Good Luck You'll Need It

“Elaina, we have so much to catch up on!” Grace called out across the supermarket floor, with many onlookers peeking up from their shopping carts. Elaina felt her face heat as she awkwardly smiled and extended her arms to hug Grace’s intrusion into her life. Typical Grace fashion; even in school she was always the drama queen. Was certainly hard to overlook when she even aced Drama Class.

“Let me pay for the long-life items now, and I’ll get the rest another time.”

“Great! You know how long we can yarn for!” Grace applauded before continuing. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, Elaina. And to see you here in this supermarket, it’s just so grand!”

Not quite the word choice Elaina had in mind, but was curious enough to see where this rekindling may land this time.

Walking across the cobblestones, Grace pointed to the closest café, stormed in, demanded an indoor table, and paid for a hot chocolate. “Still can’t have caffeine; it somehow affects me.” She revealed, and Elaina felt somewhat relieved by this small detail about Grace. It meant she was the same Grace she knew from school days, not some façade version she had become, whenever Elaina had nostalgically searched for her high school grade.

Not her normal choice for a café, and certainly not at this choice of seating; it felt too open, like anyone could hear their conversation, given that Grace could talk about anything and with volume, it was a dubious placement.

“So do tell me, why did you ghost me?” Grace asked before sipping on her newly arrived hot chocolate, as the powder coated her upper lip like a moustache. Elaina struggled for words.

“I never ghosted you, Grace; I’ve been here all this time.”

“Oh, yeah, you definitely ghosted me. We used to write to each other all the time! You know how I love that snail mail. Then all of a sudden you stopped sending to me. The last thing you had said was ‘Good luck – you’ll need it.’ That’s so inconsiderate of you!”

Elaina was well aware of Grace’s antics, and even the positioning of the café seemed too perfect for Grace’s positioning. Was this a setup? Had Grace planned this whole meet-up thing because she was about to find herself on an episode of Pranked or similar? Did they even do that show here in Perth?

“Green tea, with orange, almond cake?” The waiter interjected as Elaina collected her items, and herself, before responding.

“I had said that in good humour. You’ve always been so lucky with everything, so I figured you’d get my silliness around the comment. After all, we’ve been friends since prep.”

“You sounded incredibly unsupportive and honestly quite cynical. I had it pinned on that boyfriend you were seeing. He really turned you into something else.”

At this point, Elaina knew this wasn’t an episode of Pranked or a setup; well, sure, Grace had the means to stalk Elaina and spring on her like this whenever she felt like it. Grace was the queen of Facebook stalking and finding information from others whenever she pleased. Reminding her of the ex-boyfriend had been her way of poking at a sore spot in Elaina’s heart.

“Roger was certainly different, Grace. I wouldn’t recommend him to anyone, and I’m glad I had the tenacity and strength to break it off during the engagement. It would certainly have led to DV if I’d have stayed.”

“And it’s a shame you left it, for I had been hoping all this time to attend your wedding and say to you ‘good luck – you’ll need it.’”

“Grace, that’s not very kind to say to a person.”

“Of course it's not, but you told me to stay with my partner for all those years despite how he treated me.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Elaina reached her hand across the table, as the other covered her mouth in shock. “You can’t possibly mean you continued to be with Billy, even if you felt it wasn’t right for you?”

“You got it all figured out now don’t you? Who’s told you, Elaina. Honestly you didn’t care in the slightest about me! You wanted to feel higher and mightier, and that’s why you said what you did. You said, ‘Surely you can make it work’. Your words! Now look here: today I’m protected through a DVO, and my best bud can’t even admit her own work behind the scenes.”

Elaina felt her expression drop. “I think you’re misquoting me. I had said surely you can make it work when we were in grade 12 talking about Billy and the possibility that you might date him after graduation and if there were compromises to make then surely you can make it work.”

“Whatever, the fact is you’re also a very insensitive person!”

Elaina stared at the untouched orange-almond cake. The clutter of a dishwasher unpacking felt louder than before, along with the hiss of the coffee machine. It almost felt as if strangers were awaiting some dramatic statement from her, yet she felt too scared to look at anyone, let alone Grace, who sat across from her. Too often she felt those around her misunderstood the words she spoke. Blamed for her tone, her words, her help. It was frequently taken the wrong way.

“I was merely trying to encourage you that each relationship has its hiccups and that perhaps you should keep trying.” Was the only defence Elaina could think of towards her actions of the past.

 Grace had tightened her grasp on her own hot chocolate cup, “You never asked whether I was safe. And I was your bestie, Elaina! Just like you tried to wish me good luck, your words have always landed wrong.”

“Grace, I’m sorry you felt that way. I genuinely don’t remember saying these statements to you in this way.” Elaina was standing in her spot now. Cake and coffee untouched. She looked over and said, “Grace, I wish you all the luck in the world for a better future starting from today and if you need me, I’ll be around; you know how to reach out to me. For now, this conversation has me too heated, so I’m going to the park. Perhaps I’ll see you there.” She clutched her purse and grocery bag. As she made her way to the door, her shoulder got tapped.

“Good luck with everything Elaina, you’ll need it.” Grace smiled.