“Oh, Aria, Sofia’s friend in Positano, loves those,” she said.
She folded her hands on her lap and crossed her legs as the silence grew between us. “Want to talk so we can go eat?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure what I’m more afraid of. Telling my side of the story or possibly being forced to watch K-dramas.”
Leyla laughed loudly, a sound I didn’t realize I’d missed. She used to be one of those people who would start laughing at something, then start laughing at herself. I’d seen her take ten minutes to get control of herself after seeing a dumb reel she showed me while working together. It was heaven. I couldn’t help but join in.
She took a deep breath as her melodic laughter faded quickly, as if she was doing something wrong. But I wished I could bottle up her laughter and take it with me to listen to on those long, lonely nights.
“Wow, didn’t realize how much I needed that. Thanks.”
“I’m happy to see you happy.” Her eyes met mine, her smile holding firm. When she turned away, I immediately missed her attention.
“Not sure this talk will do much good, other than to air it out so our work isn’t hindered, but let’s hear it.” She waved her hands for me to continue.
“Well, you’re not the only one who was not expecting any of this tonight.” I scoffed and said, “If I had known, it would’ve taken meweeksto prepare.”
“Meaning?” she asked, turning to face me again and leaning forward in her seat. The movement made her necklace swing forward, catching the gleam of the overhead lights. It always seemed to be tucked into her shirt at work. Seeing it again afterall these years, and knowing its significance to me, gave me the strength to speak.
“I just would’ve liked time to get my words together so I don’t make things worse.” I straightened out a nonexistent wrinkle in my jeans.
“Just talk to me. Not sure it can get any worse than losing a friend for almost ten years,” she said softly.
I paused, taking in her words. “You really considered usfriends?” I asked, surprised by this revelation.
She sat back slowly. “Wouldn’tyou? We spent close to four months working together on that project. All our free time, meals, late nights.” She shrugged. “Ithought we were friends.”
My already jumbled mind was racing. “That was exactly how I felt, but I wasn’t sure you did, to be honest.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I really enjoyed our time together. That’s why what you did hurt so much. Things didn’t turn out the way I thought they would.” Her voice held an emotion I couldn’t place, but whatever it was made me want to pull her into my arms and beg her forgiveness.
I didn’t answer for a few minutes, desperately trying to think of something to say to her without saying the wrong thing. I was already mentally exhausted, but I gathered my words as best I could.
“I’m glad to know you considered us friends, too. But in college, I found that most people hung out with me to improve their grades, as pretentious as that sounds. You obviously didn’t fall intothatcategory, but you and I were so different. It didn’t occur to me that you thought of me that way. Who was I compared to you?” I asked sheepishly.
“Well, no, we were different,aredifferent, but I valued our time together, valuedyou. I mean, you weren’t exactly what I’d call chatty, but when you were interested in something, I couldn’t stop you. And you were a great listener. Now, yoursense ofhumortook time to figure out, but you were actually pretty funny.” I couldn’t read what she was feeling, but she didn’t look angry, so that was at least something.
I chuckled. “Yes, like your sarcasm.”
“Hey, my sarcasm is legendary. I’m fluent in it.” She lifted her chin in mock haughtiness.
“It may be, but it took me a month to get used to it. I had no idea whether you were mad, happy, joking, or serious.”
“I must’ve been doing it wrong if it wasn’t obvious,” she joked.
“Yeah, well. Let me try to explain my side of what happened before your friends come back.”
When she nodded, I went on. “The night before, the one when you must have found what you thought was a solution, I left for a late shift at work. When I got up the next morning, I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed.”
“I remember. I got your emails.” There was a definite tone when she said ‘emails’ as if she were spitting out something sour.
“Right. But when the TA emailed you and me asking for further documentation of your findings, I was lost. One thing led to another, and he sent me some old research papers from Professor Logan’s former students. That’s when I found that your exact work had been presented a few years ago.”
She leaned her elbows on her knees, eyes narrowed. “Niko, I knew you weren’t getting home until 2:00 am, so I wouldn’t dare call you. I thought I’d see you in class the next morning.”
I huffed out a breath. “I understand that, but you should’ve mentioned what was going on when you answered my email letting you know I was sick. When I found the former student’s work, my only priority was protecting you.”
Her brows furrowed as her voice got louder. “Yes, you were sick. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to come to class like that. I had no idea all of this was going to happen so quickly. And wait.Protect me fromwhat? Don’t twist this into something it wasn’t. Just own up to what you did, and maybe we can move on.”
