“Yeah…you know me,” replied Hannah vaguely, looking around her room which was quite vacant on the walls, but various sized boxes littered the floor. “I always have to be prepared.”

Samantha sighed heavily and peered at her friend with much sympathy on her face, “What’s going on, Hannah?”

Hannah stood up from the floor to look her friend in the eye, “I don’t want to go home,” she shrugged.

Samantha stepped further into the room, “Why? I thought you were looking forward to seeing your mom.”

“I am…but…I found this old photo album.”

“Yeah?” Samantha prompted gently.

“It has pictures of me and Jake in it,” said Hannah, sniffing slightly. She wrapped her arms around herself as if it was cold in the room; it wasn’t.

“Your old best friend, Jake?” Samantha asked, walking over to where Hannah was motioning towards the photo album that lay open on the bed.

“Yeah, and I just…I haven’t seen him for over four years. Not since he started going to Columbia.”

“Isn’t he that actor?” Samantha asked, her forehead knitted in concentration.

“Um…yeah,” replied Hannah hesitantly.

“So you’ve seen him, right? Just not…face to face.”

“I suppose,” she said, shrugging. “But it’s different, Sam. On screen…that’s not him. That’s a character. I just missed…miss him. I mean, I was in love with him and he never knew. I could never tell him. It killed me inside. It was the best thing for us when we stopped contacting each other. I bet he doesn’t even remember me.”

“I doubt that. You grew up together. You don’t just forget your best friend who you grew up with. Not like that.” Samantha snapped her fingers to show her point. Samantha slowly sat on the bed and Hannah sat beside her.

Hannah sighed, “It doesn’t matter. He’s not going to be at home. He doesn’t live there anymore.”

“So that’s what the problem is? You don’t want to go home now because he’s not going to be there?”

“Yeah,” replied Hannah quietly. “It’s okay when I’m there for just a week or whatever. But I’m going home for GOOD now.”

“Well, not GOOD,” laughed Samantha, “Just for a while. Until you can get your shit together and get yourself back here.”

Hannah smiled a little, “Yeah.” She sniffed, “Sam…I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Samantha asked, genuinely shocked.

“For partying too much, drinking too much…making you worry. And for making you take care of me. I’m such a horrible person…” her voice drifted off.

“Hannah, don’t say that,” Samantha scolded, setting the album gently on the bed.

“KNOCK KNOCK!” Came a rather loud and obnoxious voice from the apartment’s door. The two girls on the bed heard the door being shut and then high-heeled footsteps coming towards them.

“Cameron,” said Hannah in a deadpan voice when she saw the blonde peek her head inside the bedroom.

“Hello girls!” Cameron hollered, way too perkily. She was wearing a pink sundress despite the fact that it was April…and very cold. Her pink high heals glimmered in the sunlight. Her hair was perfectly in place and bobbing across her shoulders. Cameron looked straight at Hannah, “And don’t you call me that name, Hannah, you know how I hate it.”

Hannah looked down at her drab heather gray sweater and jeans; her brown locks were curly and flowing down around her shoulders and back. Samantha was wearing brown corduroys and a cream colored cardigan over a simple white t-shirt with her sleek dark hair pulled into a professional looking bun. Hannah always felt out of place in this world, especially around cheerful and feminine Cameron.

“Sorry,” muttered Hannah.

“So, Cassie, what’s going on?”
“I came to say goodbye to poor Hannah and to give her a going-away gift.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” replied Hannah with a sugary sweet voice.

“Oh I know,” said Cassie, smiling widely, “but I just HAD to.”

Hannah’s fake smile plastered on her face and stayed there, she knew what was coming: some sort of article of clothing in pink. In the four years Hannah had known Cassie (and not really liked her all that much) she’d been given four Christmas gifts and four birthday gifts, all of which had been some form of pink clothing. A pair of pink sneakers, a fluffy and soft pink sweater, pink flip-flops, a pink faux fur (leopard print) headband, and a pink girlish watch amongst other items. None of them had ever been used except the flip flops on occasion.

Samantha smiled, “Why don’t we go in the living room?”

Cassie nodded happily and followed Sam from the room, Hannah trudged along behind them. The three of them took seats in the wonderfully furnished living room of the apartment, Hannah and Cassie beside each other on the large couch and Sam across from them in a huge comfy chair with her bare feet curled under her.

Hannah braved herself for the worse. She was thinking the gift HAD to be in Cassie’s pocket book (which was pink vinyl and quite small) because Cassie didn’t have anything else with her. So, the gift was definitely smaller than bread box and absolutely pink.

In Hannah’s brain, she made a small little list of possibilities: a tiny pink cell phone just like the one Cassie has, a pair of pink earrings…of what origin, she didn’t know, a little pink notebook, maybe a pink flower (which would be cheap considering Cassie-and her father-are loaded) or perhaps a bottle of pink nail polish.

Cassie unclasped her purse’s clasp and pulled a pink envelope from it. She handed it over to Hannah with a large smile on her pink painted lips.

Smiling fakely (as usual), Hannah ripped the envelope open carefully and pulled out the papers that were inside. The papers, Hannah noted happily, were not pink; they were white, small and rectangular. Almost like concert tickets…but that would go against all of Cassie’s logical gifts.

“Now, before you look,” came Cassie’s squeaky voice, “I just want you to know that I had NO idea what kind of music you like…so I described you to the ticket man and he suggested this band. I’ve never heard of them…but apparently they’re good. According to him…it’s like a rock/pop sound that would be good for college students.” Cassie smiled and shrugged her petite shoulders.

“Band?” Hannah asked, looking up at Samantha, who shrugged.

“Yes, now take a peek at the name. And if you don’t like them…I think Mark or Christian would take them.”

Hannah took a few deep breaths before looking at the name on the concert tickets.

“Who’re Mark and Christian?” Samantha asked, sipping her coffee. If Hannah had been watching her, she would have laughed; Samantha always reminded Hannah of a mother, in her mannerisms and attitude.

“They’re in my English Lit class,” explained Cassie, crossing her legs and relaxing on the sofa.

Hannah closed her eyes, opened them, and turned the tickets over, “Jimmy Eat World.”

“WHAT?!” Samantha cried, standing up and nearly spilling coffee all over herself. “I LOVE them!”

“Do you?” Cassie asked, sounding quite pleased with herself.

“LOVE THEM!” replied Samantha ecstatically. She set her coffee down on the small table and reached for the tickets.

“What about you, Han? Do you like them?”

Hannah stuttered, “Uh…what? Oh…yes…yeah…I…yes…I do…a lot…thank you…”

Cassie giggled, “You’re welcome.” She stood up, “Well, I must be off. Studying and all that. I’ll miss you, Hannah.” Cassie kissed the air above Hannah’s head, “Goodbye,“ and then she left. Samantha was jumping up and down around the room, but not making any sounds.

When the door closed, Samantha continued to jump except now she was making a little song to go along with the beat of her jumping, “We (jump) are (jump) going (jump) to (jump) see (stop) JIMMY EAT WORLD!” She followed this up with a screech and pulled Hannah to her feet.