There\u2019s nothing unusual about this.<\/p>\n
Forks clink against ceramic plates. We\u2019re upstairs, taking up only half of the circular table we\u2019re sitting at. I look to see what everyone\u2019s got. A\u2019s eating a burrito, as am I. B\u2019s eating chicken strips and onion rings, and C has a sandwich. For a moment, we lose ourselves in our food; then we lose ourselves in conversation.<\/p>\n
We run through our list of conversation topics, turning toward games and television and keeping away from school. We start to imagine the different paths our lives could have taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys, imagine if we didn\u2019t end up living together. Where would we be?\u201d<\/p>\n
We all shrug.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife would be so much better if we didn\u2019t live together.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if we didn\u2019t become friends?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, life would be so much better.\u201d We laugh. We banter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if we all chose to go to our second-pick school?\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a silence, filled only by the sound of forks on plates. Why did we choose Puget Sound? It\u2019s a question we\u2019ve all asked ourselves before.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout that.”<\/p>\n
We stop eating. There\u2019s also a look in his eyes\u2014an apology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve decided to transfer out. There\u2019s nothing unusual about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
But then something unusual happens.<\/p>\n
The room becomes quieter. An emptiness is present that was not\u00a0here before. There is a sense of loss, of an amputation. We are three missing one. We are one less than whole.<\/p>\n
He’s leaving. It\u2019s not unusual. But despite how happy we are for him\u2014that he\u2019ll get to go back home\u2014there\u2019s no helping the sense of emptiness that has suddenly befallen us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This week, I have been stranded with my friends at a Sonics in a car with a shot battery at midnight; I have hurt my back trying to learn how to juggle; I have hurt my brain trying to juggle finishing essays with studying for finals. And now it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow morning, I\u2019ll wake up and take a shuttle to the airport. B will do the same in the afternoon. We\u2019ll lock our doors and walk out the suite, wonder if A is home yet.<\/p>\n
Frost forms on my window.<\/p>\n
C locks the door and boards a plane.<\/p>\n
Here comes the hard part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s nothing unusual about this. Forks clink against ceramic plates. We\u2019re upstairs, taking up only half of the circular table we\u2019re sitting at. I look to see what everyone\u2019s got. A\u2019s eating a burrito, as am I. B\u2019s eating chicken … Continue reading