Young guys never knew how to handle their emotions properly. They’d jokingly tell everyone in the office they missed them, but they always saved the last, most genuine 'I missed you' for Yvonne.
"If you don't like him, just rip the band-aid off. Don't string him along."
Yvonne nodded, her mind still a tangled mess. She grabbed a cold beer from the table and started downing it in long, desperate swallows.
Once the whole class arrived, everyone squeezed around the roaring grills. Between the crackling meat, the thick smoke, and the heavy nostalgia of graduation night, Yvonne's gloomy silence easily blended into the background.
Bonnie sat quietly by her side, matching her drink for drink, asking zero questions.
After tonight, they would all scatter to the winds. Some were staying in Oasinia, some returning to their hometowns, and others flying off to different continents.
The bittersweet ache of goodbye and the thrilling terror of the future hung heavy over the room.
The group drank, screamed lyrics into the microphone, and played drinking games until past ten. Soon, people were shouting about finding a second venue to keep the party alive.
Yvonne wasn't in the mood. She tugged on Bonnie's sleeve and leaned in close. "Let's just go get a drink, just the two of us. I feel like I'm suffocating."
Bonnie didn't mind. Half the class was already tapping out anyway. She stood up, made her rounds hugging her classmates goodbye, and then she and Yvonne grabbed a cab to a quiet, dimly lit lounge.
Yvonne loved a good cocktail and was a regular here. Occasionally, she'd drag Bonnie along, and every time, Bonnie could sense there was a heavy secret weighing on her friend's shoulders—but Yvonne had never explicitly said what it was.
Maybe it was the finality of graduation, or maybe the mess with Perry had finally pushed her over the edge, but tonight, the floodgates opened.
Curled up in the corner of a velvet booth, a slow, heartbreaking ballad playing in the background, Yvonne started talking. She told Bonnie about when she was twenty-two, interning at a massive real estate firm. Every single morning, while grabbing her coffee, she ran into a man.
They both drank flat whites. They both lifted weights. They both played tennis, listened to the same obscure indie bands, and read the exact same books. The universe seemed to constantly throw them together, and their minds worked in terrifying synergy.



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