I wish I could return to that night, giggling through the vanity mirror and blasting music through the car speakers. We all piled into the white minivan, driving aimlessly because, at that moment, nothing mattered. We sang along to the hollow melodies, singing word for word the purposeless lyrics. We laughed about things I can’t remember anymore, just being with each other because this is what being a teenage girl is all about.
Each of us snickered at Teagan’s lousy parking job and gossiped about boys running up and down the supermarket aisles. Staring at the infinite white shelves, I contemplated the endless snack options. Although it took 15 minutes to pick out chocolate-covered raspberries and some over-sugared gummies, in the end, it seemed like the perfect choice.
We funneled back into the car, snacking on the food we had just bought, driving in circles, getting lost along the way, and riding freely with no care in the world. Drifting through neighborhoods we don’t recognize, we pass by people we only know as strangers, watching them admire the sun’s gradient colors painted from red to blue, and it could only be described as beautiful.
My friends and I return to the house, drinking the rest of the soda on the counter and munching on the cold pizza from earlier. As we cuddled up on the small, gray couch, the group of us reminisced on the shows we all used to like when we were younger and partially still like now. We long for Barbie’s closet and how perfect her life is displayed. Although not in a jealous way, in the sense of how we thought as we got older, our lives would look exactly like hers.
The night slowed, and our exuberant spirits calmed, wishing it wouldn’t have passed as fast as it did. As I climb into my sister’s car, I dread leaving these moments of my friends and me, wishing I could have a night as fun as this again. I glance out the window as I did a few hours earlier, this time though, there were no people, and the sun had fully set. The music was no longer upbeat but had a slowed tone instead.
I relive these moments in my mind repetitively, wishing for another time I am giggling through vanity mirrors or blasting music through the car speakers. I dream of driving around mindlessly and finally getting my license. I will continue to grow up day by day, but I will always remember the night I was 15, the night when the world around me was silent, but the people I was with filled my life with noise.
