Impact

When Talia walked up for her turn, she flashed a quick smile at Asher. He gave her a sad half-smile back, but it was better than nothing.

“Well, me and Riley weren’t best friends, but we were best friends to the same person. So, I guess it counts for something,” Talia started, without a thought. Public speaking wasn’t difficult for her, even memorial speeches, so she wrote up a quick speech the night before.

“When we were really little, like before we can even remember, we were great friends. Our families hung out everyday, and we went on random camping trips together. I can barely remember it, but I remember that Riley, Aimee, and I would always go on trails together and take toothy grinning pictures at the top,” she continued with a chuckle.

The room was attentive, tears on everyone’s faces. It was inevitable – everyone was going to cry. But Talia hadn’t yet. Did that make her evil?

“When I saw Riley again after the longest time, it was weird. We were kind of connected by this old bond, but we didn’t rekindle our best friendship. Now, I wish we had – it would make for less regrets. But what I know is that Riley was an amazing person and he touched the hearts of so many,” Talia did the opposite of what everyone was doing and smiled.

“What’s wrong with me,” she thought. Her smile was loudly echoing throughout the room. She was an idiot. How could she be smiling so stupidly right then?

“Even though I didn’t know him all that well as his older self, I’m going to miss him so much. He was always there for everyone. Not many people can say that about themselves. Riley Williams will always be in our hearts,” she ended, still smiling.

All eyes were on her – some seemed patronizing. Possibly the person who hated her the most right then was herself.

“I am such an idiot,” she whispered to herself as she walked back to her seat.

“No, you’re not,” Asher responded with a wink.