Disclaimer: Without prejudice, the characters in this story are the property of Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Characters: Lula, Stephanie
Genre: General / Friendship
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Defining Friendship - Possibilities
From TT’s Miscellany

Tomorrow was that anniversary again. The one she wanted to forget and the one she wanted to remember.

She wanted to forget because it was the worst day of her life, but part of her wanted to remember because it was also the day that her life changed for the better and things had just kept going up from there.

Growing up as she had, working in that line of work, she never thought she could lead the life she did now. More and more she was forgetting she was an ex-ho and thinking of herself as a file clerk and a friend first. Throw in her relationship with Tank and she was an honest-to-God girlfriend, another thing she never thought she’d be. Too bad he was out of town this week.

She had been scanning through the radio stations in her car earlier and a phrase she heard on one of those self-help shows she never listened to stuck in her head “focus on the positive results from every situation”.

Oh, she’d heard that before, or things similar to it, but never as she faced a day like tomorrow

Today it stuck with her.

This year she was going to focus on how her life had changed for the better, not how horrible that one incident was.

Decision made, she headed to the mall.

The next morning she pulled into her normal parking space in front of the bonds office and lifted her extra-large purse onto her shoulder.

Pushing the door open, she greeted Connie with her head held high and a smile on her face. Tank had called her that morning just before she left. He reminded her that she was no longer a victim and that she was loved. He had reinforced it with a dozen roses that were delivered while they were talking.

Dropping her purse in the corner, she started filing, knowing Stephanie would be there in a few hours. She’d already caught a glimpse of three files sitting and waiting for her girl and knew going with her to pick up skips would be the perfect time to give her the gift. Lula was also positive she would be going with Stephanie today; it had become a tradition of sorts for them.

As expected, Stephanie breezed into the office two hours later, a box from Tasty Pastry in hand. The normal greetings took place and in short order she and Steph were on their way to the first house.

The first skip was really no problem and they quickly found themselves at the police station.

Though she didn’t go in, it had still taken all her patience and all the encouragement she could give herself to stay in the car and not leave. She really hated police stations.

She saw the surprise on Stephanie’s face when she was still there, but was thankful when there was no comment.

“Time for lunch,” Steph chirped, a smile on her face.

“McDonalds?” Lula asked, ready for a value meal. She watched the sly grin appear on her friend’s face.

“Not quite,” Steph replied, turning away from their usual restaurant.

Lula felt amazed and teary when Stephanie parked in front of Rossini’s. She could easily remember when Rossini’s was as far out of her world as Mars. It only took a moment for Lula to realize that she belonged there every bit as much as everyone else.

“Let’s eat,” Steph said, smiling widely.

Lula just smiled and exited the car.

They were seated and had placed their orders – for dessert first and then lunch – when she felt the moment had come. Reaching into her bag, she grasped the gift. Before she could pull it out, though Stephanie interrupted.

“I got something for you,” she said, pushing a small box across the table.

“You didn’t have to,” Lula deflected, touched by the thought.

Stephanie shrugged. “It’s a day to celebrate,” she said, blushing slightly.

Unwrapping the box and opening it, Lula gasped. Inside was a set of crystal earrings. As soon as she lifted one out of the box, a shaft of light caught the dangling crystal, refracting the light into a rainbow of colors. “Oh, giirrrl,” she said, tears springing to her eyes.

“I found those down at Point Pleasant,” Steph interjected. “The crystals are from a really old lamp, but the way they split the light in to colors reminded me of you.”

Lula looked at her friend, her expression clearly reflecting her puzzlement.

Blushing a dark rose, Steph explained, “You always add color to my world.”

A beautiful smile spread across her face as Lula quickly replaced her earrings with the ones Stephanie had given her. She could almost feel the light of friendship flowing out of her.

Putting her old earrings in the box, she slipped it into her purse and extracted her own present.

At Stephanie’s questioning look, Lula explained, “I wanted to celebrate a bit this year too. Meeting you changed my world and opened a whole lot of doors I never thought I’d be able to open.”

Unwrapping the gift, Stephanie smiled at the book. She and Lula had seen it at the mall on one of their trips. It was a photography book filled with different pictures from around the world. They had joked it was the only way either of them would see those strange and foreign places. Opening it, her eye was caught by an inscription on the cover. It read “Steph: ‘Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.’ – Anais Nin Thank you for showing me worlds I didn’t know existed. – Lula”

Tears sparkled in Stephanie’s eyes. Blowing out a shaky breath, she shook her head and tried for a grin. “Yeah,” she agreed. “The wonderful world of garbage, Vaseline, stalkers and crazies.”

Knowing how much Stephanie hated dealing with emotions, Lula let the comment slide. Her friends face told her all she really needed to know. “Yeah,” she said with a wink. “And let’s not forget the world of batman, too.”

They both laughed at the comment as their dessert arrived.

End

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