Hey, It’s Okay

Birds were chirping and hearts were beating. Ex-friends were sitting on swings side by side. Silence took over as they lightly swung to avoid conversations, and faces were buried in their own smartphones.

They decided they needed to talk long ago, but hey, they never really gotten the chance to. It was too complicated, too many hearts were breaking all around, and they needed the whisper to stop at all cost, even if it broke their friendship apart.

The young woman in her sundress sighed. “I miss telling you everything,” she said.

“You can tell me anything now,” he replied nonchalantly, like as if they hadn’t been ignoring one another’s existence for the past few months.

It was funny how two can throw everything away and pretend nothing ever happened. The long midnight calls, the conversations, the pathetic love advise. Has the wind of spring carried them away?

“What happened to us, Zac?” the young woman addressed him, and she knew how well he understood what she meant.

He sighed and smoked the cigar in his finger, “What happened, indeed?”

Her nose scrunched at the smell. She waved the smoke away with a hand. “Do you want to know what I think happened?”

She had her speculations.

He laughed, and until today she still believed he could read her mind. “You’re smart, Alice. You know that’s exactly what happened.”

“Your girlfriend hated me,” Alice let out an airy laugh. “Your best friend told me himself.”

Zac blew his cigar smoke. “She could get a little jealous.”

“It was never my intention to come in between you two,” Alice laughed. “But I respect your decision, Zac. I don’t like it, I miss you, but I understand. You gotta get your priorities straight.”

“Thanks,” he muttered.

Alice shrugged and started swaying. “I just wish you’d said something instead of just ignoring my existence out of the blue. I told you again and again to tell me if she was bothered, and you kept telling me that she was okay with us.”

He remained silent.

“Last text you sent me, you told me to chill out, and then that’s it.” Her legs dragged along the sand to stop the motion.

“Just like that, we became strangers.”

“We still text each other,” he lamely defended. He knew things were lost cause.

“About work, and those texts are always strictly professional and boring,” she rolled her eyes. She slipped off from her swing and sighed. “It’s okay though, I’m okay now. As long as you’re happy, Zac.”

If Zac wanted to add his piece of mind, she wouldn’t knew what it was. If Zac had any thoughts on the matter, she’d never find them out, at all. Because this conversation here, in this very park, was all imaginary of words that she wished she had said when she had the chance.

But now Zac’s existence in her life was nothing but a partner from work, and she let him have his way. She couldn’t put him in a difficult position, and so like the good friend that she was, she let him leave her on her own.

A teardrop fell, a warm breeze blew.

Despite all that, she could still hear the cracking in her heart. But that’s okay. She’s made it okay.