Beachwood (h.s.)

Best Friend

"Hey Claire!" I say, looking at her through my phone screen. 

"Hi El!!" she says excitedly. Claire and I had been calling a lot more ever since seeing each other in San Francisco. 

"What have you been up to today?" I ask, laying on my bed and staring at my phone. It was Tuesday after work and I had decided to call her today.

"Just class," she says, sighing. "but good news, I'm graduating early." I look at the phone, eyes wide.
"What do you mean you're graduating early?" I ask. 

"Well, I talked to my advisor today and she said that I'm on track to graduate with my masters this year!" she exclaims. 

"You don't mean," I say, trailing off. 

"Oh, I do mean," she says. "High school dreams are becoming a reality." We both let out screams of joy.

"Wait so you want to move to LA when you're done?" I ask, joy and excitement making my heart beat faster. 

"Yeah, I need a break from freezing winters, five years is long enough," she says laughing. "Also, I wanted to talk to you about something else." I raise an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue. "Okay first, I'm not trying to invite myself over and you can totally say no, but I was wondering if I could maybe come visit for a little while and then we can fly home together?"she says the last part as if it was a question. 

"That's not even a question, but YES," I say excitedly. "When are you off school?" I ask. 

"Well I think the 16th of December, but I need to double check," she says. I nod. "So how are you a Harry?" she asks, wiggling her eyebrows. I bite my lip to hide a smile.

"Well things may have gone to another level," I say, trying to keep calm even though all I want to do is freak out and tell my best friend about how Harry and I said that we love each other. I hadn't actually told anyone yet, but Claire was the first person I wanted to tell. 

"Ohh what? Did you try- you know?" she says, intrigued. 

"I- what? No," I say, not even knowing what she was asking about. "I may or may not have told him that I love him, and he may or may not have said it back," I say smiling. Claire's face lights up and she gasps. 

"OH MY GOD ELIANNA MAE CHO WHAT!" she exclaims. "Okay, I can't wait to move. I need to be around this." I laugh. The thing that Claire is best at is making me laugh. We have so many inside jokes that we basically laugh at every other sentence that anyone says. Most of the time, we don't even really know why we're laughing. 

"Consider it motivation," I say. I walk into the kitchen and grab a glass of water. "Do you think you can get a job here?" 

"I may or may not already have one lined up," she says. I let out a squeal. 

"What? How? Where?" I ask. 

"I had an internship out here with them, but they have a branch in LA that I applied for and got the job!" she exclaimed. Everything felt so tangible now. I am so excited that I can actually live with my best friend. 

"Oh my gosh, okay well when you do move, we'll have to look for apartments together because my studio is definitely not big enough for the two of us," I say. Claire nods. 

"I should probably go, I have to study for my test tomorrow and it's already 9:30 here," she says. I nod and say goodbye before hanging up the phone and setting it on the counter. I set out to start making dinner, taking out ingredients from the fridge. I was feeling a little home sick today, so I decide to make some steamed egg with rice. My Ma Ma used to make it for me when I was little and eating it always makes me feel better. There's a knock at the door. I knew Harry was coming over after he was done at the studio, but he wasn't supposed to be here until 8. I go to open the door.