Fragments of Us

birthday cake

Iza surmised birthdays were meant to be a celebration of life—but in her eye's, celebrating life was a ritual that should be done every day—not just one day of the year. As with everything else in life, birthdays were another social construct. The cake, birthday candles, balloons, presents and birthday hats were something she'd grown up loving. Now, they were mere traditions of the past, and happy memories to carry to elderhood. So as the hours went by on her birthday eve,  Iza paid little attention to the time.

"How many hours have we spent here?" questioned Olivia Reyes. Iza's best friend and roommate rubbed at her hazel eyes viciously and stifled a yawn. They'd been in their college library for far too long, cramming for their last Anatomy & Physiology practical exam. Despite earning decent grades in high school, Iza and Liv found the transition into college classes immensely difficult, especially the nursing program.

"We got coffee and dinner with Harlow at five I think," Iza answered, checking her phone. Her homescreen read: 9:09pm. They had been in the library for nearly four hours. Harlow Salvatore, their other roommate, and best friend had declined their invitation to study. She'd told them she had to meet up with her study group in an empty classroom. Compared to Harlow's business major, Iza and Liv had fewer collaborative projects and more lecture exams and lab practicals. But still, the girls had felt the constant whiplash of college classes during the first few weeks of classes.

"I don't know how the hell I'm going to memorize all the nerves in the body before Monday," Liv confessed, "My head feels like it's going to freaking explode from all these diagrams." Her eyes peered down at the many diagrams she'd printed out to study from. They were seated in the basement of their library at a spacious round table. Iza sat across from Liv cross-legged with her laptop and her lab textbook splayed out in front of her. Liv dominated the rest of the table with her tablet and diagrams.

"Don't ask me either. I don't even know how we memorized all the other topics for our other practicals," Iza said. She usually wasn't one to stress about schoolwork, but even she had to admit, struggling didn't perfectly describe their plight this semester. When they felt like they could sit back and relax, another exam or endless homework assignments put them on edge. Iza and Liv had unanimously agreed that their jobs were starting to feel more like a vacation than school.

"It was a combination of studying, coffee, sheer luck, good guessing and a shit ton of tears," Liv replied dramatically.

"Because we cry over nursing exams and not boys?"

"I have taught you well," Liv beamed proudly.

They spent the next hour attempting to study the nerves in the brain before Liv let out a lengthy sigh. She unlocked her phone and began twiddling her thumbs quickly. From her peripheral vision, Iza could see her best friend holding back a grin. Though she'd only been friends with Liv for three months, she knew that meant Liv was talking to another guy, and no doubt getting asked out on another date. As she should, Iza thought to herself.

"Spill the tea, who's the lucky guy?" Iza queried. Ten minutes had passed with Liv scrolling through her social media, checking her messages, and reading her latest romance novel. Her question took Liv off guard, and she gave her friend a sheepish smile.

"Was I really that obvious?"

"You make it hard not to be obvious, Livi. That grin's been on your face for like ten minutes. Careful it doesn't get stuck there," Iza responded teasingly. I really hope this guy doesn't ghost her, Iza thought. She knew Liv could handle herself when it came to ghosting, but she'd never seen Liv act this way over a guy before. She gave kudos to her for online dating because it was uncharted territory for Iza. She never did understand the whole idea of talking to a random stranger and meeting up in real life. In this day and age, people's intentions were unpredictable.