Synonyms
A fun, fictional story with a life lesson.
60 minutes later, after my best friend's arrival –
The taste of something that should be far away from a custard cake fills my mouth.
Salt dances on my tongue and I shiver while I reach for the glass of water and gulp it down empty.
“This is, Horrendous! ”
I whisper-yell the last word with pure distaste and shock.
Bee swirls around and beams at me showing her toothy grin.
“Thanks, V, I told you I could bake, didn't I? Now, you have proof of my talented baking skills” she says with jazz hands.
The first thing that strikes me is what we’re all thinking.
I should teach her some synonyms.
(If you weren’t thinking that…oh well, now you are.)
Secondly, I should drink another glass of water. The saltiness is just not leaving my mouth. Ugh!
She places another slice of cake next to the unfinished one on my plate and slides it towards me.
I push the plate out of my sight and slowly say, “If you think I would eat that willingly then I'm certain you are a nincompoop.”
She jerks back a little and then yells,
“What!? But you just did a happy shimmer like whenever you eat something you like and don't call me poop!”
I wanted to yell back, cause that’s what you do when someone yells at you, and in my current state, I want to.
Just kidding. Don’t yell. It’s not nice.
I get up calmly and say,
“No…I shivered from the briny taste and I’m not calling you poop! It means stupid…..you nincompoop.” I quietly mutter the last words so she doesn’t hear them but of course she does.
“Hey! Don't you vocabulary shame me!”
She picks up the plate and moves towards the lounge area and plants herself on the sofa.
“What? That sentence doesn’t even make sense!” I call after her.
She glares at me for a second but then sighs and pats the cushion next to her calling me to sit beside her.
I know what's coming next and I don't want to face it so I try to deflect.
“Actually….the cake is not bad. The aftertaste is interesting. You have to teach me the recipe. Come on, let's try it right away!”
She just stares at me and I know, she could see right through me before she even says,
“I know what you’re trying to do but it won’t work.”
I move glumly towards her and sit beside her. She hugs me.
“I know you worked very hard on this project and I know it hurts when the result is far from your expectations but your hard work will never go to waste.
You know all about failures, which are stepping stones to success and everything. So I’m not gonna quote them again but you can’t just dim your light. This, too, shall pass. Just hold on and pray.
Sometimes, life plays a game that we can't comprehend at the moment but remember that it always benefits us somehow.”
I'm grateful to have her in my life because not only does she give me time to heal but she's always ready to kick my butt if needed.
I took my time to lick my wounds but if it made my best friend bake for me then I think I took too much time.
“Okay, I think it's time to buckle up and get up. Thank you, Bee, for everything. I don't know what I'd do without you and I'm sorry for making fun of you for not knowing synonyms.”
She smirks and winks.
“Hey, at least I know the important ones, like the synonym of living truly – to never give up.”
Yep, she does. I smile at her and she smiles back and says, “Now that's out of the way, let's eat some cake and play some games.”
“Oh no, not the cakkeeeee!!”
