June 13, 2001

Let me tell you how we first met:

I remember walking into the comic book store and seeing her, with her hair teased up like mad, and cranky as hell. I thought she was going to rip up my comic books.

The next day, since I didn't have a life, I went back to the store. She was there, hair long and straight down her back. She was happy, and skipping across the store. I thought that there would be no way the same girl could have two different moods and two different hairstyles. They had to be twins.

Let me tell you how I remember her:

I was bored at the cash register, and she came up to the counter with a soda. I rang her up, and in an effort to make small talk, I asked "So what's new?"

She replied, bitterly. "Getting a life."

Or when I watched her at Roderick's, wondering who she was, and how she fit into the scene, as she collided against some ugly oaf.

Let me talk about our first date:

It was Friday the 13th. It was a portent, but we ignored it, because two goths dating on the unlucky day was almost as good as being born on Halloween.

It went well, as a first date. I quickly learned that she wasn't twins.

Let me tell how I remember our time together:

The first few months when we were pretty mean. We had a lot of crap to work out. I'm still amazed we stuck to each other. I guess there was no one else we could turn to.

I remember being so frustrated that I hit my head against the wall. I'm surprised I didn't suffer a concussion. And that one knuckle will never be the same.

But...

We covered each other's backs the way only best friends could do, I thought. Our lives were so similar. We didn't know what to do with our lives, our families, our brothers, gave us a lot of shit to shovel, and people scared the fuck out of us.

Let me tell how it ended:

It didn't end too badly. Actually, everyone has remarked how well we broke up. But the end was kind of anti-climatic, wasn't it? I keep thinking that there should be something to commemorate those three-and- a-half years.

There needs to be an ending to this story. Perhaps this would serve.

Happy (ex)Anniversary.