The Last Time We Met

23

It was 8 am and I was hunched over my computer wearing the t-shirt I'd slept in, with a blanket around my shoulders, and a steaming hot latte in my hands, courtesy of Mom's new espresso machine. We'd all been sent a schedule of links to our classes to be held via Zoom, which meant most of my day would be spent in front of my laptop, trying to learn something, while my mind was all over the place.

Last night I had stayed up until 3 am Facetiming Cedric, holding his face close to mine. That brief hug already felt like years ago, and the two-dimensional projection of his face couldn't compete with the memory of his arms around me, squeezing me, the tickle of his breath on my neck. I didn't know how to replicate it. I didn't know if I could live without him until May, which is what my mother threatened.

I rubbed my eyes and finally the Zoom meeting window opened up and people's faces began to pop up on the screen. Some screens remained blank, with only their names across the bottom. My first period teacher, Mr. Tran, gave us a ten-minute lecture on Zoom etiquette in his usual meticulous manner. "Everyone's cameras must be on, or you will receive a zero for class participation," he said. A few more screens blinked alive. "You will remain on mute. You may raise your hand if you have a question and I will unmute you. When I initiate a class discussion, you will use the chat feature."

Searching the gallery view of faces, I finally found Eli. He looked about as alive as I felt. Suddenly Eli's face was replaced by Mr. Tran's face. "I trust that everyone has used these past weeks to finish reading Invisible Man. Today I've prepared a lecture about this novel and its relevance to the Civil Rights Movement."

I would have seen more than a few eyerolls had Mr. Tran not shrunk everyone down. My phone buzzed and I glanced down at the screen to see Eli's name.

I wish I was invisible rn

I texted back a laughing emoji.

Like, I could be taking a nap through this

Glancing up at the screen, I scrolled through the screens at the top to find Eli's. He was crossing his eyes at me. Or maybe at Mr. Tran, or at everyone in class. I suppressed a smile.

I'm so tired, I texted back.

Eli responded, Are all the classes going to be like this? Fuck this is the worst.

I picked up my pen to take notes, because Mr. Tran was definitely going to be looking to see who was taking notes and who wasn't. But then Mr. Tran's face was replaced by a slideshow presentation, and I relaxed a little bit. I screenshotted the first slide, and then the second.

Without having to take notes, however, thoughts of Cedric came back. And then I remembered that I had something to ask Eli.

Hey, did you talk to your Aunt Lulu? I texted him.

Oy vey, Eli responded. After a long pause while the three dots danced in their row, Yes. She's very interested in your past lives.

Cool

I waited for him to give me her number.

She wants to set you up with this woman she knows who does past life regressions. Apparently, she gave my dad an earful about all that shit, and then she demanded to talk to me, so I was on the phone with her for like two hours the other day. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I kind of wanted to gouge out my own eyes.

You are a true bff

You def owe me Big Time. Anyway, I'll email you the info for my aunt's personal psychic. She has a personal psychic. Let that sink in