The Safety Pin Affair

f o r t y - they could be awhile

  i had that dream about you again
where i wait outside until
you let me i n . . .

▪️▫️▪️

◇ t h r e e  y e a r s  l a t e r ◇

The pungent taste of a Long Island Iced Tea washed over my taste buds, causing my lips to turn up into a smile. Since I turned twenty-one, which is frankly the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, I've come to realize that they're one of my favorite drinks. It helps that Fry It Up makes amazing ones and I can get them anytime I want now.

Blair scowled at me from across the table, and I smirked back. I sat my glass down and smacked my lips together, making an obnoxious, satisfied sound. She just rolled her eyes.

"I hate you," she groused, crossing her arms and leaning back in her booth. "I'm so jealous."

"Hey, only a couple more weeks until you're twenty-one and then we can drink together in public, legally," I gave her something to look forward to with a hopeful grin.

She sighed and nodded her head too, her lips slightly pulling upwards. "You're right," she willingly agreed with me.

Our appetizers arrived then, taking up most of the room on our table as we dug in when the waiter left. Even though it's been years of getting the same appetizers at Fry It Up, the food never gets old. I don't think we could ever get tired of it.

Blair gasped suddenly, making me pry my eyes off my hot wing I was dousing in blue cheese. Her finger was pressed on her phone's home button, blue eyes widened in shock.

"I forgot it was Friday the thirteenth," she uttered lowly.

"I forgot you're weird. Oh wait, no I didn't," I rolled my eyes playfully, sending her a sarcastic grin.

"Shut up," she mumbled through a mouthful of tortilla chips, making both of us laugh which caused everyone around us to stare at our table.

Despite the fact that it's Friday and the half-off discount doesn't apply to our appetizers today, we still decided to come here for dinner. The both of us finished with finals last week, so now we're on summer break. Practically all of our friends are off, except for Matt, but he's nearing the end of his semester anyway; he's at a technical school a little over an hour away.

We've all only got one year left of college. One year left of being stupid kids before we enter the working class world.

For the past three years, I've been attending the University of Vermont for marketing, while minoring in art history. I stayed in the dorms for the first two years, and then this past year I got a small apartment with three other girls. We all get along which is good, and we're getting a place together again for our senior year.

It's been a pretty great experience overall, and the good thing is I still get to see my friends from high school while I'm there. Rick goes to Burlington College which is right down the road from my school, and Michael goes to the Community College that's close by me as well. The three of us meet up all the time and hang out a lot since we started school. I've met new friends of course, but it's nice to see familiar faces every now and then.

As for Blair, she goes to Castleton University for art education – she wants to be an art teacher, obviously. It's over an hour away from our hometown, so she stays there. We never get to really see each other unless we're home during our breaks, and it's hard not seeing my best friend as much anymore. We plan trips to visit one another while we're at school though. She's spent a couple of weekends with me at my school which I totally don't mind because I need Blair in my life; no matter how much she might annoy me sometimes.