Between Friends

by: Jack Hendry

Lyla sat at a table in the corner of the quiet cafe, sipped a small coffee, and watched people, busy with their own lives and problems, move about their day. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn’t notice Terrence had slid into the seat across from her until he cleared his throat and said, “Hey, Lyla.”

“Hey, Terrence, how are you?”

“Good.”

They sat like that for a moment, neither knowing what to say. Lyla spoke again.

“I know that we haven’t talked for a while, and I’m sorry for that. I needed to clear my head before I could talk to you again. We said some things to each other when we last spoke that were really heavy, and I think we needed some time before we could face each other again.”

Terrence gave a thin smile and said, “I know. I’m really sorry for the things that I said. I was mad, and I went overboard. I’m sure you feel the same about the things you said.”

Lyla took a deep breath.

“No, Terrence, I meant what I said.”

“Oh.” Terrence’s thin smile turned into a frown, and he furrowed his brows, looking hard at Lyla. There was a sense of betrayal in his eyes, Lyla thought, and she could see the same anger she saw in their last argument flicker there as well.

“Terrence, do you respect me?”

The furrow grew deeper.

“Respect you? Of course, I do. When have I ever given you the impression that I don’t?”

Lyla sipped on her coffee and replied, “Your jokes and comments at my expense give me that impression. How you second guess me in front of others, too. We’ve been friends for so long that I have just ignored most of it and only said something when you went too far, but it has always hurt. I never understood why you acted like that, but I usually just let it go until last time.”

Terrence seemed like he was about to say something, but then paused before looking out the window next to them. In his mind, he tried to look back on their friendship, to see if he could see what she meant, to really understand her view. He sighed before he spoke.

“I think I tease you the way that I do because I feel so close to you. I felt like it was always to lighten the mood or make us laugh. I never did it because I wanted to hurt you or upset you. I felt like because our friendship was so strong you would know that I never truly meant what I said.”

He tried to think back on the fight, how it started. He remembered the joke he had said after someone had commented on how much they had eaten earlier in the day.

“That’s just Lyla’s everyday routine, and she’s still hungry for dinner, right?”

He had tossed out a cheesy grin to her that he thought she had understood, but when he met her eyes, all he had seen was quiet anger. Later, after he noticed she had been cold to him that entire night, he pulled her aside. That was when they fought outside a little Italian restaurant with all their other friends still inside. That was where they had said they hated each other.

Lyla took a long time to speak, and when she did, she spoke in a quiet voice that barely reached Terrence through the dim chatter that surrounded them in the cafe.

“If that was true, then why do you always tease me about the things that you know hurt me the most.”

Terrence opened his mouth and closed it. For some reason what she said bounced around in his head like an old screen saver. He thought about it for a long time, until the phrase lost its meaning to him and slipped away. He had a loose grip on any real reason, nothing concrete, nothing that could fix this. He felt a lump in his throat and heat on his neck but tried to continue searching for a reason why he would hurt his friend.

Lyla smiled at Terrence, a sad smile, as she watched her old friend struggle with the reality of his character.

“Goodbye, Terrence, I hope one day you can find that out.”

She left him there, looking out the window looking for an answer.