winnie! Please tell me it’s true.”

“Yes. I can finally leave. My higher ups were like ‘you need a break so I’ll approve it’, so now I’m leaving.”

“Thank goodness, when are you coming?”

“So, here’s the thing. I need a ride from the airport.”

Vee’s mind went blank. The airport? “Why are you… YOU’RE HERE? You little-”

“I’ll be at Terminal 2 and my flight leaves in fifteen minutes. See ya.” Click.

Vee rushed to her feet. She quickly texted her mom to come over stating that Minnie’s coming home. A quick look around at her apartment and she panicked. My bestie can’t see this. Her brain went in high gear as she prepared to finally see her best friend again.