[Twenty-Somewhere] Episode 22: Walking the right path

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“YOU WHAT?!” Claudia and MJ ask in unison.

Sophie winces and pulls her cell phone away from her ear. “I broke up with Diego.”

“This is a joke, right? A late April Fool’s prank?”

“Has to be,” Claudia says. “No one — and I mean no one — would dump a Rodrigo Santoro look-alike. Especially not when he’s as charming and intelligent and–”

“You’re not helping,” Sophie interrupts.

“Sorry! It just seems strange to choose X when he’s on the West Coast and Diego is right there with you.”

“But if you’re really done with him, can you ship him to England? I’ll pay for it.”

The three girls laugh.

“Sorry, but no. I’m not ‘done with him,’ we’re still friends! And anyways, I didn’t choose X.”

“Then what– Why– Huh?!” Claudia has some trouble finishing her thoughts.

Sophie sighs. “I’m in this weird place right now, where everything is up in the air. I don’t know what’s going to fall down or just fly away, and I certainly don’t know what I want. The only thing I’m sure of is that I’m moving forward — I can feel that — and I didn’t want anything holding me back.

“So, between Diego and X, I chose nobody. Or rather, I chose myself.”

“Oh.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

There is an appropriate and respectful amount of silence.

Then MJ says, “So you’re voluntarily unemployed and single?”

“I’d smack you if you were here,” Sophie threatens. “But yes, I am. Sometimes the right path isn’t fun, but you still have to walk it.”

“Very true, kemosabi.”

Sophie snickers. “And what about you, young grasshoppers? Anything new in your lives?”

“Eh. Felix and I made up, and he’s quasi-dating the girl he kissed at the bar.”

“Quasi-dating?”

“I don’t know what it means either, but I don’t really care. We’re friends again, he’s happy, and she’s nice. That’s all that matters.”

“Uh huh…” Sophie has her suspicions, but she decides not to pry. For now. “And you, Claudia?”

“Not much here. Writing too slowly as usual. Although I did make a new writing friend.” She proceeds to tell them all about Ramona, the blonde pixie with good story ideas, and how they meet every week at the library to chat and critique each other’s work.

“That’s awesome. Sounds like y’all can really help each other out!”

A look of guilt crosses Claudia’s face, and she’s glad her friends can’t see. “Yep, that’s the plan.”

# # #

A few days after the conference call, Claudia still can’t stop thinking about what MJ and Sophie said: Sounds like y’all can really help each other out! … Sometimes the right path isn’t fun, but you still have to walk it. Claudia knows she hasn’t been walking the right path.

At their next meet-up, she and Ramona exchange their usual pleasantries. Claudia talks about the latest trouble her puppy Max has gotten into, and Ramona complains about moving back in with her parents after graduation.

“I don’t pay any rent, but I wouldn’t exactly call it free room and board, you know? I’m just paying a different kind of price,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “It’d be so nice to get away, even for a weekend.”

It’s sooner than she expected, but Claudia sees the opportunity. She doesn’t want to take it, but she knows she has to.

“Actually, there might be a way you could do that.”

“Oh?”

Quickly, in a long rush without breath, Claudia tells Ramona about the Words Beneath Your Wings contest. She also confesses to having kept it a secret for the past week, lowering her eyes shamefully. Finally, she offers to withdraw her entry, if Ramona wants her to.

A mix of emotions play across Ramona’s freckled face, but Claudia can’t isolate or identify any of them. Personally she feels relieved, but nervous too. What if she ruined this new friendship already by being jealous and competitive? How silly. How stupid.

At last, Ramona looks at her. And smiles. “One roundtrip ticket to anywhere?”

Claudia nods.

“South Africa? Russia? Djibouti?”

“Even Djibouti,” Claudia laughs. Then she has to ask. “You’re seriously not mad at me?”

Ramona shrugs. “What’s there to be mad about? There’s still a week left before the contest deadline, and you did end up telling me. That’s probably better than I would have done in your place.”

Claudia scoffs. “Please, you’re way nicer than I am. As evidenced by your forgiving reaction right now.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that…”

Not wanting to get into a humility contest, Claudia decides to change tack. “Well, what I am sure of is that you have seven days to write a better story than mine. So show me what you’ve got!”

Grinning, Ramona hands her a short stack of paper stapled together, and they settle down to the work at hand.