Same! When my moms were our age, they were kicked out of their houses and pretty much turned into orphans. I can’t complain to them about anything.

Parisa

Shit. You’re right.

Gabriela

I’d trade prom and graduation and Wes if it means Andrew is going to be okay.

Parisa

Me too. All the way. But if he is okay, then he needs to be our friend again.

Gabriela

I’ll take him back in a heartbeat.

Parisa

I know. I need a buddy now that you and Wes are going to abandon me.

Gabriela

STOP.

You’ll always be my number one.

Parisa

Right back at you. Xo

PARISA

My parents don’t like to go into detail about their lives during the Islamic Revolution or the Iran-Iraq War that followed shortly thereafter. Sometimes I wonder if they ever lay in bed and licked their wounds while their entire country fell apart. Or if they just took it all in stride. I suspect if I asked, they’d say it was the latter. The resilience gene must skip a generation, because right now, my favorite activity is streaming my Sad Songs for Lying in Bed, Part Two playlist while lounging under the warm embrace of my weighted blanket.

I realize it’s not my sister’s or Gabriela’s fault that they’ve found people to love them and that I’m still single. It’s not their fault that I’m scared that for the rest of my life, I’ll be sitting on the sidelines, watching other people become consumed with each other. My neurotic “brace yourself for the worst” brain has already prepared me to be the girl who has to grin and bear it when my friends tell me they’re engaged or pregnant or expecting their first grandchild. I am eighteen and already trying to get used to the idea of dying alone. I want to be evolved enough to think that I don’t need a guy in my life to be happy, but is it so bad to admit that I want to know what it feels like to be loved?

Worst of all, the boy who promised me we’d get married if we were still single by the age of forty is in the hospital. My feelings for Andrew were always platonic, and so were his feelings for me. We didn’t have any sexual tension between us like Gabs and Wes, but there was a part of me that always thought we might end up together. The two smartest people at Winchester High School. The ultimate power couple. But even he has a girlfriend that he loves so much, he was willing to risk getting Adema to see her. Now he’s paying the ultimate price for love.