Beverly was still arranging some of the scented candles that Payton, her best friend gifted her, in the carton she planned on moving with. Payton was a collector of scented candles and after staying with her for a year, it had now become a thing for Beverly. She couldn't sleep without burning a lavender candle first. As she carefully put the candles into the carton, she smiled and thought about the first day she went candle shopping with Payton, it was the three days after she moved into her place. She moved in because she had just ran away from her abusive ex boyfriend, and because her family had pretty much disowned her, she had no where to go to. Before calling Payton, she had been sceptical because they had not seen or spoken to each other for almost two years prior to this time, and this was because her ex boyfriend did not want her to have any of her friends around. According to him, they did not care about their relationship and would ruin it by making her think something was up when nothing was. Beverly thought he was right and to make them stop arguing about whether she needed the company of her friends or not, she decided to stop contact with them.
When she called Payton, she hung up a few times because of how embarrassing it seemed for her but when her stomach started growling from hunger and because she was stranded where she was, she decided to put her pride away and call her. After they spoke for barely one minute and Payton heard of her situation, she got to her as soon as she could. The first thing they did was get food and then Payton took her home.
Beverly was still trying to process everything that had happened to her in the last two days with her ex but the comfort Payton provided gave her the strength and courage she needed to fix her life.
The candle shopping spree came after she finally told Payton everything that had happened and to brighten her mood, she offered to take her candle shopping, just to ease her mood.
"I don't want to do this, Pay" Beverly had said whining.
"It will be fun, I promise. Listen, we would not do it again if you don't like it." Payton held up her pinky finger indicating a promise.
So she agreed, but only because she knew that Payton will never make her do it again since she had pinky-swore on it.
That day turned out to be one of the best days she had had in a long time, so, it was not the last time they went candle shopping.
...
Just as Beverly sealed the carton with a transparent tape, her phone rang. When she checked the caller, it was the realtor that had helped her gotten her own apartment.
"Hello?" She spoke into the receiver.
Payton came into the room, she wanted to tell Beverly that she had made them lunch but saw that she was on a call so she just sat on Beverly's bed.
"Okay, thank you very much, I'll let you know when I get there...yeah, I understand, I'll inform the movers too...Of course...Okay then, talk to you soon, have a good day" When Beverly was done with her conversation, she turned to Payton and said, "Pay, I cannot believe I'm finally moving into my own place."
"Bev, don't break my heart like that, you know how much I dread this move. Do you really have to move? You know you can always stay here...with me"
Beverly smiled and went to sit beside her friend on her bed. "I know, but Pay, you have done so much for me. You are the bestest friend anyone could as for, but if I stay here, I will be too comfortable and that's not fair for you."
Payton brushed the strands of hair on Beverly's face and said, "I'm not complaining"
"Pay, you're my best friend, not my mum."
"Bev..."
"This is good for me, for you, for us. I need to find my own bearing."
"Fine, but you didn't have to find your bearing millions of miles away."
"My new place is a thirty minute drive."
"That's a million miles away"
Beverly chuckled and hugged her friend, "Yeah, you're right. it's a million miles away, but that's the place I got that job I told you about."
"You know what will be more fun?" Payton's eyes lit up in the way that told Beverly that they were about to do something crazy.
"What?"
"If we both go for the party I told you I wanted to go to tonight."
Beverly frowned and said, "Payton..."
"Come on, it will be fun. Who knows if this will be the last party you will attend the whole of this year. Being a teacher make you age and soon—"
"School admin. I'll be working as an admin, not a teacher" Beverly corrected.
"it's the same thing. Teacher, admin, what's the difference?"
"One works in the—"
"It doesn't matter. Let's just go out tonight and drink, party, flirt with cute guys and just be happy. Geez! we're just twenty four! what will happen when we're thirty-five?"
Beverly thought about it for a second and concluded that her friend might be right, this was the time to have some fun, and she might not do this in a while. ''You are right, what's the worse that can happen right?"
"Exactly! So, we're doing this."
"Okay, we are doing this" she agreed.
"Great! Now, let's go eat something, I'm starving and our food is getting cold."
As they stood up and walked out of the room, Beverly asked, "What did you make?"
"A steak sandwich."
"Awesome!"