From Here On Out

4

June 2021

Emmy had boxes all over her room. Filled ones, empty ones, labeled, non-labeled, and all the combinations. The second she had received her letter she immediately wanted to draw up a packing list.

And that she did. She had a piece of printer
paper labeled COLLEGE PACKING LIST decorated in all types of sharpie and flair pen. At first she had stuck to the list, but as the month went on she began to veer and here she was, a room full of boxes, stuff she hardly even remembered buying.

Time was running out and she still felt that she needed to fill the rest of the boxes. Her closet was still untouched which of course she felt was a huge problem that needed to be done now.

So, she called the only reinforcement she knew, her roomate and best friend. Jas' number rang a few times before she picked up the call.

"Hey Em, what's up?"
"Hey, have you packed yet"
"Barely.. I mean- I got some towels and a comforter"
"JAS! It's June, that means we have a month, wait no 2 months, but June is gonna fly by and august barely counts so...."
"Slow down Emmy, we have plenty of time."
"Well, agree to disagree, but I need your help"
"With?"
"My closet. I have no idea what to bring and I need clothes"
"You're probably the last person to need clothes but I'll be over in 15"

The phones disconnected and Emmy went back to looking around her room. She waded through the boxes until she reached the empty ones she had already labeled EMMY'S CLOTHES. She picked up the few boxes and waded back through to the other side of the room where her closet was located.

She got a peek at her closet, double racked and stuffed to the brim with clothing. According to her far-ahead-of-time schedule, she was falling behind. To her, she was procrastinating on packing her clothes.

She sighed at the thought of going through all the pieces and made the executive decision to wait until Jasmine arrived. She plopped down on her bed and scrolled through her phone until the doorbell rang.

Emmy ran downstairs to find Jasmine standing right outside the door. She opened the door and closed it behind her.

"Girl, I need so much help," Emmy said.

"You know you don't need all your clothes right?" Jasmine asked in response.

"Yes," she rolled her eyes, "But that's the problem, I don't have anything."

"Emmy," it was Jas' turn to roll her eyes.

"It's true. I don't have anything for clubs, and bars, and parties," She said counting off the last three things with her fingers.

"Oh god, Em" Jasmine said with a laugh.

Emmy took Jasmine's hand and ran her upstairs to her more than messy room. Jasmine's eyes widened at the site when Emmy pushed open the door.

"Do you plan on never coming back or something?" Jas said in shock.

"No, silly," Emmy laughed, "This is just enough for first semester, minus my clothes."

"Great," she said sarcastically.

Emmy moved towards her closet and Jas followed.

"So how do you suggest we even start?" Jas asked.

"Well I think most of it I'm gonna donate and then we can go shopping" Emmy said with a giggle.