Rain lashed against the windows of the coffee shop, blurring the cityscape outside. Amelia traced circles on the condensation of her glass. Across the table, Chloe, her best friend since kindergarten, was recounting the details of her interview, her voice brimming with nervous energy. The marketing manager position at Sterling Inc. – the one they’d both desperately craved – was practically hers. Or so it seemed.
Amelia’s own interview was scheduled for next week. She felt a strange detachment, a curious sense of observation, as she listened to Chloe. The air in the coffee shop felt thick, like holding back tears.
“They really loved my portfolio,” Chloe was saying, her cheeks flushed. "I think I really nailed the presentation."
Amelia forced a smile. She remembered, as if it was yesterday, the two of them, huddled on Chloe's bedroom floor, poring over design books, sketching ideas, dreaming about this exact moment.
"That's amazing," Amelia said, the words feeling heavy. She remembered the day they'd built forts out of blankets, and how she never thought something so simple could feel so powerful. The world felt hollow, but only for a moment.
Chloe reached across the table and squeezed Amelia's hand. "Don't worry," she said, her voice softer now. "You'll do great. We're a team, remember?" But something in the way she said it felt altered, and Amelia, for a moment, was lost to an image of them as younger girls, their shared hopes an unending horizon.