Rebecca wishes this were a story about a first love, and it is, but only in that it’s the story of making the first friend she ever successfully took a non-awkward platonic nap with. If you aren’t in the know, platonic naps — almost always awkward. It’s a friendship step that comes well after sitting on the same side of the table at restaurants, and just before sharing a dressing room at Nordstrom.

Writing has been Rebecca’s thing since high school, and she was thankful for it because her confidence in her math skills never recovered from failing long division in 4th-grade. She was an engaging features writer and she loved the attention of being good at something, and bragging to her friends about how she’ll be writing for The Atlantic by age 25. Rebecca also loved pushing  boundaries and was able to successfully pitch stories like a point-counterpoint on Cricket the sport v. Cricket the bug. Needless to say, she was totally stoked when her high school journalism teacher nominated her for journalism camp.

The first day journalism camp at NorthWestern can be described as a swamp of hormones, hipsters and college-resume builders. During the first ice breaker, a kid named Sam from Ohio claimed to have the largest bacne pimple of all time, Rebecca’s first thought was that Sam’s claim was awfully hard to substantiate with evidence,  her second was that it was disgusting and way way TMI.

Miles came a few hours late because his flight from JFK had been delayed, and if he were being entirely honest, he would have been a bit late regardless because he loves to make big entrances and brag about being from New York City. Rebecca was absolutely infatuated and aroused, in addition to being pretty ecstatic about Miles showing no signs of bacne.

Always a bit of a schemer, Rebecca suggested that the next ice breaker be trust falls.  She had to put on her best acting face because she didn’t give a fuck about trust falls, but she loved the idea of being able to tell her friends that she literally fell into the arms of her husband on the first night they met.

At the end of the evening Rebecca offered to fill Miles in on what he missed, when she got to part about Sam and his bacne Miles gagged and said, “that’s epically gross, and a shame because he’s kind of hot in that mid-west boyfriend for the summer kind of way.” Rebecca lost a love and gained someone cool to shit talk with, which in her opinion is the second-best thing.

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note: this is not meant to be a standalone piece, rather it’s the first page of a first draft of book chapter disguised as a short story