**Female Friendship**
Katie and I have been friends since schoolwell, since Year 8, when she moved into our neighbourhood. I didnt have any close girlfriends in class. Most of the girls flocked around the school beauty, Lucy Mallory, whose father was a professor. The rest, like me, kept to themselves.
I never worshipped Lucy, but I didnt pick fights eitherneutrality suited me. While her clique sized up the new girl, checking her family background, I took Katie under my wing. Naturally, I filled her in about Lucy and her hangers-on.
*”Why are you always alone? Some kind of protest?”* Katie asked me.
*”No, I just prefer my own company. If youd rather be friends with them, I wont mind.”*
Katie chose me. We werent bulliedjust ignored. I showed her around school, explained the teachers and classmates, gave her the lay of the land. Funny enough, Lucy, the professors daughter, didnt follow in her fathers footsteps. Last I saw, she was working in a boutique and pretended not to recognise me.
Katie was cleverer than me, prettier tooor so I thought. As a teenager, I hated everything about myself. Too plump, chest too big, legs too short. My hair was a frizzy messan ugly duckling. Katie, though, had smooth blonde hair, bright blue eyes, the perfect figure, and long, slender legs.
Years later, she admitted shed thought *I* was the pretty one and envied me desperately.
We became inseparable. We even planned to go to the same university. But Katies mum pushed her toward economics, while I dreamed of becoming a doctornot just any doctor, a surgeon.
We argued. Didnt speak for three days. Then made up because life without each other was unbearable. In the end, we each went our own way. Saw each other less, but when we did, we talked for hours.
In her second year, Katie fell for a boy on her course. She wouldnt stop going on about him. I had no time for romanceLatin and anatomy were hard enough, but I loved studying.
By third year, shed had an abortion. Her parents never knew. By fourth year, she was pregnant again. I didnt like the bloke. Tried to talk her out of keeping it, out of marrying him. She refused to listen. Told her parents, and they made sure she wouldnt be a single mother.
In my sixth year, I realised surgery wasnt for megastroenterology suited me better. Less pressure.
Two years passed without seeing Katie, then we bumped into each other. Shed put on weight, her face rounded. For a second, I wondered if she was pregnant again but didnt ask. She pushed a pram with a little girl in pink. Noticing my glance at her belly, she confirmedanother baby on the way.
*”Husband wants a boy.”*
She was surprised I was still single. Thats when she admitted envying me at school, thinking *she* was the plain one. Said she rushed into marriage, afraid no one else would want her. Silly girl. We parted, promising to stay in touch.
A year after her son was born, her husband left.
*”He called me fat. A cow. Said I trapped him with kids. That I disgust him.”* She sobbed into the phone.
*”You shouldve told me sooner. Id have helped you lose weight.”*
She looked awful. Trackies, hair scraped back, dull eyes.
I told her, as a friend, she couldnt let herself go like this.
*”Youre still pretty, and still alone,”* she shot back.
I didnt take offence.
Her kids grew up. Nick started school, and Lizzie got interested in boys. I had flings now and then but never married. Didnt bother me. Just my lot in life. Katie and I met occasionally, but we had our own lives.
Then I was sent to a three-day conference in London.
One man stood outstaying in the hotel room next to mine. You know how sometimes you just *know*? We even ended up at the same restaurant table. When he heard where I was from, he mentioned a new clinic therehis friend ran it, had offered him a job.
*”Ive heard of it,”* I said.
*”Would you recommend I take it?”*
*”Your choice.”*
On the last night, there was a concert and drinks. We talked, sipped wine. I checked my watchmy train left in two hours. Just as I was about to say goodbye, someone interrupted him. No time to wait, so I slipped away.
I thought he liked me too, but he never asked for my number. Maybe he assumed wed meet at breakfast. Maybe he had a wife. No ring doesnt mean anything. Besides, men should make the first move.
*”Hell be surprised when I dont show up tomorrow,”* I thought smugly. *”Pity it ended before it began.”* I sighed and put him out of my mind. Not meant to be.
