Aly

July 1st, 1984

"The plane will be taking off soon," Josh said. We were sitting next to each other on the plane. I was shivering from the cold rain on that early morning, so I'd brought a blanket on board with me to keep warm. For Josh, it wasn't the first time he'd been on a plane. For me, I was extremely nervous. What would happen if the plane crashed? Would I even survive?

"They're gonna take off in six minutes, Aly," Josh said. "They'll be done preparing to take off then. It's important to prepare to take off because if they don't, there's a higher chance the plane will crash."

"Okay," I said. My seatbelt was buckled, right underneath my blanket. In the cup holder, the Coke Daria brought me that morning was sitting untouched. I picked it up and took a sip. I thought over the morning, when I got an unexpected visitor.

Daria

Earlier that day

I hug Aly as tightly as possible before she goes through airport security. I've already given her Coke, so now I owe her some French fries and hamburger. The bag with them is still in my hand.

"I'm gonna miss you," I say, loosening my grip so I can get a look at Aly's face.

"I'm gonna miss you too," she says. "I wish you were coming."

I let go of her and look over my shoulder. Dad's standing there, with his arms crossed and a cigarette sticking out. He didn't want to bring me to the airport to say bye to Aly, especially with the weather, but I convinced him to bring me because I wouldn't be seeing Aly for two weeks, when we've been friends for a dick year.

"I'll see you later," I say, turning and waving.

"Later, as in two weeks," Aly jokes, waving back. Even though it really doesn't mean much, there's really far too much truth in it. I don't know how I can make it two weeks without Aly. Even if we didn't see each other face to face, we would phone each other. Yeah, I can still phone and write letters, but it's so hard.

How do you live without someone like her?

Aly

Thousands of feet in the air

Josh and I had been on the plane for half an hour, playing a game of Uno when a stewardess came, with cookies, pretzels, and drinks. Josh took a drink, a bag of pretzels and a cookie while I skipped the drink and took the cookies and pretzels.

"University wasn't really what I expected it to be," Josh said, shuffling the cards just after we took our food. "I'm not sure what I really expected in the first place. I guess a lot less homework. And no debt."

"Oh yeah?" I said.

"Damn skippy," Josh said, placing the cards back in the box. "For one, if there is one thing I learned from the people in one of my classes, you might end up having kids in your first or second year."

"C'mon," I said, trying not to giggle. "How the fuck can that happen? There's no way that can happen."

I remember Josh's face was completely serious. "It can happen, Alyssa," he snapped. "You can't predict the future."

That made me shut up. No one called me Alyssa unless they were serious.

Especially since looking back, Josh and I agree that he kind of predicted his future that moment.