Just past the Raceway gas station, where the speed limit drops from 55 to 35 on Route 10, stands a narrow bridge that hovers over the James River. As your car veers with the road to the right, the trees disappear and the dark, flat water rests beneath you. The bridge’s concrete and rubber expanders jump your car’s suspension up and down as you slow to enter the city. Along each side, the green trees envelope the shoreline and reach out their bright branches, enshrouded with leaves, to you in welcoming. Once back onto the mainland, a petite mustard yellow sign to the right of the road reads Welcome to the City of Hopewell. Just across the street, an ancient motel by the name of Riverside Inn & Suites welcomes you with white and grey walls accented
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We sat on the creaky, wooden bleachers, while you leaned in with excitement and I spilt all my feelings. I told you everything on this deck. You and I ran off multiple times into a corner or the closet sized weight room, whispering something we heard about the cute boy at school or the guy I had a mega crush on for years. The talks often began with me telling you how cute he looked that day and you said something along the lines of, “Ew, Emily I can’t believe you like him… You should totally tell him!” Then I responded “No! There is no way he likes me.” The conversations resembling this one between you and I went on for years before I finally told him. I remember in the heat of preteen crushing, you developed a liking towards Austin and we needed to vent about how boys should learn how to flirt. The one day I walked in on you huddled on the floor of the locker room shower bawling your eyes out because you didn’t know how to handle your feelings, I knew it was time for an emergency meeting… right after I took at picture. After planning our finances with parents and you received your license, we went on “Milkshake Runs” every Wednesday after practice for roughly three to four months. These runs consisted of scarfing down a chocolate milkshake for me and a strawberry milkshake for you—always with whipped cream and a cherry—while venting about boys and swim team drama. I …show more content…
You and I separated from time to time—slow and then all at once—attempting to find our futures at different universities. We still went on runs, but as we matured the topics we once discussed dimmed. Leaving us with a friendship that resulted in little conversation. The year you left for college, I missed your presence, the person I once went to for everything, and my racing partner. In an attempt to fill the gaps, I adverted to the younger girls, but it wasn’t the same. There was too much to teach them with so little time. I worried that your return home would be awkward from the distance we created over those months, however it wasn’t. You came back and we picked it up right where we left off. We don’t speak to each other as often as the past, but when we return home for breaks here and there, one of us sends a text to meet up. You and I still chat at four-hour brunches as though we never departed. They’re the same as they once were, in the same restaurants we went to after practice, but they don’t happen as often, the characters are different, and there are more stories worth
We sat on the creaky, wooden bleachers, while you leaned in with excitement and I spilt all my feelings. I told you everything on this deck. You and I ran off multiple times into a corner or the closet sized weight room, whispering something we heard about the cute boy at school or the guy I had a mega crush on for years. The talks often began with me telling you how cute he looked that day and you said something along the lines of, “Ew, Emily I can’t believe you like him… You should totally tell him!” Then I responded “No! There is no way he likes me.” The conversations resembling this one between you and I went on for years before I finally told him. I remember in the heat of preteen crushing, you developed a liking towards Austin and we needed to vent about how boys should learn how to flirt. The one day I walked in on you huddled on the floor of the locker room shower bawling your eyes out because you didn’t know how to handle your feelings, I knew it was time for an emergency meeting… right after I took at picture. After planning our finances with parents and you received your license, we went on “Milkshake Runs” every Wednesday after practice for roughly three to four months. These runs consisted of scarfing down a chocolate milkshake for me and a strawberry milkshake for you—always with whipped cream and a cherry—while venting about boys and swim team drama. I …show more content…
You and I separated from time to time—slow and then all at once—attempting to find our futures at different universities. We still went on runs, but as we matured the topics we once discussed dimmed. Leaving us with a friendship that resulted in little conversation. The year you left for college, I missed your presence, the person I once went to for everything, and my racing partner. In an attempt to fill the gaps, I adverted to the younger girls, but it wasn’t the same. There was too much to teach them with so little time. I worried that your return home would be awkward from the distance we created over those months, however it wasn’t. You came back and we picked it up right where we left off. We don’t speak to each other as often as the past, but when we return home for breaks here and there, one of us sends a text to meet up. You and I still chat at four-hour brunches as though we never departed. They’re the same as they once were, in the same restaurants we went to after practice, but they don’t happen as often, the characters are different, and there are more stories worth