Deep Cuts

by Holly Brickley

I enjoyed myself despite a blooming awareness that I had no idea what I was doing.

“I’m mostly annoying when I talk about music,” I said, shrugging. I was drunker than the two of them, who’d been trading off driving duties. “But that’s also when I’m at my best, so.” Zoe tilted her head at this, then surprised me with a considered nod. “Bit of a dilemma,” she said. She held my gaze for a long second and then laughed.

They didn’t know they were the best friends I’d ever had. How can you tell that to people you’ve known only a few months without sounding pathetic?

I wondered if that was what made us feel so close sometimes. If the weirder the divide, the sweeter it was to cross.

The question seemed to surprise her, and then her chin wobbled and she started crying a little.