LELANI
“Rory,”I exclaim. “I'm so happy to see you. Oh, look at you,” I murmur, draping an arm around her shoulders and moving away with her from the door.
Her eyes sparkle with a grin when I shift my focus to her face.
“You look good,” I say.
“So do you.”
She gestures faintly at my dress.
“Oh, this? This is nothing. How was your trip?” I ask, stepping away and making her do the same.
A year younger than me, Rory is the only daughter of a businessman from Boston.
We met in New York, where we attended the same exclusive private school.
Normally, I would shy away from everyone, especially someone younger than me like her.
Still, she caught my eye one day as she was eating her sandwich.
Big, tie-dye, furry, wireless headphones were framing her face, a mix of coral pink and turquoise blue.
She looked so cute with her big blue eyes, a smattering of freckles across her nose, and a mane of curly, light-brown hair.
She wore baggy clothes and an oversized neon-green backpack that made her stand out from the crowd.
We struck up a conversation despite our very different choices in clothing and demeanor.
I was standoffish and sarcastic at all times, and my sexy clothes drove people crazy, while she felt good in her skin and couldn’t be bothered with the rest of the world.
I wanted to be more like her and told her that straight out. She laughed, and we left together.
Later, I found out she only had her father, who was an angel in comparison to the men in my family.
I liked her even more.
I only met the man once. He traveled to New York for business, and Rory and I met him for lunch.
He was a pleasant man, and she was even more comfortable when he was around.
Rory instantly became the reflection I never had.
I looked at her and imagined I was her. Did my best that day to impress that man. I knew it was important to him that Rory’s best friend had all the qualities of a good person.
He expected me to be loyal, sincere, and reliable.
And I was.
I gave him a palatable story about my family and left it at that. He heard about the Gallos, and from his reaction, I couldn’t tell whether he knew the whole story or not.
Rory and I became inseparable after that, but life became difficult for both of us when I left New York.
She was attending college, and I was living on a different continent. The distance was killing us.
We chatted over the phone, and she came to visit me as often as she could.She loves this place, and I do, too, particularly because of her.
That’s Rory to me.
