She opens the same exact door half a year later. Nothing has changed in this house. Her only fear now is that nothing has changed inside its owner as well. She pauses for a second before coming in, but the devastation from the thought disappears just as fast as it came.

“Polly,” she screams like the time that passed after they last saw each other was nothing but a bad dream.
“Kitchen,” her friend answers.

She enters the room casually, as she would always do, every time she came.

“Hey, Rose. I'm making pasta for dinner, want tomato sauce or pesto?” Polly asked in the most casual way there could be. And with this phrase those six long months when they didn't even talk, became nothing, faded to the length of a second.

“Pesto'll be better.”

Rose sat down by the table. It was flooded with different papers, drawings, calculations, checks and letters. She took one of them to read. "Your book cannot be published due to its low chances of success. The language you use would be much more appropriate in a fictional novel than a physics nonfictional academic literature."
“Here you go, your pasta-pesto,” Polly laughed putting the plate in front of the guest.

“They didn't publish it?” Rose threw the letter on the table with disgust. Polly froze for a second but then softly smiled.

“It's ok, I'm finishing my second novel now. You should read it! It's so much better now, they will definitely publish this one…”

Rose quickly stood up not even touching her food. She started walking back and forth, measuring the room with her steps.

“We both were supposed to win. I don't want to be in this alone!”

“You won't. I can bet you this book will be a revolution in science literature world.”

“What's the point of betting again? We both had half a year to make a statement in science world. I couldn't even talk to you! I couldn't even call you when my machine made it to the market! You, my best friend! We had a deal, we bet that in six months we'll achieve something and will meet as scientists. I fought for my plane. I worked all those months sleeping two hours a week. You have no idea how many idiots I had to meet because they were on my way. I showed the potential and safety of my plane and made everyone believe me!” Rose fell on the couch, burying her face in her hands.

She knew that she's being cruel. She didn't want to say what she was going to. But the storm inside her was too strong to control it. It was both disappointment, and tiredness of weak people who can't realize their potential. Rose has always seen some weakness in her best friend, but every single time she comforted herself with lies, she tried to believe so desperately in.

“I'm telling you, it's not going to stay like this for long. My next book will definitely be published. I know it!” Polly's at first whisper rose to desperate scream at the last word. Rose smiled in defeat, and sat back down. She cooled off completely, suppressing the explosion once again. Polly could never really read her, and now she didn't know if Rose believed her or just got over the whole situation so quickly.

The rest of the dinner was friendlier. They talked, laughed and the connection they both feared they lost was restored, was found as something kept on a balcony for a long time but taken out in the moment of need.
Rose went to her room that night with a smile, that quickly turned from satisfied to lenient as she closed the door behind her. She stood up the whole night trying to accept that her best friend is no one without her. That she didn't even fight for her own work, for the book she was writing for years, giving every free second to it. Rose liked that her friend was a dreamer, but she expected her to also be an achiever. Polly dreamed so much when they lived in this house together of how this book will be published and how people will finally see what great and interesting world her major opens. But here she is, a 25-years old woman, with no book and no real ideas how the industry she wants to enter works. When they made the "half year" deal, both of them just wanted to see who they were without their permanent partners, without each other. Rose left their quiet place in South Carolina and found an apartment in New York. She left being an ambitious child with energy, ideas and confidence that she could bare it all, stand through everything and overcome it. Polly wasn't as explosive but she definitely did have crazy fire rising in her eyes as she was writing. Rose came back as a tired, worn out woman, who achieved her goals and stated new ones for herself, who was even more confident now, who was working without rest despite her feelings and others’ opinions. Polly met her as a person who put out her fire herself and now lives a calm easy life, not even trying.

Rose left the same week, after she realized that their place was toxic for her in its uselessness. She didn't want to work there, it was hard for her to do anything but lie on her bed reading or walking around in the forest breathing beautifully pure air. She wasn't tired enough to be there for so long.

Her New York roommate met Rose without surprise, she knew her too well to expect anything else. Rose felt mocking satisfaction in the face expression of her only real friend in this enormous industrial city.

“You know, even the most promising people sometimes can't make it in this industry. I'm not going to be one of them,” was the only thing Rose said in her explanation and went straight into her office.

"She took the whole airplane construction field by storm and with her pace, she's going to take the whole world" - Polly heard a host of some local news channel say about a rising thirty-years old star in engineering. Feeding her second child, waiting for her husband to come back from work, Polly didn't know how to feel about the news. Should she feel proud or jealous of her best friend's success. Success that she didn't want. Success that she doesn't use. Polly could think of so many different parties she would go to, so many different people she would meet if she achieved as much as her friend did. She certainly wouldn't work even more after all the money and respect she would’ve got. Realization suddenly hit Polly hard. She just listed the reasons why it was Rose to succeed, not her.