Ashlee,

That night when I went to that soccer game with all of our friends and we ended up at a bar and you took me home (because the bar scene was not our idea of fun and I have terrible social anxiety that had me freaking out), I knew that you were going to be one of the best things to have ever happened to me. You didn’t even flinch when I lost it as soon as we got out of the doors, sobbing so hard that I thought I could have passed out.

You asked me about Ian, I asked you about Brayden, and we both agreed that staying in with or boyfriends would have been so much better than our five-minute experience in that bar. I thought Moe’s was the food chain that served Americanized Mexican food, so did you. We both were proved wrong. Now Moe’s is ruined for me.

I told you about my past, you told me about yours. We talked boyfriends, future plans with said boyfriends, classes, family, and life perspectives all within that fifteen-minute walk home from that stupid bar. We sat in my room on my bed talking, talking, talking until you had to go study. You made sure that I felt better, practically tucked me into bed, and wished me a goodnight.

We had been neighbors for the entire year, having small conversations from time to time because I got closer to your roommate before you, and I mostly just talked to her. You would braid my hair, because you were the best at braiding my hair.

These last few weeks, we have tried to make the best out of the little amount of time that we had left. We studied together in the basement, hung out in my room with other friends, and pulled together when we all suddenly forgot how to do statistics. We formed a bond that reveled those of friends that I’ve had for years.

The day you left, you visited me at work and I hugged you as if we would never see one another again. This summer is going to be torturous, as I already have wanted to text you if I could come down to your room and have you braid my hair, but I know that you are too far away for that to happen.

I regret not talking to you more earlier in the year, when there was still the opportunity to make a friendship what would be able to establish more than just a few weeks. I wish we could have gone to Indians games, Cavs games, and more with each other and done more things than sit in the basement and study. I’m sad we missed the opportunity to experience all of this together.

I am also so thankful that we were able to become such good friends so quickly. But the bittersweet goodbye felt like a stab to the chest with a serrated knife. I will miss you so dearly this summer. I’m counting down the days till I see you again.