Forty-Two
Monday morning, I walked with Tina into the school; bracing her arm and guiding her up the concrete steps.
Ever since she had told me the full story; confided in me all that she had kept hidden for all the years of our friendship, my parents had agreed to let her sleep on the pullout sofa in my house.
Everything felt different now. The date for the bookstore's closure was rapidly getting closer and closer, along with summertime and graduation.
With everything else that had happened, graduation and college had hardly been on my mind. Of course, I'd applied to some schools a while ago, and I knew that acceptance letters were just starting to arrive.
It was odd to think that soon I'd be getting out of here and being on my own for the first time in my life. Tina and I used to dream about going to college together, and though we were starting to build our friendship again, I hadn't gotten around to asking her what she was looking to do after high school was over.
Tina tripped on one of the steps and pulled hard on my shoulder.
"Sorry... My coordination is really on point today."
"Obviously."
We were three-fourths of the way up when she stopped walking and leaned back against the handrail.
"Something wrong?"
She took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize again. We're good remember?"
"Yeah... Yeah but-"
Tina started laughing, moving her blonde curls out of her eyes and pursing her lips.
"I was being such a bitch."
"You were, but I'm over it."
She laughed again and as we continued up the last few steps, I couldn't help but imagine it was a journey back to the stars.
