Counting Down: Four Days Until I Reunite with My Close Friends
I have always been someone who struggles to keep friends. Making friends is a breeze, but maintaining those connections is a different ball game for me. Especially when it comes to keeping close female friends, who wants all the dramas and competitions that come with female friends? Certainly not me.
Sometimes, I suddenly want to talk to people, share experiences, and discuss random things. Other times, I just want to be alone, enjoy my space, play music, and do whatever else I find interesting.
Over the years, I haven't had any close friends, even though I have lots of casual friends. I often distance myself from them, not because I'm avoiding them, but because chatting, calling, and visiting are just not my things. I can be very lazy to reply to texts sometimes, so those who don't understand might take offense. What can I do? But that narrative began to change when I met my now best girl at a convention I attended.
She is called Pearl, but for some reasons I can't decipher yet, I refer to her as my home girl. She's 19 while I am 18; age is just a number, right? She's dark in complexion but not as coal, and she's a chubby, bubbly fine girl, and oh yeah! she smiles a lot.
Back in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, I attended a convention with my parents and siblings where she was also present with her family. We stayed in the same lodge because it was a three-day convention. During that period, we didn't connect much; I didn't even know much about her. I got to know her name because she was friends with someone I often hung out with and a friend as well named Grace. So, because she was friends with Grace, she automatically became my friend as well.
We weren't really close then, but I did know one or two things with her. We hung out sometimes, and even after the convention ended, with everyone going back to their respective homes, she did try to keep in touch. She always texted with me whenever she was online, and I, on my part, would reply whenever the spirit led, but at a point, we lost contact, and for months, we didn't speak to each other, just leaving random comments on each other's posts on Facebook, not like we were beefing each other.
However, things took a leap when we reunited at another convention we attended in September 2023, and as fate may have it, we stayed in the same lodge. When I saw her at first, the welcome she and her big sis gave me was something I didn't expect. We hugged and reconnected like long-lost friends, of course, we were. They were happy to see me after a long time of not seeing each other or communicating.
I didn't expect they would be that excited to see me honestly; I really thought it was just going to be a hi and hello thing, then everybody would mind their business. But noooo, we literally talked about everything under the sun and shared lots of gist and jokes.
Particularly for Pearl, she was very nice and often hung out with me since I had no one else to hang out with. During that time, I discovered we have some things in common that got us even closer. She was always with me, and we got to know each other better. One thing that particularly made me interested in being friends with her was her positivity; she always had that smile on her face and barely kept grudges.
One night, I was angry and wouldn't speak to her; she kept trying to know what was wrong, but I kept a straight face and barely answered her questions. She decided to give me space to calm down. The next morning, we were just talking as though nothing happened last night, and I kept expecting her to bring up last night's issue, but she didn't. I had to bring it up myself and explained why I was angry because I really felt guilty and sad for treating her that way. She was cool with it and took it as nothing; that simple act surprised me because ordinarily, I was expecting her to ignore me as revenge or even make a big deal out of it, judging from the friends I had kept in the past, but she didn't. I was dumbfounded and kept thinking within myself that I never knew good female friends like her still existed.
pearl (right)with her mom and big sis
We became closer and created some memories. At the end of the convention, we were already close buddies. It was hard not to shed a tear as we parted ways.
All my life, I have never felt so good about being friends with girls even though I am a girl as well. And I wouldn't stop mentioning her to my parents.
As of now, we have become closer than ever, including her sister, and I can't help but count down to the day I will meet my long-distant but not so distant friends. Yes, we'll be meeting on Sunday, and I can't wait to see them again, Pearl especially.
credits
first image from pixabay