Matching Set

Everyone talks about their best friend, that one person who’s always been in their life through break-ups, moving, and changing college majors. That one person who, when life feels too heavy, they can always call to laugh with or cry with. I love the idea of having a platonic soulmate who wants nothing from you but your companionship. I love watching chick-flicks about “bffs” or reading coming-of-age books about close-knit friend groups who have known each other since pre-school. I guess I’ve always had a fascination with things I’ve never experienced or don’t understand.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always had friends. Someone to go out to eat with, or someone who invited me to their family get-together because they couldn’t bear going alone. But when I’m having a day when I can’t get out of bed because I feel like I don’t deserve it, I have no one to call. I have good parents, but I don’t want to worry them; they already spent 18 years raising me, they deserve a break.

I’m not too torn up about it, life goes on, I live another day with my few “close” friends. I go to work, sometimes if I’m feeling productive, I’ll read or do yoga, but most of the time I go home and turn on Gilmore Girls, which I’ve probably seen at least 28 times.

It’s Saturday morning, and my alarm is blaring. I press snooze and check my phone to see a reminder I set for myself about a hot yoga class I signed up for two weeks ago. My mom always tells me I need to do more outside of work. You know you have a thriving social life when your mother is telling you to go out more. I want to cancel, but the 25 dollars is non-refundable. So I put on my singular athletic set, grabbed a yogurt cup, and headed out the door.

I walk into the studio, and the receptionist gives me a bright smile, which I reflect back to her, and it almost feels genuine. I walk into the room, already starting to sweat from the heat, and take a spot towards the back of the class. A girl takes the spot right next to me, and I can feel her glancing my way. She says, “I love your outfit!” I look over to see she’s wearing the exact same workout set as me, “I love yours too, I’ve never seen that set before,” I say with a slight, awkward laugh. However, she joins with a full belly laugh, liking my joke. It took away any of the awkwardness I was feeling. We both faced the front of the room as the instructor walked in.

Throughout class, we would glance at each other when a pose was particularly hard or when the instructor would suddenly turn up the temperature in the room. Whenever I felt bad about myself because I couldn’t get my leg high enough in my three-legged dog, it’s like she could sense it and then huff a loud breath casually letting me know that she was right there with me. After class ended with a short meditation, we both looked over at each other with sleepy eyes and sweaty faces.

“Have you done a lot of hot yoga? You looked like a pro,” I said as we were rolling up our mats. “Seriously?” She replied with an exaggerated shocked expression, “I wouldn’t say I’m a pro, but I enjoy it.” She continued with a smile. “How about you?”

“Oh, I’m definitely not a pro, I just dress like one,” I gestured to my outfit.

We shared another laugh, hers much bigger than mine, once again. I finished rolling up my mat and felt accomplished, deciding that I fulfilled my social requirements of the day.

I was halfway to my car when a voice called after me.

“Hey, I’m Emily, by the way. What’s your name?” The girl with the matching set asked. Emily.

“I’m Jessica, Jess.” I hurried to say.

“Nice to meet you, Jess! Any chance you would want to grab a coffee with me? There’s a new cafe across the street that I have been dying to try. Or you could get a tea if you’re a tea drinker, or anything else you want, or you can say no to the weird stranger who won’t stop talking.”

I thought about it for a moment. I don’t normally say yes to last-minute plans with people I just met, but I don’t have anything planned for the rest of the day, and I like her belly laughing.

“Sure, coffee's good,” I said.

“Amazing.” Emily instantly replied.

We sat at the cafe talking for 3 hours, our coffees being gone within the first 30 minutes. She’s 25 and a real estate agent, also a cosmetologist, and a certified pilates instructor, but she’s only doing real estate at the moment. She comes from a huge family that is very close-knit and very loud, which is where she gets it from, she says. I told her about growing up as an only child and working in customer service at a power company. She told me about how she wants to travel the world and fall in love. I told her I just hope I make it out alive, and the only experience I’ve had with love is my boyfriend of 2 years breaking up with me on my 24th birthday, 6 months ago. Emily belly laughed at least 20 more times, and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in months; it felt really nice.

We eventually said our goodbyes and exchanged phone numbers.

“I promise I’ll call,” She said.

“You don’t need to promise, you don’t owe me anything.”

“Of course I don't owe you anything, but owing someone has nothing to do with friendship or love, and I already know I’m going to love you.”

I automatically smiled big, if not a little sadly, for making my view of love sound so morbid.

“Are you a hugger?” She asked, and before I answered, she came in for a huge hug. For the record, I am not a hugger, but I didn’t mind this hug; it made me feel warm inside, in a different way than the hot yoga did.

She kept her promise. The next day, she called and said she had to tell me about a man she had quite literally run into when she was getting groceries that morning, and how they exchanged phone numbers, and that they were totally bound to fall in love, like me and her did, but in a romantic way. 3 days later, she called me to tell me that they went out for drinks and it was horrible. The next day, I texted her and asked if she would be at hot yoga again, which she responded to immediately, saying of course she would and that she couldn’t wait.

6 months later.

I couldn’t get out of bed today, so I didn’t. It was 3 pm now, and I knew I should do something that would actually make me feel better. I called Emily, but she didn’t answer. 15 minutes later, she calls back.

“Hey girl, what’s up? Sorry, I didn’t answer. I was on a work call.” She says immediately.

“Oh, nothing crazy, just wasn’t feeling the best.”

“Oh no, are you sick? Do you want me to stop at CVS for you?”

“No, no, I’m okay. I’m just not feeling the best in my brain. Does that make any sense?”

“That’s even worse! I’ll be over as soon as I can. Chocolate or wine? Or both?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to, you’re my best friend.” She says, and I start to tear up.

“Both,” I reply quietly.

“You got it, I’ll be there soon!” She says before she hangs up. And she was there soon, 20 minutes to be exact. I start full-on sobbing when I see her, she hugs me.