I started this blog two years ago. Two years ago, when my best friend and I had decided we'd had enough of each other and I needed a place to vent. He was determined to keep hitting himself over the head with the hammer that was his ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend who hated my guts and forbade him from hanging out with me. Ever.
Our friendship was doomed the moment he decided to play by her rules.
Or so I thought.
He finally realized that there was no such thing as being "friends" with this particular ex. Especially since she was still yanking him around as she dated around. I personally like to think that maybe he just missed my charming sparkling witty conversation. (But I know better.)
Regardless, he got over her. Eventually.
But our friendship wasn't the same. I still felt betrayed. I mean, this is a guy who had suffered through organic chemistry with me. We had matching butt marks on side-by-side cubicles in the library. This was a guy who knew that I hate apples, except when it comes in French apple pie. This was the guy who helped me stave off the freshman fifteen by eating half my Hotpocket every morning, without fail. And this was the guy who trekked 1.2 miles every day to study with me and my roommate.
In crutches.
We were the JLM trio. We were always there for each other. Even at church, when I spilled the blood of Jesus all over his crisp white Communion shirt. Even at the ice skating rink, where I fell all over myself and my two left feet. Honestly, who knew that a boy from Texas would turn out to be such a good figure skater? (Granted, he's from the same hometown as freaking Tara Lipinski.)
And so, for him to throw that all away was very much a stab in the back. We didn't talk for a good six months.
It got so bad that when the L in our JLM trio hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, she made sure to invite enough friends so that neither one of us were ever alone or in the same room together.
But time passed. And somehow, we found our way back to each other. He's a year ahead of me in med school - and his new girlfriend is less scary. Less demanding. (Read: I actually like her, and I think she likes me.)
Anyways, as boyfriends are wont to do, my best friend hangs out with his girlfriend quite a bit. So, I see him maybe once a month on designated JLM dinner days. I might catch him online and have a quick "what up, what are you doing, where are you studying" conversation, but we don't have the same dynamic that we used to.
This past unit was particularly terrible. Honestly, how are we supposed to learn about the entire autonomic nervous system (and all the drugs that affect it), and the renal and male genitourinary system, in less than three weeks?
It's madness, I tell you. And downright impossible.
So every day, I would go to the library. I would sit in my little cubicle. And study until the cows came home. One day, I saw a familiar jacket sit down next to me. And within seconds, a little Panera brown paper bag came flying over the divider. And inside was half an Asiago cheese bagel and half a cinnamon crunch. My two favorites. In the exact portions I always want.
After all these years, he still remembers my idiosyncrasies. Like how I only like eating half a bagel before I get bored with it. And how I need something sweet to go with my something savory, and vice versa.
This past weekend, we hung out quite a bit. And he was good about making sure we always sat facing the direction of travel on the subway. Remembered that I hate apples in anything but dessert and told the waitress to switch them out for raspberries. He even downloaded episodes of The Office onto his ipod to keep me entertained (and probably so my ADD wouldn't drive him up the wall). We watched girly movies that he would never admit to liking. And while he may make fun of my matching earmuffs, gloves, inner fleece, and the required ten minutes I need to put on all of my winter accessories whenever we head out into the cold, I've missed him and his incessant whining and ribbing.
We're friends. Nothing more, nothing less. And I wouldn't change it for the world.
There are very few people in the world that I feel so comfortable with. He's definitely one of them. We might not have grown up next to each other in houses with cute white picket fences, but we definitely grew up with each other. And so, no matter where we end up in life, I know we'll always find a way back to each other.
3 years ago
