Chicago

she took the bus north, I took the train east, and we met by Lake Michigan. I wore my heels bloody in a new pair of flats, and in the rain the dye seeped through my tights and into my skin. black velvet dyed with a very dark green.

we called some mutual friends and harassed them for directions. hunted down some department store shoes that made me taller than her. (glittery with plastic pyramid studs on the heels. classé.) sat on the floor. (favorite.) ate some tasty generic Asian food instead of the $22 American Girl dinner.

at the end of it all, after parting and walking to the train station and waiting and falling asleep on the train and walking back to my dorm, I was so, so tired and cold that I experienced a transcendent gratitude for having a place to shower, bandage my blisters, and lay my head like a fox in its hole. amen.