'K'
Posted on 2003-05-28
Before I got sick I used to go out drinking on a Friday and Saturday night with my friend 'K'.
We became friends when we were just 11 and got put into the same classes at high school. We were inseparable, like two peas in a pod. Thelma and Louise couldn't have been better friends than us. Where one of us was, the other wouldn't be far away.
At 16 when we passed our GCSE's, we were the only two out of our group of friends that didn't go on to college. I got a job working for a publishers, and 'K' worked for a beauty therapist. Don't get me wrong, I did want to continue my education, but the summer I took my exams my Mum lost her job, so one of us needed to work in order to keep a roof over our heads. The plan was for me to work over the summer months while Mum looked for work herself, and I'd go to college in October.
Life didn't turn out like that though. Mum was still unemployed when college was supposed to start, so I carried on working. Luckily, as I worked for a publishers I was sent on writing courses, was trained in technical support too so I did get some extra schooling. By the time I was 18 I was running the Electronic Helpdesk single handed and earning quite a nice salary.
I'm sort of drifting away from the reason I'm writing though.....
'K' was like the sister that I never had. We saw each other every day no matter what, and even when we weren't together we were calling each other four or five times a day 'just because.....'.
Everything was fine until I got sick.
I wasn't able to lead the life that I had before, and gradually we began to see less and less of each other. 'K' got promoted and was working longer hours, I was always in and out of hospital, 'K' met her boyfriend, I met Mr B, and although we were still friends we ended up drifting apart. The phone calls continued until I became too sick to even speak, but after a while they stopped too. Eventually we were down to sending each other a text message every couple of months.
Anyway, 'K' called me out of the blue this morning, 'just because.....'
We spent about an hour on the phone catching up, and soon fell back into our old habit of finishing each others sentences and gossiping away about guys, friends, and work.
One of my friends 'C' has graduated from University, and is now working at the school that we all went to as kids, 'A' has emigrated to Spain with her boyfriend, and 'K'.....
Well, 'K' is four months pregnant..... which is why she was calling me. Apart from her boyfriend and her parents, she wanted me to be the first person that she told.
We were both in tears as she told me how much she has missed me over the last year - how she felt like she'd lost a limb or something, and how she felt bad for not calling as often to see how I was getting on. In truth though we were both to blame. We let our friendship slide as other things, mainly our boyfriends, came into our lives, but when we were speaking earlier neither of us wanted to hang up.
I've agreed to meet her next Friday if I feel well enough as it's her day off, but even if I'm not up to going out she's going to come here to see me instead.
I can't wait. I've missed 'K' so much.....