Page 3 of Face-Off with my Childhood Best Friend

I take a deep breath, feeling torn between my family and my career. The stakes are high, and I know that leaving now could have consequences for my future in the modeling industry.

I’ll be the model that can’t be relied upon. But as I imagine my grandpa lying in that hospital bed, I realize that there are more important things in life than runway shows and couture dresses.

“Modeling can wait. Family always comes first. I need to be there for grandpa.”

A brief moment of silence fills the airwaves, and then a sigh of relief intermingled with gratitude reaches my ears. “Thank you, Nadia,” my mother says softly. “Your grandpa will be so happy to see you…” She hiccups a sob. “Me and your dad, too. Everyone has missed you, even Lucia. It’s not the same here without you.”

“I miss everyone, too.” I smile, surprised my sister was included.

"Then stop hiding away in Europe and come home for good," she says.

I sigh. “I’ll let you go so I can book my flight.”

“Love you, darling. Have a safe flight.”

Chapter 2

Oscar

“Nadia…” I breathe.

Nadia was my best friend all the way from kindergarten to high school, and one stupid comment was all it took for our friendship to end. Her beauty was so captivating that I couldn’t help but feel insecure, knowing it would inevitably pull her away from me.

I’ve given considerable thought to that remark, wishing that I wasn’t so emotionally vulnerable when I was younger ... However; I was.

“Maybe you and Nadia should catch up,” Mom says. I know she’s always loved Nadia, and she hoped one we would get together someday. We did... once. And that’s when I couldn’t hold my obsession with her back any longer. The moment I opened my mouth and the stupid words came rushing out.

“Modeling is a joke. Why would you want to do it? You’ve got a brain in your head.”

Rightly so, she took offense.

She went from being my everything to nothing at all. Overnight I lost her friendship. My entire world collapsed. It felt like a nightmare.

I tried reaching out to her, but all I received in return was an echoing silence.

Nadia didn’t speak to me for weeks. It turned into months. I remember the silence between us was suffocating. It was seeing her every day at school.

It’s clear to me now that our relationship ended because of my jealousy and lack of maturity.

The thought of someone getting to know her on a deeper level than I did and possibly stealing her away from me once she embarked on her modeling career heightened my jealously.

Immature because I never trusted that our love would be enough that my girl would never want anyone else.

And then we graduated high school and went our separate ways, but now and then, I found myself curious about her, like an unfinished story waiting to be told.

I knew she had continued modeling, and I avidly followed her on all her social media accounts, quietly observing her life from a distance.

“Should I call Nadia to check on her?” As I opened my mouth to speak, I could hear the slight quiver in my voice betraying my nervousness.

“She’s just gotten back, but I know she’s staying with her parents for the weekend. Her mother said she’s signed up for a charity modeling event in New York next week, so you could call her and catch up while she’s in New York.”

“She’s working in New York?”

“Yeah. Her management asked her to do it and Nadia felt she had to give them something back considering she pulled out of the rest of Paris Fashion Week and she might not make Milan.”

My heart drops knowing as soon as her grandfather is better, she’ll be making her way back to Europe. I’m not sure my heart will be able to take it.

“Why don’t I let you go and you can call her?” She disconnects and within seconds, a text comes through.

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