Fading Gold

By Francis Figueroa

 Loving Eve was always easy. From the start, it was as if Cara had found her missing piece. Some called it sandbox love; others called it an obsession. To her, they were just two souls who found each other in a cold, harsh world.

"Hey, if we were stuck on an island with no way out, would you eat me?" Eve said half-jokingly, with a playful glint in her eye while assessing her body in the mirror. 

"What the hell are you talking about, Eve?" Cara said, used to her weird questions.  

"I would. Eat you. I mean." Eve said as she looked behind her shoulder. 

"You're so cracked, you know." Cara retorted while standing up from her best friend's bed and walking around her childhood bedroom. 

"Oh, come on, I was only joking, Cara."  Eve Trailed off before fixing her sleek, matted hair for the hundredth time. 

"Only you can get away with joking about cannibalism." Cara rolled her eyes— a shiny heart-shaped necklace with the inscription BFF on Eve's dresser caught Cara's attention. 

"Oh my god. I remember when you made us get these at the mall, back when we were 13."  Cara sighed, a tinge of nostalgia in her voice as if longing for those carefree days. 

"Huh? Oh yeah, I remember that day! That was the day I kissed Scott Montgomery. God, that feels like a lifetime ago."  Eve said while approaching Cara, who was holding the necklace.  Immediately, she locked eyes with her, and a smile formed.  

"I can't believe it's been that long since I've had to deal with you," she said while nudging Cara and making the playful remark. Cara rolled her eyes at the comment and forced a smile, but a knot tightened in her stomach. Eve always had a way of brushing off the past, making light of moments that had meant everything to Cara. She clutched the necklace a little tighter, the cheap, cool metal pressing into her palm as if anchoring her to something more solid than the fleeting conversation.

"Yeah, a lifetime ago," Cara echoed, her voice softer, almost wistful. She looked down at the necklace, its once-bright gold color now dulled with age.

“ Remember how we swore we'd never take these off?" Cara said.

Eve shrugged and returned to the corner of the room where her mirror was. She drifted back to her reflection. "Things change, people grow up, you know how it is," she said while applying the finishing touches to her makeup.

Hearing Eve, her best friend and confidante, say that stung more than Cara cared to admit. Lately, every conversation seemed to end with Eve dismissing their past, and she was running out of ways to keep them connected. The unspoken tensions were like a heavy cloud hanging over their heads, threatening to burst at any moment. She slipped the necklace back onto the dresser, its chain coiling like a discarded promise.

"Hey, at least we're still here, and not everything has to change, right?” Cara asked, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice.

Eve glanced at her through the mirror, a flicker of something—pity, maybe—crossing her face before it vanished. "Of course not," she said, but her tone was distant as if the words were more for Cara's sake than hers.

Silence settled between them, thick and heavy.

"Do you ever miss it?" Cara blurted out, her voice trembling slightly. "The way things used to be?"

Eve turned, her expression unreadable. "Miss what? Being kids? Cara, we're not the same people we were back then. We've grown up."

"Have we?" Cara's voice was sharper than she intended, and she hated how desperate she sounded. "Because sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who still cares about... about us."

Eve's eyes narrowed slightly, her playful demeanor fading. "What are you trying to say?"

Cara hesitated, the words clawing at her throat. This wasn't how she wanted this to go, but it felt likeit was  now or never. "I just... I feel like I'm losing you, Eve. Like we're not on the same page anymore. You're always off with other people, doing things that—" She cut herself off, realizing how pathetic she must sound.

Eve crossed her arms, a defensive cutting edge creeping into her voice. "So what? Am I not allowed to have other friends? Do you expect me to just stay stuck in the past with you?"

"That's not what I mean, and you know it," Cara shot back, her frustration boiling over. "But every time I try to talk to you, you're somewhere else. It's like... like you're leaving me behind."

Eve scoffed, shaking her head. "Cara, you're being dramatic. Just because I'm not glued to your side 24/7 doesn't mean I'm abandoning you."

"Then why does it feel like it?" The question hung in the air.

Eve opened her mouth to respond but stopped, something unreadable flashing in her eyes. "You know what? Maybe you're right," she said finally, her voice cold. "Maybe we have outgrown each other. Maybe it's time you stop relying on me for everything."

Cara stood in stunned silence, the weight of Eve's words sinking in. Her heart felt like it had been shattered, and she struggled to breathe through the pain. The realization hit her hard: She was losing her best friend.

Eve's gaze remained distant, her posture rigid as if bracing herself for Cara's reaction. Cara's eyes stung with unshed tears, her vision blurring as she took a shaky breath. This was it—the moment she had feared but never truly believed would come. The last threads of their friendship were slipping through her fingers, and she couldn't hold on any longer.

"I... I should go," Cara said quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Eve looked up, a flicker of something—regret or perhaps relief—crossing her face, but she said nothing. Their silence was final, a poignant reminder of their growing distance.

Cara grabbed her coat from the hook by the door, her fingers trembling as she pulled it on. She gave one last, fleeting glance around the room—the place that had once been a sanctuary was now just a stark reminder of what was lost.

As she opened the door, a rush of cool air met her, starkly contrasting the heavy atmosphere inside. Cara stepped out into the evening light, each step away from Eve’s house feeling like a step further from the person she once was.

Her heart ached with every step she took down the path, the finality of the moment sinking in. Cara knew that things would never be the same, that this was the end of an era. As she walked away, she felt both a profound sense of loss and an uncertain hope for what lay ahead.

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