Two years we went to the same high school. Senior year, we saw each other once a week. I even had Calculus with your boyfriend, but you and I, we didn't know each other. Not really.
Flash forward (or I guess backward now) to freshman year of college, and suddenly we're at the same university in the same dorm, three floors apart. One day we were in the elevator together, and I knew you but you didn't know me by name back then. It was a little awkward at first, but I understand why moments like this had to happen now.
You see, we carry baggage with us in high school. We see the same faces eight hours a day, seven days a week and everyone's just a little too in each other's business. Growing up is messy, and our relationships definitely reflected such. Of course there was drama and broken hearts—that's how highschoolers act. We act out and break up and break promises and lie because we're still learning how to be good people. Yes, maybe we talked to a lot of people and had a "squad," but there were rarely any of those deep, meaningful connections.
Once I read that we call some people friends just because we see them five days a week. I think that's why we stop talking to so many people once we graduate high school. For me at least, most people were temporary comforts during those four years (with a few exceptions, of course), people I got along with but I knew deep down wouldn't stay in my life. We're meant to split up at the end of high school, anyway.
So that's why I think everything happened as it did. Our passed crossed but never tangled. There was never any possibility of bad blood. For the most part, we try to get away from high school, not bring it with us. You were just a familiar face that I saw every now and then, as though the Universe was pointing you out to me saying, " Look at her. Look. She's going to be important one day." Remember when we pledged Delta Beta Tau together? If we were friends in high school, I never would've been scared to introduce myself to you because I would've known you already. I never would've been curious about the kind of person you are, and I never would've tried to befriend you.
And I am so glad I did.
The older I got, the harder it was for me to get close to girls, but you opened your heart to me since day one. So thank you for showing me what kindness feels like. What friendship feels like. Thank you for random English breakfast teas, the muffins, the croissants and all the times you let your legs go numb just so I could use you as a pillow. You have one of the biggest hearts of all the people I know, and the beautiful soul you are comes out in everything you do—don't you ever forget that.
Though we came from the same place, we started here as blank slates. We got to embark on that beautiful Delta Beta Tau journey together, rant about a few boys, grow together, take care of each other and so many other things. We got to build a friendship in a place that we chose to be, and I think that's the most important part of it all. We weren't thrown together randomly at school; we chose the path that led us to where we are, and life brought us together exactly when we needed each other.
