After working three nights in a row and driving to North BFE and then to South BFE, I'm ready to crash and burn and crash again. So the fact that I wake up a few hours later and insist on going out even though I just really want to hug a pillow instead means that I'd better have a really good reason to do so. And I do!
My lover is leaving me.
I arrive just as Mina finished packing most of her belongings into big, bulky suitcases that she's going to take with her at this time the following day. The visual disheartens me very, very much and so I hug her and insist that we talk smack for the rest of the evening. I hug Babu on her bed as we talk and reminisce for an hour until the Baby calls to tell me that our plans with the boys have been canceled and I can stay with Mina for as long as I want.
(The 5-year-old in me who has magical thinking believes that I made this happen because I don't know when the next time is that I'll be seeing her again.)
We talk about her boyfriend, her plans once she's in California and the timeframe I have to visit her before law school sucks out her soul completely. Her parents have made dinner and I feel kind of bad for eating what is technically her last meal at home but she insists that I should eat it anyway and I do: daal with potatoes and broccoli, somehow the same exact meal her mother always cooks whenever I come around. Mina mentions how lonely her mom is going to be from now on; I know her father is away every couple of weeks, her brother is in California, and with Mina gone, I know it's pretty much just going to be her for hours at a time. It disheartens me and I hope I can gather the balls to come out and say hi to her mom every so often to appease the loneliness I'm sure that's going to take over.
At some point, Mina finds a slip of paper and gives it to me. The words sound familiar and it takes me a moment to realize what it is: her birthday wish to me as one of my birthday debut candles. It's a really touching thing and I try to give her the only other slip of paper I have with me: a piece of paper from work. Mina laughs and insists that I keep it, but agrees to make a message on the back for me as long as I promise not to read until the moment comes. (I secretly can't wait to use this paper)
We talk some more and she shows me pictures of her old friends before she moved to Miami. She's skinnier and the only brown spot in the entire crowd, and I hope one day she can show pictures of her friends in high school and college and point to lil 'ol me in a few of the photos and go, "That was one of my really good friends...who liked to grab my boobs."
It'd be a nice way to be remembered I think. [I'm really going to miss her even if it does give me an excuse to visit Cali]
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