Life is a Trip with Many Paths

Jake and I survived High School. The moment in which our bodies suffer changes, our personalities are shaped, and in which searched for a place to belong. Jake was my best friend throughout high school. How was I going to survive college without him? He was going to the West Coast while I was going to the East Coast.
Before beginning our first term at college, we met at a pizzeria in Downtown Chicago. I still couldn’t believe that we were going to be thousands of miles apart from each other.

‘Don’t worry, Mike. We’ll keep in contact with each other. We’ll meet again in holidays. We can make videocalls and have social media.’ He told me.
‘And we have this.’ I showed him the bracelets that we wore. We won them at the arcades to which we went every Friday. Now, that was coming to an end.
‘Of course, my friend. I’ll never take it off.’ He promised me when the pizza arrived.

College was a whole new world. I didn’t have to study Math, Physics, or Chemistry, all subjects I hated. I took the courses I desired, and which were essential for my future. Of course, I had more responsibilities and my first job to cover the expenses, but I didn’t miss high school. I had to move on and focused on my future.
Each time I returned to my parents’ home for holidays, I met with Jake, who was studying Law in Los Angeles. We gossiped about our high school classmates and college roommates, and we talked about our programs. However, that was not going to last forever.

One day, while I was playing FIFA with my roommate, I noticed something missing from my right hand. A green and blue bracelet was on the floor. It was broken.

‘Oh, dude. That’s a pity. It was really important to you?’ Jerry, my roommate, asked me. I observed the bracelet and dropped it at the trash can.
‘No. It was just a bracelet.’ I answered him and continued the match we were playing. Did I forget Jake? No. We just stopped texting and seeing each other. I stopped following him on social medias, and he did the same. I didn’t hate him. Our paths intertwined at high school, and we separated at a crossroad. That is life: a trip with many paths.

After graduating from college, I moved to New York with Jerry and Matthew, another friend from college. I got a job at a local newspaper but I was searching for another job with a higher salary and more related to my career. I liked living with Jerry and Matt, but it was time to live alone.
What happened to Jake? I encountered him at a café while I was doing the queue. He didn’t change much from high school. He didn’t seem to recognize me, or he chose to ignore me. When I was about to leave the café, I considered greeting him, but finally I desisted. I made great memories with Jake at high school, but that stage was over. Our lives changed, and we couldn’t turn things back. Maybe our lives would cross again, maybe not. Life is unpredictable.