Friendship

Virginia

Despite the promise I had made and the many times I had tried to talk calmly to my best friend, days passed without Mariana, and I was being able to talk as calmly as I wanted to.

We were living in a constant rush, for all our expectations had been exceeded, and our store was a total success, attracting many people daily to get to know our distinctive style, thanks to Mariana's talent.

We had conquered a very diverse clientele and several people complimented our space, for the simplicity and at the same time, good taste with which we decorated the store, leaving the place in a way that everyone seemed to appreciate.

I didn't even know that I had this talent for decoration, but now, in front of so many people congratulating me and praising my efforts, I was happy.

Many and diverse were also the compliments to my friend, and several people had already made it clear how much they liked the clothes Mariana created, and that it was even necessary to hire more seamstresses to help her, given the number of orders we had received at the fashion show and which only grew even more after the resounding success of her creations.

We were working hard, and this was great because the store was already generating profits and the return was coming in too fast for our happiness.

My parents were so proud of me, I could only smile... even if at some moments there was a feeling that something was missing to make me fully realize, I didn't stop to think about it, I just lived in the moment and worked even harder to retain the loyalty of the public we had managed to attract.

I had only to be thankful for the fact that I didn't have time for almost anything else, besides managing our business and trying to learn more and more about how to do it, looking for online courses, and trying to qualify myself more and more.

No one needed to know about what bothered me, even though every night, when I put my head on my pillow, the memories of a hot night, full of sensuality and pleasure came to my mind.

I always tried to push those memories away from my memory, because I was convinced that more important things existed that deserved my full attention and I had no time to waste on something that was completely out of my reach.

Besides the fact that our store demanded everything from us, there was still Mariana, who with each passing day was more introspective and strange, not opening up to me in any way, even though I tried, whenever possible, to find out how she was doing and if she felt ready to vent about what seemed to be taking all her joy away.

More important than a night of pleasure, was my friend and I could not, in any way, let unimportant things come between me and what should be my priorities.

But deciding was one thing and achieving was something else entirely, and with each passing day, more and more memories of the night at the club tormented me, for even in my dreams, a pair of crystal blue eyes haunted me and I woke up eager to repeat that insanely delicious night.

And a month after we opened our store, I decided that Mariana and I needed a little rest because no one could work uninterruptedly, and we would not be an exception.

Even with all my friend's protests, I dragged her to a nightclub that would be opening that night and to which we had won invitations directly from one of the owners when he was in our store accompanying his sister on a shopping spree, something I found cute and which delighted me.

Now that we were here, I was happy to insist Mariana come and accept the invitations after Arthur Rodrigues insisted a lot until he convinced me to receive the treat.

The environment was just perfect and full of beautiful people, who seemed to be having a great time and the whole vibe of the people infected me, something I was truly needing and had only just realized.

Even Mariana seemed to be lighter, and soon we were with drinks in hand, swaying to the sound of the music that spread through the various environments of the nightclub.

" How did you get the invitations? " Mariana asked, looking interested.

" A client gave them to me," I told her briefly, just to arouse her curiosity.

" Tell me more about it! " She said, with her contagious laugh that I hadn't heard in days.

" Miss, the man is wonderful, and he was in our store with his sister. " I started to talk, excited. " He is one of the owners of this nightclub, "I whispered, even though the music was giving us relative privacy.”

" Wow! " She said, surprised.

We continued to chat sitting at the bar counter at one end, where it was quieter, and I was happy to observe my friend back to her normal behavior, even if she hadn't told me yet what was going on to make her so distant.