Quinn walked to the arrivals section and spent the next half hour staring out the window, too anxious to take out her phone. At two minutes until arrival time, she stood and went to stand near the door the passengers would be coming from.

It was a brutal combination of emotions that taunted her as she waited for her best friend to walk off the plane. She tried to calm herself by stroking the soft flower petals of the lei she’d bought inside the door. Maggie had never been to Hawaii, and Quinn wanted to try to make it special. Her thoughts spiraled out of control. They hadn’t seen each other in a few years. What should Quinn say to her? Should she hug her? Apologize first? Avoid talk of the time they’d been apart? Quinn didn’t know what to do. Other than her mother and Maggie, she’d never really been able to bond with other women. It was hard for her to open herself up, and she just never felt like she fit whatever it was they seemed to be looking for.

A few feet away, a mom sat beside two teenage girls, their heads down as they texted frantically. When she and Maggie were growing into teens, texting was just becoming popular among their crowd, but their moms were protective and didn’t even allow them to carry cell phones. Quinn was glad they hadn’t. She and Maggie had actually talked to each other. It was called conversation! With real words, her voice traveling into the wall phone and through a cord she’d stretched down the hallway as far as it would go. Their experience made for a deeper connection than she felt teens got these days with their chasing each other all over social media.

Quinn thought about their first prom and how quietly upset she’d been that she hadn’t been asked. Maggie had her date secured before almost anyone. But at the last minute, she arranged for him to go with someone else so that she and Quinn could go together, claiming she didn’t want to be stuck with the same guy all night anyway.

The next year both of them had dates, and they’d doubled. Quinn went with a long turquoise dress, and Maggie a short black stunner with sequins that showed off her amazing legs. Quinn’s date drove, and they’d laughed like crazy when the two boys picked them up in his dad’s pickup truck. Squeezed in like sardines, the four of them had the best time that night.