One Wild Night

"What do you want me to do? Do you want me to fall on your shoulders and be a crying mess? Tell me, is that what you want?" Sonia asked, and Lucy shook her head.

"No. That is not the point, and you know what I\'m talking about. I walk into your apartment, and the first welcome I get as your best friend is that I\'m not needed. Do you know how annoying that sounds?" Lucy asked, beginning to get angry all over again.

"I..."

"No, don\'t say a word yet, and just listen to me, okay? I\'ve been tolerating this attitude of yours for all these years because I love you, and now I\'m beginning to think that maybe I was wrong to do so. Maybe if I had called you out on it instead of just letting you do as you pleased, all in the name of \'it\'s your personality\', we wouldn\'t be here right now..."

"What do you mean by that?" Sonia asked in a tight voice.

"All through the flight down here, I kept replaying everything you told me last night, and seeing your attitude right now, I think I can see where Bryan is coming from..."

"Lucy!" Sonia called in a warning voice.

"The plan was to come down here to comfort you and try to cheer you up, but since you insist that you are fine, then I don\'t need to do either of those. I\'m just going to be blunt and tell you exactly what I think," Lucy continued, ignoring the warning in Sonia\'s voice.

"Oh, wow! Because she now has a boyfriend, she thinks she knows better..."

"I promise you, Sonia, I\'m going to slap you hard if you make one more sarcastic reference to my relationship with Tom. Try me!" Lucy threatened, and Sonia blinked at her in surprise.

"What exactly is your problem?" Lucy continued in annoyance while Sonia merely stared at her in disbelief.

The Lucy she knew hated confrontations and would never talk to her this harshly or make such threats. She couldn\'t believe how Lucy had changed so much in such a short time. Or was she sounding this way because she was really upset? Sonia mused.

"So what are you trying to say? That I\'m a bad friend?" Sonia asked with a frown.

"Far from it. You are a great friend, but you are also very annoying. You want to be a friend to others on your own terms, and it doesn\'t work that way. You can\'t just make decisions and expect everyone else to stick by them," Lucy said and paused to make sure Sonia was following.

"Can you honestly remind me of one time you\'ve cried or been vulnerable in my presence apart from the times you cried with me or for me? Do you know how I felt hearing you cry last night while we talked? For a moment I thought, \'Sonia is finally becoming real with me\'. Do you have any idea what it\'s like to be best friends with someone that only shows you their happy and strong side?" Lucy asked, and Sonia sighed in resignation as she lowered herself onto the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"You are a wonderful person and an amazing friend, but I think you need to learn how to let people who love you be actively involved in your life the same way you are in theirs. You shouldn\'t just make decisions on your own and expect your loved ones to go along with them," Lucy said as she went to sit beside her.

"Alright. I\'m sorry," Sonia murmured softly, and her lower lips quivered as she tried to blink back her tears.

"I\'m not at my best right now, and I just don\'t want to inconvenience you. I\'m sorry if I made you feel I don\'t need you. I do, but I\'m just really sad and confused, and I don\'t even know what I\'m supposed to do," Sonia said as she broke into a sob, and Lucy embraced her.

"I don\'t need you to be at your best. That\'s why I\'m your best friend. Save all that for the paparazzi. All I need is for you to promise me that you will do better and then actually do better," Lucy said as she kissed Sonia\'s cheeks, and Sonia drew in a shaky breath.

"I will work on it," Sonia promised as Lucy wiped her tears.

"Good. Since we\'ve gotten that out of the way, let\'s go out and have some fun. Then we can both figure out a way to fix your relationship with Bryan," Lucy suggested.

"I have a meeting with my editor. I need to start leaving now," Sonia said as she glanced at the wall clock, and Lucy followed her gaze.

"I guess this meeting is to tell him you no longer want to work with him again, as we discussed?" Lucy asked, and Sonia sighed.

"Yeah. I\'m supposed to meet with a movie producer first. I plan to tell him after meeting with the producer," Sonia said, and Lucy gave her a nod.

"That\'s fine. I will accompany you if you don\'t mind. And then we can do whatever else you want for the rest of the day," Lucy said as she patted Sonia\'s hair.

"Alright. Let\'s do that. I should start getting ready," Sonia said as she rose, but Lucy grabbed her hand before she could leave.

"Everything will be alright," Lucy assured her, and she forced a smile.

"Sure," Sonia said before returning to the bedroom while Lucy picked up her handbag to take out her phone.

She just realized that she was yet to give Tom a call to let him know that she had arrived and to find out how Aaron was doing today.

While Lucy was in the living room trying to reach Tom, Sonia was in the bedroom replaying their conversation in her head, or rather, she replayed Lucy\'s words in her head as she tried to fix her face.

Lucy accused her of wanting things to be done on her own terms, and Bryan accused her of always calling the shots in their relationship. Was that really the case? Was she really making decisions on her own?

"You are going to be late for your meeting if you just sit there moping at your reflection," Lucy said as she walked into the bedroom with her phone in hand after unsuccessfully trying to reach Tom.

She had been unable to reach Tom. He was not receiving his phone calls, and neither was Harry. She wondered what they were up to.

Sonia sighed as she met Lucy\'s gaze in the mirror, "Do you think I am a control freak?" She asked, feeling unmotivated to go out.

She wasn\'t in the mood to dress up or put on makeup. She just wanted to lay in bed doing nothing. Both her head and body ached. She felt fatigued, and she was beginning to feel a cramp in her lower abdomen. She could sense that her menstruation was on the way. She made a mental note to wear a tampon on her way out. The last thing she wanted was to get stained.

"No. That is too intense. I won\'t call you that," Lucy said as she placed both hands on Sonia\'s shoulders while holding her gaze in the mirror.

"Bryan said I\'m always calling the shots in our relationship. And you said something similar," Sonia said with a frown.

Just some minutes ago, she had managed to convince herself that she had done nothing wrong and all the fault was from Bryan, and now she wasn\'t so sure anymore.

"Do you want to hear what I think about your fight with Bryan, honestly?" Lucy asked, and Sonia gave her a nod.

"Alright. From all you told me last night, I think Bryan has a valid point. Put yourself in his shoes. I mean, really put yourself in his shoes and think about everything from the start. Only this time, think about it from his perspective, not yours. Now, please don\'t misunderstand me. I\'m not trying to say I am in support of all his actions. I\'m only trying to say it would help if you see things from his angle while he also tries to see things from your angle. Now let\'s do it this way. I\'m Sonia, and you are Bryan, alright? Let\'s act it out from the beginning," Lucy suggested.

"I know you\'ve told me all that happened before, but that was over the phone, and you might have left a thing or two out, so let\'s go through it all again," Lucy said while Sonia tried to figure out whether or not she should tell Lucy that their friendship was also part of the reason Bryan was angry.

"Go on," Lucy urged her and walked away from behind her to go sit on the bed.

"I\'m going to be late if we do all of that...."

"Then let\'s do it as you get ready. It\'s easier to solve a problem when you know exactly what the problem is. The purpose of this is not to know who is at fault. It is to know exactly what the problem is so we can fix it," Lucy said, and this time Sonia smiled.

"You sound like a relationship counselor."

"Do you know that this is your first genuine smile since I walked into your apartment?" Lucy asked with a wide smile.

"We don\'t even know what the problem is yet, and you are smiling already. By the time we figure out what it is and how to resolve it, I assure you that you\'d be laughing in no time and twerking for me. So, go on. Be Bryan. Talk to me as you dress up," Lucy urged her.