I hadn't seen Imo in years. She told me she was in town for a

conference

nearby, but I was pretty sure she had signed up for the conference only because it was in my town.

We had been best friends. Even after we were no longer that, we had held on to that title "best friends" for years. People hold onto things when they can't find something new to latch onto.

Reminds me of how I still felt like a

college

student

even two years after graduating.

After college I had nothing happening. I continued living and feeling like an aimless student. And my friends, even though I progressively felt more distanced from them with each passing weekend, I continued thinking of them as my

friends

. What else was I to do? Face up to the truth that I no longer had any friends?

Distance came naturally. My friends proved easy to lose. Most likely they were going through something similar. By the end I don't think there was a single person there not burdened by regrets.

Years later I was still in

Westcity

. Social circle refreshed, no longer feeling like a student. Not to say I had found any clear direction in life. But what I was. Who I was, had become clear to me.

Maybe I was unable to move past my life at college with the people I had experienced it with still around me. Is it possible to grow together with the same people? Yes. I've seen it. But for whatever reason it was impossible for our group. Now that it was nearing a decade since the last person moved out of Westcity, I could bring myself to check in on what the others were doing. Before it would've broken me. These people were like heroes and villains to me. To see them either doing too well or too poorly would've shook me. Now, given enough time and distance, they had become merely people to me. Folks with stories.

I learned that they were doing overall well. Most likely I had been the problem. It showed given that I was the only one still stuck in this town. Still having no career prospects. Still being without a longtime romantic partner.

"What's new?" Imo had asked. I didn't know what to say. Everything would be new to her. Nothing would be interesting though. When we had been best friends we had an artistic relationship. We would discuss projects and ideas that we'd want to work on. I saw myself differently back then. It frightened me to think that Imo still saw me that way. There was no use in pretending I was that thing anymore. In fact I didn't want anything to do with her. I'd rather have her leave me alone.

She didn't seem to pick up on any of my signals. Instead she seemed eager to meet, in light of my short, concise, boring responses. Why did she want to see me again, after all these years? What was the point?