Katie

I miss having sleepovers with her.

Looking up Harry Potter memes on Google.

Watching popular YouTube videos on her family's desktop.

Sitting on her bed and talking.

Staying up until ungodly hours.

Watching Lord of the Rings. All the time.

Taking personality quizzes for hours on end.

Eating pancakes or cereal the next morning in her cramped kitchen.

Playing on the Wii until my mom came to pick me up.

One time, we slept out on the trampoline, enjoying the warm summer night.

We looked up at the stars and talked about eternity.

I once ate at least half of a box of chocolate Krave because no one in her family liked it, and they said I could just finish it off.

We'd read books together sometimes, too. Like, read the same book out loud. Not sure why.

We had our first sleepover when I was ten or eleven, and the last one was shortly after my sixteenth birthday.

I don't know why we stopped.

I wish we hadn't.

We chat when we see each other, but that's it.

I miss having that deep friendship with her.

I think she's one of the only friends I've had that kind of friendship with.

We went to see movies together.

I helped her memorize lines for her play.

We went to Harry Potter parties.

We'd go trick-or-treating, and she'd invite me over for her annual Halloween party.

I went to a surprise birthday party for her.

When she broke her leg in sixth grade, I was the only person she consistently trusted to push her wheelchair.

She made a medal for me when I got second place in the school spelling bee.

I don't think about those memories a lot now.

But when I do, there's a joy and a sadness mixed in one.

It makes me sad that those fleeting days, which felt like they'd last forever, are gone.

But it makes me so happy to think about them anyway.

And for most of that time period, we didn't even go to the same school.

Being her friend was so much fun.

I had someone who loved the things I loved as deeply as I loved them.

Someone who could make even the dullest thing seem enjoyable.

She was my best friend, but I never said it. I really wish I had.