Two months later, Katie phoned, giddy, inviting me over.
*”Something happened? You sound thrilled.”*
*”Come and see.”*
That weekend, I brought sweets for the kids, ice cream, and a bottle of wine. Katie looked radianteyes bright, hair styled, even slimmer.
*”Youre in love,”* I guessed.
*”Ive met this man”* She sighed dreamily.
As she described him, I pictured *him*Alexander.
*”You should see him. Absolute dream.”*
Nick was at his grandmas; Lizzie was out with friends. Time flies. I felt old. Maybe I shouldve had kids sooner, like Katie. We drank, ate ice cream.
*”He just started at the new clinic”*
*”Wait, I thought you worked at the bank.”*
*”Oh, right. I quit ages ago. Better pay at the clinic.”*
Shed bumped into him leaving the office. He offered her a lift, carried her bags upstairs. She invited him in for tea
*”And then?”*
*”Nothing yet. But its only a matter of time.”*
*”So nothings actually happened?”* I tried not to sound relieved. *”Whats his name?”* (I already knew.)
*”Alexander. Alexander Andrew Hill.”*
Ice water down my spine. I dont believe in coincidences. What else could this be but fates cruel joke? Katie prattled onhow kind he was, how shed invite him to her birthday, and then
*”Hes not married? Odd for a man like that. Maybe somethings wrong with him?”* I couldnt help needling.
She shrugged. *”Youre just jealous. Youll seeIll marry him.”*
Devastated doesnt cover it. But I clung to hopemaybe it *was* just a coincidence. I wished her luck, made excuses, and left.
At her birthday party two weeks later, *he* was there. Alexander recognised me instantly, rushed over. Katie watched, jealous.
Hed taken his friends job offer. Asked if Id consider working there too.
*”Ill think about it,”* I said.
Katie dragged him away to help in the kitchen. Seizing the moment, I left. Was I really going to fight my best friend over a man?
The *one* man Id ever truly fancied enough to marry, and my only friend wanted him too. *”Wheres the fairness? Whys he so indecisive? Shouldve asked for my number in London!”*
Then he called my namehad chased after me.
*”Why did you leave?”*
*”You know Katies my best friend? And shes mad about you.”*
*”Theres nothing between us. I just gave her a lift once, and she spun fantasies. But Im glad I came tonight. I moved here because of you.”*
He walked me home. Still didnt ask for my number. At home, ten missed calls from Katie. Id left my phone behind.
*”I never expected this from you. What kind of friend steals a man?”* she screamed when I called back.
*”Katie, I met him at the conference. He recognised mehes new here”*
We argued like schoolgirls over a crush.
*”Let me have him,”* she begged. *”Youre beautiful, freeyoull find someone. This might be my last chance. Please.”*
*”Kate, are you sure *he* wants that? If hes chasing me, doesnt that mean?”*
*”Not your problem. Just stay out of it. Theres nothing between you, right?”*
*”No.”*
I barely knew Alexander. He wasnt the last man on earth. The whole mess sickened me. If I saw him again, Id talk properly.
Two days later, he turned up at my clinic with flowers. I told him about Katie.
*”Youve put me in a difficult spot, Vera,”* he sighed.
*”Shes my best friend. I wont fight over you. Sorry, Alexanderwe shouldnt see each other.”*
Weeks passed. Then Katie visited. Braced for another row, I was stunned when she said:
*”We talked. He likes *you*. I wanted revenge at first. Then realisedyou cant force these things. Forgive me, Vera. I wont stand in your way. Dont you dare turn him down for me.”*
The weight lifted. We drank, cried over lifes messes, left as friends.
Alexander and I started dating. Two months later, he proposed. Katie came to the weddingwith a date.
I got pregnant straight away. No point waiting. I called Katie often for advice, spilling my fears. She calmed me.
We stayed friendsnot rivals, never enemies. Each found happiness. They say female friendship lasts only until the first man. Ours survived the test.
