July 2018

“Damn, this place is packed! Oh look there are three spots over there.” Joy rushed ahead of me and Sungjae and I snickered at her excitement.

“She really likes these movies, huh?”

Sungjae huffed a laugh. “She’s been talking about this since the last one ended last year. I swear, if I didn’t know any better I think she’s in love with the lead actress.” Sungjae and I continued to walk down the stairs towards where Joy was now waving us down. “Although I can’t blame her. She is gorgeous” Sungjae elbowed me and I gave him a forced smile. We finally made it to our seats as the lights dimmed. The previews played as I reviewed my to-do list in my head. It was all I could do to keep my nerves settled.

The theater was packed and I was wedged between an engrossed Joy to my right and a larger man that was sweating profusely and smelled like vodka to my left. I cringed inwardly at my luck. How did I get here? How had I managed to dodge this for years only to be sitting here in this moment? Wasn’t it bad enough that everywhere I looked her face was plastered on billboards and magazines?

I felt Joy nudge me as the opening started to play. I took a deep breath wondering if I could close my eyes for two and a half hours and awake when it was all over. I tried it. I really did. But I didn’t make it two hours. I barely made it two minutes. Because when her voice settled within my ears at her first line in the movie the damn broke and my eyes opened to deep brown. And just like the moment I first saw her, sitting on her front porch, there was Lisa. Larger than life, literally. Her face and skin as soft as I remembered. Her brown eyes deep and understanding. It was as if she and I were in my room talking to each other again. About everything. About nothing. Just two friends not knowing what the future holds and just living life in the moment.

I had known, of course, that once it was confirmed that Lisa landed the role of Holly Banks that her dream had come true. She would be playing one of the most talked about characters in the popular young adult dystopian novels and I couldn’t have felt more proud. I remembered her eyes when she spoke about making it as an actress. That determination, that drive. It never left her, even that last day I saw her.

“You don’t even know what love is,” Holly said. She turned into the burnt and smoking forest.

“How can I, Holly? How can I believe in anything that used to be when this is it? Look around us, we’re alone. Hell, we may even be the only two people left on this god forsaken planet. The plague took everyone. It took everything. Even love.” The deep voice cracked with emotion. Holly stood motionless. The leaves crackled with their kindling and Holly turned towards Blake.

“Yes, Blake. You’re right. We lost everyone along the way. We lost everything along the way.” She pauses as a tear rolls down her face. “Except for each other. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see that through