“Between you, me, and the wall, I don’t know what to do!” Lucy whispers in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Lucy and I have been friends since high school. We were inseparable at the time.

Since I moved away for college to London and Lucy remained in our hometown, we lost contact, as I did with most of my friendships. I realized my dream of moving to Europe, but I slowly lost my life back in Texas.

However, my sister got sick so I moved back to Dallas two years ago. I stayed with my family as much as I could and I spent all my free time with my sister, until she was not here anymore.

After that, my life became a loop. Work then home. I didn’t have a life anymore.

Lucy was the light through this dark period of my life. She entered my life again last year and helped me. She tried to free me from my thoughts and demons.

During the last week, she has been distant, she never called or texted to say hi. I could tell something was going on because I usually hear from her every day. Sunday she texted me saying she wanted to meet me as soon as possible. I immediately answered, I was really worried. She just said she wanted to talk to me in person. My thoughts went crazy and I couldn’t stop thinking about what she wanted to tell me.

Now it’s 8 p.m. on Monday and I’m waiting for her at this fancy restaurant in the city.
“What happened?” I say while she is taking off her jacket, about to sit on her chair.
“Wow. Not even asking how I am is rude”, she answers me with her perfect smile but I can tell she is worried because I know her.
“Lucy, you literally texted me yesterday saying you wanted to meet me as soon as possible. I thought something happened to you and I was scared,” I almost yelled at her.
“I’m sorry, I’m just overwhelmed by the situation.”
“If you would tell me what’s happening, I could help you,” I said angrily.
“Ok, ok. Let’s just order food first.”

After ordering our food and speaking about useless things, I start ticking my fingers on the table and staring at her. As she noticed that, she knows that time’s up for waiting.

“Lucy, I just want to know. We’ve been here for 30 minutes and you still haven’t told me why we met. I love staying with you but there’s a reason why we’re here today and I want to know, now.”
“I’m going to move,” she finally reveals.
“What? You need to move where?” I’m just really confused.
“I need to go home.”
“I’m sorry what?” and at this point I’m just even more lost. She has always lived here. We’ve been to school together, are we not from the same town?
“I need to go home,” and in the loudness of the restaurant, I just hear her, “I’ve always lived with my aunt and uncle here, as you know, because my parents did not have a stable life, that was hard for me to join because of school.” And now pieces were coming back together.

I always thought her parents did not want her or that she had been adopted, she doesn’t like talking about them so I thought that was an option. I asked once and she was too vague to ask further.

“I decided that I want to try to live near them, even if we have a bad past together, because in the end, I want to give them a shot after years of trying to have contact with me.”
“Where?” I ask in shock.
“London.”
“Wow.” I’m just in shock. I never thought about it. She doesn’t have the accent but I bet it’s because she moved to the U.S. when she was a baby. And then I realize I have no idea of who they are, what about their past?
“What happened between you and them?”
“After they divorced, it had been just a matter of who had my custody and it has been wild. I don’t remember that period of my life because I was like two but I just know that at the end, I’ve been sent here,” she says while I’m almost crying because I feel bad for her, “I’ve been mad with them for years, but I’ve never known how they took this insane decision.”
I have no words.
“I don’t know what to do but also I feel like I need to go and experience a life with them after decades without seeing them,” she spits it out almost as if she was afraid of losing her voice.
“I’m coming with you.” It’s the only thing that I manage to say.
“What?”
“I’ll come with you.”