Minnesota Goodbyes

Entry #37

"Annie's?" It's Jay who texts the group the Sunday evening you all get back to campus, and it's Jay who suggests the place with the best malts in the city. But it's not Jay who you're waiting on.

Your phone chimes with a flurry of responses. (Yes and yes and yes. Well, more or less.)

Lacy's reply (despite her once saying how much she hates it when other people do it) is a series of exclamation points. Though Jay is probably down the hall in his own room, you can see his grin at having caused Lacy to abandon her principles, even if it's just for one text.

Your phone chirps with a message from Clair, just between the two of you. "Are you going?"

"If you are."

Her response comes only a moment later. "See you soon."

A lopsided smile overtakes your face, and your cheeks start to hurt from it. That's okay, though, because the blooming feeling in your chest is uncontainable. It would hurt more to trap it, to constrict your absolute giddiness. So you scramble for your jacket and purse, aware that each action draws you closer to her.

"So Clair's coming?" Lacy asks, flipping her hair out from the collar of her coat.

You roll your eyes. "Ha. Funny, Lacy." But there's no menace in your voice, and Lacy smirks.

"That's what I thought."

You grace her with another eye roll, so she throws her arm around your shoulder, and hip-checks you. The two of you bounce off one another, and that's how you meander outside; your arm snaked around her waist, hers around your shoulder with the intermittent jostling and laughing.

It's an unsaid agreement, but you all end up meeting in front of Centen. You and Lacy first, Sam and Jay straggling behind (jostling and shoving each other off the curb), Nick loping in from Pio, and finally (finally) Clair comes out the front doors.

"So, who missed me?"

You catch Lacy's eye roll and stifle a snort of laughter.

"I'm serious, guys," Sam continues, "Clair? M.?" He wags his eyebrows. "Lacy?"

"I did," Nick says, and Jay claps him on the back.

"That makes one. I thought you'd do better." Jay peels a dollar out of his wallet and hands it to Sam, who winks at Nick.

"Should've told me it was a bet! I would've maybe even helped you out, Jay," Lacy says.

"No you wouldn't've. You would've done the same thing, just to be contrary." Clair leaps into the crosswalk, barely avoiding an overly aggressive biker. (Sam flips him off, but he's already cycled past, so you're pretty sure he doesn't notice.)

"Big words, Clair." Lacy sticks out her tongue but doesn't dispute it.

The banter falls lightly on you, a thin mist or the first snowfall. Though there were plenty of jokes over Thanksgiving, it felt nothing like this. This feels so much more real, and you're more present, throwing jabs of your own at the guys and at Lacy. You and Clair defend each other from their jests, parrying with ones of your own.

Annie's is a decent walk from your dorms, being that it's situated on the outskirts of campus. (Really, it's in Dinkytown, but so close to campus that the line doesn't much matter. It's a long walk either way.) The whole way is filled with the giddiness of togetherness. It's gorgeous, you decide, and you wish your life could be this. An endless walk under streetlamps, surrounded in the pleasure of being reunited.

By the time you get there, the lot of you have been complaining loudly about your empty stomachs. Though it's an easy stroll, maybe it's better that it comes to an end. Especially if that end is burgers and malts and fries.