It happened in a closet—no pun intended—shortly after high school graduation. It was mid-July and an unusual humidity blanketed our hometown. I sat on the floor of my best friend’s bedroom, leaning my back against her dresser. Mimi Andrews and I had been close since elementary school as our mothers working together at the hospital and her living just up the street from me had made it a convenient friendship.
“I can’t believe high school is over,” Mimi lamented, looking down at her feet dangling off the edge of the bed, her long brown hair concealing her face. Reese sat beside her, a comforting hand on her shoulder. In the low lighting, Reese’s freckles looked much darker on her soft cheeks, her shoulder-length blond hair lazily styled.
I kept my attention on the patterned tan carpet, att
