We Were Always Meant To Say Goodbye

The true story of my best friend moving away.

I'm Leavin on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again.

    The song had been replaying in my head since last night, when it had finally hit me that my best friend, Haley, was leaving. What would I do without her? She was one of the best people I'd ever met in my whole life. The other third of our equation, Emma, was moving to Colorado in the summer. We'd be completely separated.

    "We're both crying," Emma revealed on the phone that last day with Haley. "Just have your Mom drive you over here."

    I was already nearing my breaking point. My Mom drove me over to Emma's house, where she and Haley were sitting on her bed, drying their tears. I gave Haley a hug, letting a tear fall.

    "How about we have a big cry fest later? We should do something fun with this last half hour I have with you guys." Haley sat next to Emma's laptop on the bed. "We were about to watch stand-up comedy."

    "Really?" I laughed. "That will be fun."

    "Yeah, it's Daniel Tosh," Emma told me.

    We lied flat on the bed, chatting as Emma searched for the Youtube video.

    "Every time I hear our song, I'm going to start crying," Haley laughed.

    Once when the three of us had hung out, Haley and I became obsessed with the song "Bottoms Up". We weren't huge rap fans, but the song was fun. So, it had become "our song".

    "I know," we laughed together. "We're going to video-chat all the time, and just listen to it over and over."

    "Deal." she agreed.

    "Oh, here's the video," Emma clicked on the stand-up comedy video.

    The next fifteen minutes were spent laughing as hard as possible. We didn't bring up the fact that we were never going to be doing this again. We lied there, enjoying ourselves, knowing in the back of our minds that our friendship would never be the same.

     "Hang on," Haley paused the video as her cell phone rang. "Hello?"

    Emma and I knew. We knew that Haley was about to leave forever. San Francisco was starting to seem as far away as Mars. I prayed that we'd still be friends with her, and that California would treat her well.

    "It's time to go," Haley couldn't even look up.

    Neither of us said a word. We only stood up as Haley slipped on her shoes. She came over to hug me, and I let my tears fall. They dropped onto her shirt, but she didn't mind. Her eyes were welling up too, and Emma was sobbing as she threw her arms around Haley.

    The silence between us didn't feel awkward. We were content with it. Our friendship would never be the same, but being as close as the three of us were, we knew we could make it work. I'd never been so thankful for technology.

    "We'll walk you out." I broke the silence.

    Out by the front door, Haley hugged Emma's Mom goodbye. Emma's Dad came with us outside. Her Grandfather (who really didn't look more than his late thirties or early forties) was standing out by the car.

    "Hey," he greeted us. The cold, crisp air was drying our tears. "I know you three will stay in touch." he assured.

    "Thank you," Emma managed. I couldn't say anything, because I know if I did, I wouldn't be able to finish a sentence.

    Our arms stayed around Haley as her Grandfather loaded the car.

    "Okay, Haley, we'd better get you over to your Grandma's house." he finally said.

    This was it. How could this be it? I'd never had to say goodbye to a friend like this before. I'd dealt with friends moving, but she was moving across the country.

    "Bye, you guys." she hugged each of us tightly before heading towards her car.

    "I love you, Haley," Emma said for both of us.

    "I love you guys," she smiled, tears raining down from her bright eyes.

    There was no way I could manage to say anything. I whispered I love you, but I couldn't say it aloud.

    We turned around and walked towards the door. The tears were coming down like a strong hurricane, and I couldn't even watch as she left my life.

    There's no way I'd ever let her out of my life for good. This was only until she could get a Skype set up. We'd be best friends. You don't let people like Haley out of your life.

 

Author's Note

This is just journaling. I didn't really edit anything out of what actually happened, and I remember it all because this only happened last night. I literally shed tears while writing this.