Unbelievably Belated Memory.

It all started with two thirteen-year olds who sat next to each other in English class. Now English class was not a very quiet class, nor was it a class where the teacher talked a lot. It had a lot of group work and everyone was paired up in twos according to their seating. Naturally, you got to know quite a bit about the person you sat next to.

N and L were seated next to each other. They did not know each other and they didn't have the same circle of friends. However, after a while, they started talking. They talked about family, school, and they shared funny little stories. They had mutual friends and as time passed, started to hang out together in the odd little break set out originally for prayer. Eventually, their friendship panned out of the frame of the classroom. They would call each other, talking about nothing in particular or just gossip.

They were quite different from each other. N was social, she knew everybody and everybody knew her. L, on the other hand, was more shy and comfortably confined to her social circle.

In the summer of that year, N and L starting hanging out which mainly consisted of shopping. All dolled up and in high heels, makeup shopping. It was just the beginning.

It started from there and took off, birthdays were planned meticulously, phone calls never under an hour, text messages about everything and nothing, every problem was dealt with together.

As they got older, their problems increased in number and got more serious. They never budged, always there for each other. Staying up just to wait for the post-problem phone call, making the other feel better, sometimes to ask the other to interfere with a problem - make it better.

After they graduated from high school, N went abroad and L went to college at home. It was not easy to accept change, especially when it was that vehement of a change. College started and each got busy in their own lives, it was hard to keep in touch and there was a lot going on. Issues between them came up yet they overcame them all.

The great thing about their relationship was that once N came for a visit, the pieces all came together and everything made sense again. It's as if nothing has changed. However, the moment they are separated, the pieces scatter once again.

With time, like a routine, they both got used to it. They had their separate lives away from each other and yet another separate one when they were together.

Days filled with running random errands, going out for a coffee, light shopping, helping each other pick out presents, baking, staying at home, gossiping over a hot drink, watching a movie. These meant the world even if they did not really do anything meaningful. Those moments were cherished; appreciated till the next time they were together.

They might not be as close as before, but they have each other. Always there at whatever hour of the night, always just a phone call away.