The cab pulled over in front of Logan International. The clock was at ten o’five and she had over ten missed calls from Xandra. There were distant sounds of planes taking off and the noisy clutter of luggage trays as the airport staff pushed loads of them in one go. Xandra and her parents waited in front of the gates.

Valeriana rapped on the back of the driver's seat and spoke. “Sir, I'll just be a minute. Do you mind waiting?”

“Alright,” he said. “Don’t take too lo—”

She did not let him finish and disembarked the cab in a flash. “Xandra!”

Her best friend jumped at the call and swiftly turned. Her parents looked up as well and saw Valeriana limping for them. The surprise quickly showed on their faces while Xandra ran forward thoughtlessly and crushed Valeriana into a bear hug.

“Oh my god, Val. I was so worried,” she said, breathing against Valeriana's unruly hair.

Valeriana returned the embrace and breathed in the trademark scent of Xandra. After everything that happened so far, she was glad she still came. No words could explain the feeling in her heart.

“I’m so glad. I called you so many times but you weren’t picking up.” She tightened her hug further, the worry coating her tone.

“Ouch. Wait.” She hissed as her best friend accidentally brushed against a tender spot on her back. She tapped on her shoulder and pulled away, grimacing.

“Sorry!” Her brown eyes glinted with guilt, her eyes raking over her body. “What the hell! Look at you! Bitch, you need to go to the hospital! You’re even bleeding!”

Xandra unapologetically hammered her head with a fist, making Valeriana wince and smile at the same time. She didn’t look that bad, in her opinion. Aside from the messed up shoes, ripped jeans, and dirtied white shirt, she looked fine. Perhaps through other people’s eyes, she wasn’t.

“I’m fine,” she said. She wasn’t about to start about what sort of hell she went through.

“No. You need to get cleaned up,” Xandra insisted. “Come on, I’ll take you to the—”

“Xandra, please. I’m not that injured,” she told her. “This will take little work to patch up. You have a flight and a life ahead of you to come after, so please don’t bother.

Xandra stared at Valeriana for a few moments, tears welling up in her eyes. “How can you say a life ahead of you to come after, so don’t bother so easily? Val, I may be going away, but that doesn’t mean I can’t care about you. What about the thief, huh? Do you know how close I was to calling the police? You shouldn’t have come and you should’ve just given him what he wanted!”

“Xan...” she stepped forward and took the other girl to her embrace. “It’s alright. He got away in the end, now stop crying...please,” she whispered. “Look on the bright side, I did get my bag back.” Valeriana held up her blood-stained duffel bag. “The blood isn’t mine.”

“You look like a walking crime scene,” her best friend commented.

Xandra sniffed, regained her composure, and began fussing. Even so, her rant fell on deaf ears. Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez examined her with incredulity as they came behind their daughter. Anna, Xandra's mother, grabbed Valeriana’s shoulders as she scanned her from head to toe.

“Dear lord, Valeriana. Are you alright?” Anna asked. She brushed back Valeriana’s tangled hair. “What have you gotten yourself into, again?”

Anna quickly apologized when her fingers brushed against a wound, chuckling. After that, tears pricked the corners of her eyes. This wasn’t the first time Valeriana came up to Xandra’s parents looking like the way she did. In fact, there were several instances in both their childhood life that she came out messy.

It brought back memories.

“Oh, I’m going to miss you.” She kissed Valeriana on the forehead and caressed her cheeks.

“I'm totally fine, Mrs. Hernandez. Thank you so much.” She took Xandra's hand and felt her chest tighten. These good people were leaving in a few hours. There would be oceans between them.