Along Came Love

The sky was starless as Beverly Bowens took the short risky run to her car as the thunder rumbled loudly. She was just returning from a visit with her best friend since high school, Cameron. They'd been virtually inseparable since then, even through the university years. She was beyond grateful for the presence of Cameron in her life, not willing to trade that friendship for anything in the world.

Cameron had just given birth, and she had been discharged from the hospital, but it didn't matter since Beverly had been there since the first day, murmuring words of encouragement, words filled with love. The love she had towards her best friend could not be overestimated; it went beyond what people regarded as love. Hurting Cameron was synonymous with hurting Beverly. It was just the way it was, the way both of them lived. They weren't just friends; they had a bond that couldn't be explained or deciphered by merely looking, it went far deeper than that.

Beverly gave a wry smile as she remembered the way the baby wrapped her finger with his tiny hands, the burst of love that she felt. It was truly beautiful, and she loved it. But she wasn't one to live in a fairytale, and she knew love was a given for her best friend but not for her. Cameron had always been the lovey-dovey one, the one who believed that people deserved second chances. She wasn't like Cameron; she was more realistic. She saw everything that Cameron never saw, and she saw that humans never really change. They acted it, they sometimes even convinced themselves. But no matter what happened, they reverted to their baser instincts.

Beverly had only had one boyfriend in all her life, and he was the type of person that most girls would want. Smart, suave, savvy, with an innate charm that spoke of his gentlemanly attributes. She believed he was the best for her, the fact that every other girl wanted him buttressed it. He was her everything, all she'd ever think about. She felt dreamy, like a character in a fairytale. He was beyond perfect; he was the poster boy of what all boys should be—perfect hair, sensitive, romantic, respectful, and above all, clean to the toenails. The only problem she had was, he wasn't loyal at all. He loved her or tried to. But since all the girls wanted him, he gave himself to them. He wasn't hers; he’d never been. It was just her turn in the roller-coaster called love, or was it heartbreak? She broke it off and was a mess for weeks. The good thing was her best friend never knew about it. She hid it so well, nobody else knew. After then, she steeled her heart and promised to let nobody else in.

Even though it'd be a long time since then, Beverly wasn't one to forget easily. The pain remained afresh for a few years after then and tried as she did to forget, the memories haunted her.

"To love is to surrender, to choose to be defeated. To love is to lose the battle, the battle of wits and wills. To love is to die while being alive."

Those words governed the way she saw life, how she approached it. She saw love as a weakness for those who could afford to be weak, those who could afford to give up on everything. She saw love as a battle and giving in to it was the same as handing her freedom and sanity away. Other people could choose to fall in love but not her, not in the least.