Drawn Together

by Juliana Smith

“Was this…” I pause, not knowing his friend's name to fill in the blank. “Ryan’s?” “Ryan’s.” “No, I just got it last week. I read it so long ago I couldn’t find my old copy—probably in storage somewhere.” My entire body lights up at that. “So, you got this just for the book club?” “Yes.” “You bought this book,” I wave it around, fall colored tabs and all, “and annotated it for me?” “Do you have to sound so surprised?” He parrots my previous words, and had I not been in such shock, I would have maybe laughed at that. But, my mind is still trying to wrap around the hundreds of tiny tabs, notes, explanations, and comments like, ‘you will like this part, I think’ or ‘push through this scene, it gets better,’ that he left on this book just for me. Maybe that says something about me, too. That my eyes water at the mere sentiment of a man buying a book for me and annotating it, but there I was on the verge of grateful tears. I guess we are friends, then.