h's

promise

e loneliness sw

aised my hand in class, sat in the front row, and took notes wi

ere to mak

succeed, to prove to

worked-

e day, I

at n

en the sile

ng to the muffled laughter of Rachel and Maya on the other

poke to th

se I hadn

se it was

I was just someone who happe

work, went to class, ate my meals alone,

is was

Ryan c

Phon

when my ph

ugh an article on quantum mechanics,

e on my screen, my he

to him properly

hen swiped to

, filled with easy energy, the kind that used to fil

h, closing my eye

pa

That's

through me. "It's an adjustment," I

d. "Yeah. It's always weird at first. But

in my ches

I belie

d quickly. "Tell me abou

-I just got assigned to cover the NBA

ed. "Ryan, th

it's insane. I get to interview players I grew u

armth flood

all, anything with competition and energy. He

s doi

iving hi

time in weeks, I f

of you," I

oftened, too.

between us, comf

ed. "You sure

sita

o tell him

e any real friends. That I spent more tim

't want to

mile into my vo

didn'

ays a phone call away,

gh he couldn't see

me in weeks, I felt

w Re

, something shi

ing through the days, isolating

my life.

e here, I had to stop wai

change th

starte

ple in class instead

lecture-Nina, a pre-med student who shared

to exist outsi

, the loneliness did

till ad

l miss

I was on the out

e moving to New York, I bel

ould c