Disclaimer: I don't own 90210.

Snapshots of memories

"Wow, you're really going, huh?"

Ethan looked up to see Naomi staring at him, legs awkwardly crossed over as she stood leaning against his bedroom door.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he managed to swallow the Naomi-sized lump in his throat.

"Wow," was all she managed in reply, staring through Ethan more than at him.

"It's the end of an era." He was pointedly looking at the clothes that he was haphazardly packing. He wasn't sure what to say, what he could say, to break the silence.

"Was it me? Was it something I said or did?"

He turned around quickly enough that he twisted his ankle. "No. God, Naomi, no, not at all." He sighed, rubbing the back of his head a little nervously. "Naomi, whatever we went through..." He wasn't sure how to say this. "Look, whatever we went through, we're gonna be friends, despite it or because of it or just whatever. You're my best friend and nothing's going to change that, you know it's not." He stood staring at a woman he'd loved, whom he still loved, albeit in a different, platonic way. It felt like a certain weight had lifted from his chest, allowing him to take the first deep breaths in forever. "Besides, you weren't the only one who made mistakes."

"You mean like cheating on me, dating Annie when I asked her not to and then falling for Silver?" Naomi quickly removed the twisted smile on her face before apologising. "Sorry." She didn't know what was wrong with her! She had come over because she was devastated that one of the most important people in her life was moving away; she had fully intended to bury any and every hatchet, remove any trace of bitterness or awkwardness that lay between them and then this outburst of acid had started before she really understood what she was saying.

She blinked a thin film of tears from her eyes to find Ethan standing in front of her, that familiar look of disappointment absent.

"I'm gonna miss you so much." If Naomi didn't know better, she would have said that Ethan was choked up from the emotions and made a sarcastic joke on how unmanly it was, but having his arms suddenly surrounding her tightly meant that she could only grunt in surprise. "I'm going to miss you criticising my clothes and snapping at me and making me feel awkward about everything and..." There was a sound that Naomi would definitely interpret as a sob but she was still paralysed by surprise and within the hug, her mouth was hanging open with widened deer-in-headlights eyes. "You know you're the most important person for me here right?"

"Yeah, after Silver right?" She could kick herself right now. Seriously, why was she bringing this up? She had moved on at some point, round about when she began flirting with Ozzie and slept with Liam. She may not have made peace with Annie (why can't she keep her hands off of the guys that Naomi likes?) but she and Silver were in a much better place than they have been for years, so why keep bringing it up?

"No, Naomi." Ethan lifts her face to look directly into her eyes. "I love you." Ignoring Naomi's snort, he continues. "You are the most important person in my life. You've always been the most important person here for me. You're like my best friend, the only person I'd completely trust with my brother, the only person I'd turn to for help."

Clearing her throat and arduously ignoring the rebellious tears that slipped from her eyes, Naomi looked away. "Well, I quite like you too. And I'm expecting a phone call at least once a week, updating me on your latest fashion faux pas and social mistakes. You can probably skip sports-related stuff because you know that stuff bores me and I wouldn't pay attention to it anyway." Her smile is her only acknowledgement of Ethan's chuckle before she continues. "And I have to say, your brother is the only sibling I am hugely fond of, my own one clearly lacking human traits, so..." She decides to bravely be honest, for the first time during this conversation. "So it would mean a lot if you could bring him over some times to see me or...you know, offered me a place to crash when I want to visit. Your brother, not you," she clarified.

There was a lull, less strained than before but more emotionally charged. Naomi found herself following Ethan to his bed and sitting beside him, her hands tightly wound together, embodying her feelings.

"We've known each other too long and care about each other too much to simply grow apart," Ethan says after a few minutes. Naomi's too kind-hearted to point out that she and Silver had once felt that way, but it had done nothing to stop them hating each other. "I know you don't believe me," he looks gravely at her. "But I mean it. We. Will. Always. Be. Friends." We enunciates each word in such a manner that Naomi can practically see each word capitalised in an emphatic sentence of its own. And maybe because it is Ethan and she's always fallen for him in one way or another, maybe it's because she loves him so very dearly or because he clearly believes it, but she forces herself to believe him. She forms a travesty of a smile and nods her head.

"Yeah, and you know why?" She gets up, ready to leave. "It's because I am going to torment you every single day if I don't get that weekly call." She leaves the room with the sound of his laughter ringing in her ears before fading away and without quite consciously realising it, she memorises it carefully, storing in her mind for those nights when she really misses him or she feels lonely or when she finds that despite everything, despite not being the most important woman in his life or not having him as the most important man in her life, the bond they share never truly weakens or breaks and they always remain friends, bringing out these travesties of smiles or choked-up laughter in the darkest of the times they face separately but together.