When We Write the Stars

Chapter 1: Cassie

"I'm like a lot of people, which makes me kind of no one." – The Half of it

     It was our last night of freedom before our final fall quarter here at Seaport University. So naturally my best friends and I were getting ever so slightly wine drunk while reminiscing on the past few years here in Seaport, Washington.

     It was almost crazy to think that this time four years ago we had all been terrified little freshmen who hardly knew each other, and here we were now, trying not to get emotional over this being our last year living together. College was weird like that. People would go from being complete strangers to some of your closest friends.

     Alyssa, Adrianna, Lyra, and I had all met during our freshman year here at Seaport. Alyssa and I had been roommates, and Lyra and Adri lived on our floor a few doors down, but I didn't become friends with them until we ended up in one of the same classes. Nothing bonded people like an incredibly difficult chemistry class. During our Sophomore year, we'd all moved into this apartment together and it'd been history ever since.

     It was a cute apartment, made better each year as we hung more pictures on the walls and could afford slightly better decorations. That being said it was still a college apartment, it had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a living room and kitchen in the middle. We'd chosen this apartment specifically because the kitchen had an island that looked into the living room making it feel very open. We'd gotten lucky and ended up on the 6th floor with a view of the water through the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined one wall of the living room.

     Seaport was a medium-sized town located on the coast of Northern Washington. We lived closer to the border with Canada than to Seattle, and it was a really charming town. The waterfront was primarily used for industrial purposes, and the view of the water we got was of docks with all sorts of ships and buildings that I had no idea the purpose of, but it was still the water and beautiful nonetheless.

     Right now, we were all sitting on the floor around our coffee table, Adri and I with our backs against the couch, then Lyra and Alyssa on either side so we could all see the fireplace video we had playing on our tv. We might not be able to afford a real fireplace, but we could access YouTube to get the same sort of vibe.

     "No, because do you remember Cassie's 20th," Adri called out pointing towards me and laughing, clearly tipsy from the wine. Truth be told, none of us even liked wine, it was just the idea of drinking wine. Wine felt like a much classier drink to have than the usual bottle of Smirnoff we'd cling to.

     "You are going to shut up," I called out grabbing one of the little pink throw pillows from our couch and smacking her with it, "We swore to never speak of that night again."

     "Come on Cas, it wasn't that bad," Lyra said, trying to comfort me.

     "Not that bad? I made out with Alyssa's weird cousin after getting drunk on jello shots. Completely ruined jello for me."

     "Ohmygod, that reminds me Larry has a girlfriend now," Alyssa said sitting up and adjusting her long blonde hair in a way that showed she was about to tell a really good story.

     Even when they brought up terrible memories, like a drunk make out session with a guy named Larry, nights like these were my favorite part of college, and even though it was only September, I knew they were limited.

     Next year, Alyssa and I would both be who knows where getting the next level in our degrees, hers in English, mine in Astrophysics. Lyra would be off at med school, and Adrianna would probably be down in California working at some fancy tech company. We'd all be in different parts of the country, a fact we were all trying very hard to ignore. I liked the little family I'd built here, and even though we had a year left that didn't feel like nearly enough time.