BFFs

I wrote a series of vignettes on best friends I've had over the years. Here is one of them:


Jennifer
Jennifer’s mom married my uncle when I was still in preschool. She was two years older than me and we’d always play when our families came together. Because we were about the same height, my grandma would always buy us matching outfits and we’d go out in public and be mistaken for twins. For a long time her family lived across the street from my grandparents, so whenever I was there we’d play. She liked to boss me around, but she was older and therefore allowed to.

When I was in high school she lived with me until she graduated. Her mom and my uncle had long ago divorced. We still referred to each other as cousins. Even today we like to confuse people by saying we’re ex-step cousins. Because my house wasn’t that big, Jennifer lived in my room. We even had to sleep in the same bed. The upside, though, was that we got to share clothes. It wasn’t until Jennifer got her first car that our escapades really began. We’d speed to school, go to shows, and even make drives up to Seattle just to get cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. One time we drove out to the Warped Tour at the Gorge. I got so hot and dehydrated that I ended up getting sick. Like a true best friend, Jennifer was there to take pictures of me while I puked in a trashcan. “You’ll want to remember this,” she had told me.

There’s a picture of us before we went into the Gorge. We’re standing in the grassy parking lot after just sharing a warm Zima. My hair is frizzy from heat and you can see my adolescent pimples that wouldn’t stay covered up by foundation. I’m wearing the balled necklace I always seemed to have on and the frog necklace Jennifer had given me. They were my favorite animals. Jennifer is grinning widely per usual.

This was before I got sick and before we saw the Casualties, Pennywise, and the Ataris – the band responsible for the anthem of our friendship. One of their songs has a lyric we loved to shout out:

“I’d rob a Kwik-E-Mart for you.
 I’d go to the pound and let all the cats go free,
Just as long as you’d be with me.”

We also took an after photo where we tried our best to look like we were dying. I didn’t have to try very hard.

Even though the Warped Tour wasn’t as epic as we had hoped, I still look at all our pictures and smile and laugh inside. There’s so many stories – like how the singer of the Ataris got into a fight with someone from the crowd and ended up dropping his pants. I still wonder how we drove home in one piece.

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The Ataris, "I Won't Spend Another Night Alone"


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