po•et•ry /noun/ /a place to be found?/ __ __ A necessary work For those that are hooked. On this drug that is part of our veins. Not a choice, but a impulse to, as is Ernest, Sit down at a typewriter and bleed. It runs through the caverns of our fears and weaves with the heartstrings of our sorrows. Joy is rarely raised, but often released in phrase, Oceans and deserts of salt. Made into chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven on a rainy summer day. A book of faces, often screaming. Emotion bottles half empty and tired. Emotions in bottles half broken and fitfully sleeping. A tandem with anger A path of destruction leading to open waters. A cage and a cope Sometimes leading to hope. Thoughts on paper burned at the alter of insecurity. To warm the generations that made us And the one that we’ll leave. A legacy.

Definitions from Side Character Syndrome; __ __

You know those times. When you’re both kids. And in a shared moment of vulnerability you both make that silly pact?

 The pact that says, ‘10 years time, if we are both single, we’ll give it a shot?’

It’s a pact you never expect to actually become realized, but you do it anyway? Because no way, Wren, is your gorgeous best friend Sydney Hart not going to have a boyfriend, or be married at 25. Yet here we are. 10 years later…

 She had contacted me over email like we were 55 instead of 25. I was in my dorm at the moment it popped up in my inbox. So it happens I was very busy trying to be distracted from whatever version of torture my advanced calc professor had thought would be fun. To tell you I was positivity floored to find out it was Sydney would be an understatement. We hadn’t been in touch since before we left on our separate ways for college. 

One of my roommates, Jackson, seeing that I was in a state of shock read over my shoulder in the nosy way that roommates do. And in the stead of his roommate responsibilities proceeded to hype me up as men do.

 She had asked to meet for lunch at an old restaurant our friend group often haunted in high school. I, being completely aware of my emotions, was terrified to see her again. Terrified in the way that you’ve been away from a person you care about so much for so long you no longer know how to act around them. That, my friend, is a scary thing, a scary thing I had now agreed to put myself through. 

I sat in a corner booth at a little diner called Rex. I had worn an outfit that screamed poor college boy. My best pair of jeans, beat up chucks, and a thrifted sweater that was dark greens and blues.

To distract myself from a horrible decision I was surely making, ironically, I’d brought my calc homework.

I was stuck on a particular aggravating question when my heartbeat trippled.

“Kylo Wren Benson.”

A nervous smile lit my face at sound of her old nickname for me that she’d developed after I’d made her watch the entire Star Wars franchise.

Looking up to meet her gaze I froze. Sydney had changed. A lot. The quirky little girl that was my best friend that would run through mud with me in pursuit of a football was gone. Or a least hidden. The girl before me now, was hot.

Grown-up Sydney still had her striking green eyes and brown tresses of hair but now they were longer and more tame. Dressed in a cute white knit sweater and jeans. There was no way she was here to see _me. _

_“_Syd.” I blinked a couple times to get my head on straight. “How are you? You look…amazing.”

She smiled and glanced at her shoes. “Thanks. It’s good to see you too. Mind if I sit?”

I pushed up my glasses-a nervous tick I’d developed over time. I gestured to the seat across from me. “Yes of course. I mean, no I don’t mind. Have a seat.”

She sat down chuckling and I internally kicked myself for being an idiot. Her eyes traveled up. “Your hair is so dark now.”

I ran a hand through my dirty blonde hair. It used to be super blonde but,

“Yeah, I haven’t been spending as much time outside as I used to.”

She nodded. A beat. “So. Tell me about your life.”

I took a deep breath, wondering how to sum up my life in a single conversation.

“Me first huh? Ok well, I’m halfway done with my mathematics degree, hopefully I’ll also be done with my teaching degree around the same time...I do laundry, steal my food back from my roommates and…that’s about it.”

Ok so that really wasn’t all that hard to sum up.

She nodded as a waitress came to take our orders. After we placed our orders there was an awkward moment where neither of us seemed to know how to proceed.

I chuckled a bit and was relieved as she did the same.

“How about you?”

She smiled.

“Well, I have one year left in my nursing program, then I start as a paid assistant nurse in the hospital down town near Kinsley’s old house. I also have been doing photography for some of my college friend’s weddings. Just as a hobby you know?”

Wow. Her life was a lot more impressive than mine.

“That’s awesome Syd. Look at you.” And then because I couldn’t help but wonder, “Are you…in a relationship? Or….”

Just as I was screaming internally at myself for seeming like a loser, she shook her head.

“Not for a year now. I dated this one guy but he wasn’t the right one.”

Oh.

She continued, “What about you? You gotta girl?”

Oh.

“Um no I don’t. Same thing sort of. Dated around but never found one that I was interested in all that much.”

“Oh.”

And then the dreaded what-now silence. The waitress brought our food and as a guy, who didn’t know what else to say, I dug in.

Sydney laughed a bit and then,

“Wren, do you remember that pact we made? When we were fifteen?”

My heart hiccuped. _Of course I remembered. _

I’d made that pact with the girl I’d been in love with for years. My best friend, who had just gotten out of a bad relationship.

“Of course.”

She grinned. “If neither married or dating at 25…”

I smiled softly while my heart was pounding screaming “what the heck is happening” “We’ll give dating a shot…”

She laughed finishing the silly pact. “If only for** **the benefits.”

I laughed along with her. My whole being felt right then. I realized how much I’d missed my best friend.

Slilence descended once more.

We were waiting. For what, I wasn’t sure. And then my roommate’s hyping came in clutch. And I think I maybe read some hints that she was maybe giving out? I went for it anyway.

“Well, um, since the conditions are met, do you? Want to try? Give it a shot and that?”

Instantly, I felt like an idiot who had now ruined my chance to have Syd back in my life as a friend and now made it awkward. Great going Wren.

To my utter shock she didn’t get up and leave saying I was a weirdo and no.

“Yeah actually. Why not? I’m free this Friday.”

I knew it. She could never want—wait what?

“Really?”

She grinned and shrugged.

“I’ve missed my best friend.”

My heart melted.

“Me too.”

We finished our food while catching up and sharing stories of our time apart. Then we walked through the doors of the diner together, laughing, once again right at home with each other.

Her eyes were my favorite shade of bright green. The color they are when Syd is unspeakably happy.

She’s in there. Syd hasn’t changed at all.

And I was totally still in love with her.

I looked at her hand.

Since I was already taking chances I guess,

I reached for it.

She didn’t pull away and instead she grinned.

My heart soared and I felt like I won the Super Bowl.

Maybe she could be the one.

After all these years.