““I'm really going to miss you," I blurted out. "We all are." I braced myself for a biting, sarcastic reply. Instead, she suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. So tight, it didn't really feel like a hug, more like a death grip, like I was the last raft on a dark and stormy ocean. I let her hold on. I breathed in the smell of her knotted curls. Vanilla and chewing gum. I felt the rise and fall of her chest. The small buds of her breasts though her baggy jumper. I wished that we could stay like that forever. That she wouldn't ever tear herself away.””
