Ginny-Ella

“The loss of a friend is never fun.” The nasally priest, Fr. Gibbon said, “Especially when that friend is Joe.”
“Fr. Gibbon! His name was John!” Jordyn’s sister, Hope, hissed.
“Yes, isn’t that what I said?” Fr Gibbon asked, sounding annoyed.
Hope rolled her eyes and went back to her job of comforting her nieces, who were doing very good at fake crying.
“The loss of a husband is never fun.” Fr. Gibbon continued, “Especially when that friend was Jack.”
“John!” Hope hissed again.
“I said that!” Fr. Gibbon said, sounding annoyed.
I smiled despite the tears that were still falling.
“The loss of a father is never fun, either.” Fr. Gibbon said.
I groaned internally. That priest could talk! I turned around looking for my friends. I saw my cousin, Maggie. Looking around some more, I saw my three best friends, Juliet, Sarah and Alice. We hadn’t known each other for very long, only since I transferred to private school, but I knew they were trustworthy. Me and Juliet went to the private school and Sarah and Alice went to the public school in town. I was more like Alice, and Juliet like Sarah, but we all meshed together as friends. Our differences didn’t matter when we were together.
Looking around some more, I was surprised to see some of my other friends from public school, Sidney and Polly. I hadn’t seen them since the wedding, but I was so happy that they came.
Finally, Fr. Gibbon was done. I leaped out of my chair, dodged my old relatives and ran to my friends.
“You guys!” I cried as I threw myself at Juliet
“Woah, easy there, Gin!” Jules laughed.
Juliet laughed for a second than stopped when she realized I was crying into her shirt.
“Hey, Gin.” Julie said softly, wrapping her arms around me.
“Gin.” Sarah and Alice said kindly, wrapping their arms around me and Juliet.
I sobbed and sobbed into Juliet’s chest until Jordyn came over, “Come on, you brat.” Jordyn said rudely, “We’re going to the luncheon now. We can’t have you being late.”
I lifted my head from Julie’s chest.
“Aw, that was my favorite shirt!” Juliet said jokingly, looking down at her now-soaked shirt.
I smiled sadly, “Sorry.” I said quietly.
Julie’s smile faded, “I was kidding, Ginny. I really didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” She said softly.
“I know.” I said, suddenly becoming very interested in my shoes.
“Aw, Ginny. Just ignore Juliet like we always do.” Alice piped up.
I smiled.
“There ya go! Jules just has to figure out how to cheer people up the right way.” Alice said elbowing Juliet in the side.
“Ow!” Juliet complained, rubbing her side, “That was completely unnecessary. And it would have worked if…. Ginny hadn’t been going through deep tragedy.” Julie said carefully. I smiled at her gratefully. I knew Juliet’s sense of humor and knew she was really watching what she said.
I hugged her again, tears running down my cheeks once more, “You’ll just never know how much it means to me that you’re all here.” I sniffled.
If it wasn’t now, Juliet would have probably replied with some snarky comment, like, “Of course we’d be here, you dork! We’re your BFFAEAEAE!” Pronounced “Biff-uh-ee-uh-ee-uh-ee.”
But she didn’t.

It doesn't matter how far apart we are now
You can add up all the miles in between
If you take a good look all around now
All you see is you and me
When I look at myself in the mirror
I see you standing there smiling at me
And I'm right back at the beginning
Lost inside this memory
I won't ever let go, all that I want to hold onto

That we belong together
Like the moon and stars and midnight
We'll be strong forever
Cuz we belong together
Whoa, whoa... whoa whoa

~Together by Michelle Branch