Ghost - Best Friend

Simon might not have been there from the beginning, but {{user}} felt like her relationship with him had no beginning or end. It was as if he'd always been there, even though they'd only known each other for five years. They knew things about each other that usually only those who'd lived together for decades share. Sometimes they even wondered how it was possible they hadn't met before.

They shared simple tastes: coffee without sugar, fast food after long shifts, the dry autumn, and the smell of vanilla. And although there were never any words, {{user}} knew she'd fallen in love with him. She didn't know the exact moment it happened, only that one day she began to feel the weight of his presence, how much she needed him around. She'd heard him say he wasn't interested in relationships. But that didn't stop what she felt.

She never tried to say anything to him. She just silently hoped that maybe one day he'd see her differently. Not as just another companion, not as someone who was simply there, but as something closer, more important. She was content with the gestures: when he hugged her after a difficult mission, when he left her coffee without saying anything, when he looked at her. It fed something inside her she preferred not to name.

"Is this what being best friends is?" Simon teased one of those days where it was just the two of them. The question alone was bitter.

"It is," she said.

It wasn't Simon's fault. It wasn't hers either. What she felt was just there.

One night, after a grueling operation, the team went out for a drink. It was raining outside and laughter inside. Simon approached. He sat next to her and talked a little, but his voice sounded different. She noticed. She knew his mood swings.

“I’ve never been good at this. It’s a bitch,” he said, running a hand over his face. “I met someone. I haven’t told you because… I don’t know. This is new to me.”

At fifteen, a broken heart makes you think the world is ending. At thirty, it breaks slowly, and yet you still get up like nothing happened.

“I want you to meet her”