4. Goodbyes

SANTI'S POV

Yesterday afternoon I spent the whole afternoon at the house of Jessica's parents who were happy to see me. I could see they were somewhere between sad and happy, the former for obvious reasons. After an hour her grandmother had arrived with Sofía and Jack from behind and they both came to hug me. Carla had told them she had convinced me to work with her and accompany her on tours, which seemed to make everyone happy, but I wasn't as happy as I would have been at another time in my life. I didn't want to leave town, it's like I was leaving the memory of Jessica, and it's the last thing I wanted to do.

At night I went home with Carla because she told me she wasn't going to leave me alone. Yes, we stopped by my apartment first so I could pack a suitcase and then we went to her house. It didn't take long for Carla to go to sleep, but I knew I couldn't do it, so an hour later I left the house to clear my head, and of course, I ended up in the cemetery. Before going to Jessica's, I went to my grandmother's and stayed there for a while, until I couldn't stay there anymore, so I went to Jessica's, sitting next to hers.

"Hello love, before you get upset, I am not able to sleep. Today I was able to enter the bedroom, and to be honest, I didn't expect to find the note. I would have loved to have found it the day you left, but you know the reasons I haven't been in the bedroom since then. The thing is, I'm not sure I'm going with Carla. I know she's trying to help me and all, but I don't want to leave you, I can't. But I also know that she's right and I should start trying to recover, to honour your memory and because I know in some way you would be happy with it. I will try for you."

I leaned against the tombstone and at that moment I did get sleepy, and you can say that at least it was a calmer dream than I had in recent years.

POV CARLA

When I woke up, as expected, Santi wasn't home, so I put my bags in the car and headed towards the cemetery where I'm more than sure I'll find him.

When I arrived next to Jessica's headstone, I see Santi leaning and sleeping on it, so I approach the headstone and sit on the other side of the headstone as we had done the morning before. "Shit Jess, after all this time and there's no way to make him better. Could you at least give me a hint of what I can do? I hope this helps him and that he doesn't kill me when he finds out I do have a gig in Los Angeles."

Flashback (narrator)

At this time Carla was finishing writing one of the songs requested by the record company. Her big dream of being a singer was coming true. She must admit thanks to Santi she was achieving her dream, and who better than her best friend who had helped her on a couple of songs, one she had practically written by herself and was helping her with the album cover as well, she thought she couldn't have better friends like the ones she had.

She had already finished and was going to throw herself on the sofa to admire her work and think about what it took for her to get there when her phone starts to ring, and when she sees it's Santi who is calling her, she quickly answers him, since it's rare for him to call her. What she didn't know is the news for which his best friend called her.

"Do you miss Jessica so much that you're going to offer me a peace treaty until she comes back?" the girl asked her best friend "Carla... No... I can't get in touch with Jess." He replied breathlessly, which makes Carla tense and trying to understand what was going on with her best friend "Hey, hey. What's up Santi? She must be busy in the gallery."

"No... I have a bad feeling... I don't want anything to happen to her..." replied the boy overwhelmed and she frowned, trying to understand what was going on. "What are you talking about?" she asked confused, "The news..." started the man, but stopped, letting out a sob "What's wrong with them?" asked Carla, starting to stress herself too "Los Angeles..."

At that moment Carla wasn't managing to understand anything, so she decides to turn on the television and put on a television channel and sees what the boy is referring to. "Okay, listen, something doesn't have to have happened to her. She may be stuck in one of those shelters and not have coverage." She tried to reassure even though she was now more than worried about her best friend, "No, Carla... Something... Something tells me Jessica's not right."

The girl couldn't think. She was worried about her best friend and that something had happened to her, so she came up with an idea. She remembered that he had gone with Monica, so she would call her, but for that, she had to stop talking to Santi.

"Listen to me, I have to call someone, but for that I have to hang up." She said, forming a plan in her mind, "Okay..." The boy whispered, "Jessica's going to be fine, you'll see." Santi didn't say anything and just hung up while he was in his world trying to hope that the girl, he loved the most would be okay and would soon be back in Italy.

End flashback

"I miss you friend, well everyone, and I know I'm a hypocrite for telling Santi he has to get over what happened four years ago when I couldn't even myself, but at least I'm not as bad as he is, and I'll promise I will do what is in my power so at least a small part of what he was before returns. We'll both get better, I promise." I decided it was time to go because the plane was leaving soon, so I woke up Santi who stared at me for a couple of seconds until I managed to convince him it's time to go and that sooner than expected we'll be back in Italy.