How I met her, you ask? Well, it was in college, in the beginning of my third year, I think, halfway through her second. That month I had picked up an internship in one of the administration labs in the morning and my classes started right after lunch, so I would either have lunch at the main cafeteria or at the mall across the street. I'm not sure what day of the week it was, all I know is that I wasn't particularly happy... Oh! It must have been either a Wednesday or a Thursday, the days I had the worst classes. Fact is the line to the cafeteria was already turning a corner and I wound up leaving the lab a bit too late, so I went straight to the mall. The lines weren't turning corners, but to find an empty table — for two, since for some reason there is no such thing as a "table for one" in mall food courts — was no easy task. But, nevertheless, I got some sushi, ordered my black tea, walked a few short steps to the closest available table. So many people. Even an entire family having lunch at the mall in a plain weekday. Maybe they were tourists, I didn't watch them for long enough to be able to tell, briefly observing the nearby tables between bites. I wasn't in a rush. A little girl passed by me, following her dad that walked a few steps ahead of her, grabbing her hand right after and guiding her between tables. I wondered if he would say something like "look here, daughter, you should always have someone with you when you come to the mall, so you won't be having lunch sad like that lady over there." I don't know why I imagined that or why I'm telling you all of these details, truthfully all you need to know is that I was distracted while having lunch. Alone. At the mall.
"Is this place taken?", I suddenly heard. She had one hand on the metal chair across from me and a tray from the organic sandwich kiosk on the other. "No," I answered as one does when someone asks to take the chair elsewhere, and went back to my plate. "May I join you, then?", she asked, practically without asking, making room for her tray on the table. I remember staring at her as she got comfortable and unwrapped her sandwich, a can of soda on the side. "The cafeteria is pretty impossible today, huh," she commented, properly introducing herself right after. "I'm Stacy. I like your hair."
My first thought was to try to figure out if I had already seen her somewhere or if my mind was playing tricks on me. She looked familiar, maybe because she also looked popular, although I'm not sure what exactly is it that makes people look popular. This stream of thoughts made me feel like I was in high school all over again. As I grabbed my cup of tea, I looked at her as she smiled a very friendly smile, her lips closed together, showing no teeth. "Thank you. I'm AJ. I like you earrings. It makes no sense to eat that sandwich with a soda, though, you know?"
She laughed and agreed, putting her hair behind her ears to display more of her earrings as I tied my hair in a high loose ponytail before getting back to the sushi. That's how I met her, at a table for two in the mall food court. She never became my best friend, but she is definitely the best of all of my friends. Just don't ask me how we stayed together to this day, because I don't believe either of us can actually answer that.
This monologue was originally about a couple.
But now it is about two very good friends. *wink wink*
Two best friends in a room kind of deal, you know?
Okay, I'll stop.
