Firsts

First Girl Talk

"We're going to have a Girl Talk Meeting," Julia begins.

She texted me this morning to meet her in the school parking lot twenty minutes early. There we sit, in the back of her dad's old, red pickup truck, recently passed down to her. 

"What about?" I ask, trying to sound nonchalant, but insanely curious. 

She takes a deep breath, starts slowly, and then rapidly speeds up, practically spitting the words out of her mouth.

"I- Well, you've had all this drama with you dad lately, and I didn't want to take any attention away from that, but, well, I've got a boyfriend," she says hurriedly.

It takes a few minutes for her words to sink in. She sits impatiently as I process. Slowly but surely a smile crosses my face. 

"Julia, this is huge? How come you didn't tell me!"

"I didn't want to take any of the attention away from the drama with your dad, like I said before."

I smile at her and give her a huge hug.

"That's really sweet. Thanks for that, but now I'm dying inside and have to know who this is!"

Julia takes in a deep breath, looks straight in my eyes, and says, "Mitchell Murphy."

"No way," I say.

She grins at me.

"No way!" I repeat, louder this time. "That dude you were checking out in the hallway? The one who stood up for us?" 

She nods, grinning broader. I squeal ecstatically with her, then clear my throat. 

"I'm never doing that again," I tell her.

Julia giggles. I lean back in the truck and breath a long sigh, shaking my head. Dread begins to creep up on me again. I feel physically sick to my stomach as I realize that we won't have this much longer. It's already April, only a month and a half left before we graduate, leaving this place forever. It seems like I only just got here. Julia notices my depressed mannerisms instantly.

"Skylar, what's wrong?" 

I hesitate before answering. 

"It's just- well, we're so close now, and we've had such a great time together. I don't want to graduate and have to brave the great big world without you."

"Don't worry about that," Julia comforts. "Just take it in stride. Live in the moment. It's worked pretty well for you so far."

"But what if I can't make friends in college?" I voice my worries aloud for the first time. "I mean, at the beginning of all this, I was a socially awkward shut in without any friends. Now, I'm still socially awkward, but at least I have friends who embrace that and like to spend time with me."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Julia says. "Besides, I'll visit you all the time, Bestie."

She laughs, knowing how much I hate that term. 

"Of course, Bestie," I return, humouring her. "I'll call you every night, and we can talk about what we did that day."

"Sounds great," she says, continuing the game. "Then, I'll pick you up in my private jet, as a wildly successful actress/singer/professional theatre nerd, and we can do something fun!"

We hop out of the truck happily and saunter towards the school, bantering the whole way, our arms wrapped over each other's shoulders. 

"Who were your friends before I showed up?" I tease.

"I was just as socially awkward as you," she returns smoothly. "We were made for each other. Best friends for life."

"How in the world did we get boyfriends?" I ask, laughing.

She shrugs. Inside the school, the bell rings, but we don't care. We open the double doors and stroll down the hall, our feet falling in unison and our hearts a thousand times lighter.