When Friendship Became A Competition

“Answer your phone please,” Maxine urged Kyra while they enjoyed their lunch at their favorite diner.

Kyra’s eyes swayed towards her, then her phone on the table to her right, then back at her and said into the phone, “hello Peaches.”

“I am sorry for whatever I did,” Peaches apologized. Then asked, “what did I do again?”

Staring at Maxine, Kyra said, “When I was back home, and you were in New York, we had a great friendship because I was looking up to you. You held the handle, and I held on to the blade. Now the playing field is even. You have turned a twenty-year-old friendship of love, honesty, and kindness into a competition.”

Silence controlled even their breaths, broken when Peaches grabbed a deep sigh, asking, “How did I do that?”

“You know the best and worst part of me. Whenever you are supposed to recommend me for employment, you hide.”

Another sigh and she said, “What am I supposed to do if I am not available?”

“You haven’t been available five times in three years. Was there ever a time in our twenty-plus years friendship I was unavailable to and for you?” Kyra asked, sliding back to more than twenty years of honesty, kindness, and love their friendship used to sit on.

Not getting a response, Kyra reminds her, “More money slid through your palms, hands, pockets, wallet, purse, and bank accounts than mine.”

“Yet still your life is better than mine,” fell from Peaches’ lips in regret.

“She’s not responsible for the mess you made of your life!” Maxie fired at her through the phone.

“You used to have a good heart. What happened?” Kyra questioned verbally and mentally.

“So that’s why you refused to help a friend who has always been there for you?” Maxine asked before Peaches could answer, her eyes glaring at the phone still sitting on the table between them.

“All I wanted was what you had,” Peaches confessed.

“And what is that?” Kyra asked.

“A husband and a house.”

“But you have a husband, and all of that money that you wasted on looking good could have bought three houses,” spurred out of Maxine’s thoughts in shock.

“So, you entered into a competition with someone who has already won the race,” Kyra said in deep thought.

“Wait a minute!” Maxine called out. “That’s why you refuse to help her to gain employment? Because she has what you want?”

“She does nothing to herself. She doesn’t do her nails, hair or face. Yet she manages to hold on to a man for more than thirty years. I look better than her,” hate and jealousy spurred from a trusted friend.

“And she is responsible for your failed marriage?” Maxine fired.

“I am better than her. And have more than her, ” hatred argues.

“The little she has that she used to live good cannot be compared to the millions you have wasted on looking good that she has helped to put into your hands. It’s something you should learn from. When we live good, we end up looking good,” Maxine exploded in rage.

“I don’t understand,” Kyra said. “Don’t we have a right to live the life we want without punishment and judgement from the ones who knows us best?”

“So she is to be punished for loving and knowing herself?” Maxine defends as Kyra’s left-hand covers her mouth, tears reeling down.

“She has what I want. I can’t help her to be better than me,” Peaches venom continues.

“You destroyed a great friendship because of envy?” Maxine demands.

“You would have done the same thing!” Peaches throwback.

“No, I wouldn’t,” Maxine protests. “Because I know the value of friendship. I am aware it’s a gift, and when or if you get it, treasure, nurture and grow it. And never allow it to die!”

A voice cut in, saying, “tell her the damn truth, girl!”

Maxine’s eyes touched Kyra, whose brows shot up unconsciously.

The same voice shared, “we refuse to recommend you because you will come into our circle with your honesty and do your best. Our circle is a lion’s den and no place for honesty and goodness!”

“But I ran her business back home for more than ten years. I fed her honesty which she feasted on as if it was going out of style. She achieved success that my best gave her,” Kyra defends, recalling the millions of Jamaican dollars that she guided into Peaches’ hands and bank account. Some of which are in several financial institutions across Jamaica, accumulating interest.

“Well,” the same voice said. “You messed that up when you came to the US.”

“So she became a threat to your existence by coming here?” Maxine spewed out, enraged.

“All good things must come to an end,” the same voice said.

Maxine disconnected the call, consoling Kyra, then apologized, “I am so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me what she was doing?”

Easing out of Maxine’s embrace, then wiping her eyes with a handkerchief from her purse nearby, Kyra explained, “She turned our friendship into a competition, so I decided to remove myself so she could win.”

So that’s why you were ignoring her calls. I didn’t know, or else I wouldn’t have put you in this position.”

“I didn’t want you to resent her for what she was doing to me,” Kyra explained.

“I am so sorry,” Maxine consoles. “I can’t believe she did that.”

“It’s her loss,” Kyra said.

“Yeah,” Maxine agrees in deep thought. “I like what you said about competing with someone who has already won the race.”

Many compete with their friends, who have already won the race, destroying great friendships. Refrain from competing with your friends and others living the life they worked for and earned. Don’t hate your competition. Instead, learn from them.

P.S. When you live well, you end up looking damn good. Because life’s rewards often show on the outside!

This piece is Non-fiction, written this way for better understanding.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoy it and will savor more from some talented writers on this platform. Whose links are below.

https://vocal.media/proof/in-what-furnace-was-thy-brain

https://vocal.media/fiction/the-rain-maiden

https://vocal.media/fiction/hook-s-hand