Disclaimer: This is a short fiction story.

Gloria was a Freshman in college when she first became friends with Roxanne. One day in economics class Gloria was taking notes when she was sitting next to Roxanne, who was telling everyone in the front row that she had not finished her weekly discussion paper because she had stayed up late that weekend for sorority rush. At first Gloria thought Roxanne was a popular girl because she was accepted by the sorority and had an energetic personality when she talked with classmates. Gloria had been snubbed by several sorority girls during Freshman Orientation when everyone else had been offered a water bottle and encouraged to rush. Gloria just stood off by herself in the quad with her long black ponytail hanging down her back and wearing a pair of blue shorts with a white top. Some people had told Gloria she was pretty in the past, but for the most part she felt mousy in comparison to these sorority girls with their stylish hair and trendy clothes. Interestingly Roxanne did not look like other sorority girls, but she was much more outgoing than Gloria, at least she appeared that way on the surface. That day before economics discussion session Gloria sat down under a tree eating a turkey sandwich for lunch and Roxanne sat down next to her. Gloria noticed Roxanne was writing something, which she revealed was her weekly discussion paper. Although the discussion leader had said his students could write their papers out long hand, Gloria had been afraid to do so and had typed hers in advance. However, Gloria felt a little sorry for Roxanne who was sitting there just tapping her red pen on a yellow legal tablet, so she offered to help with the project. Roxanne revealed she had not read the chapter, so Gloria provided some details and soon the two women got into a discussion. Gloria was surprised to discover that Roxanne was actually a little bit shy with a very outgoing facade. It turned out that the girls actually had a lot in common and ended up talking for an hour before class. The next week Roxanne dropped out of the sorority so she would have time to sleep, study, and just be a college kid.

During the weeks ahead the girls became more more acquainted and began to hang out at the local coffee shop. Both of the ladies were entertained with how their discussion leader seemed to have a crush on Roxanne, which served as a key piece of discussion. After the class final the discussion leader had walked Roxanne into the lobby and even offered to walk her home, whereas she had just said bye when Gloria and the other students handed in their papers. Gloria and Roxanne were huddled together like school girls talking about this in the lobby and decided to walk past his office an hour later to see if maybe he was still there. It had finally stopped raining by then, but the ladies had fun dodging puddles and looking to see if the discussion leader would walk out of his office door.

"Why did you not take him up on his offer?" asked Gloria.

"I was surprised at the moment, but now I wish I had had more courage," lamented Roxanne.

In the weeks ahead Gloria and Roxanne talked about how exciting it was that the discussion leader had a crush on Roxanne. They plotted how Roxanne might be able to just accidentally "bump" into him at the local coffee shop now that he was no longer her discussioin leader. At the time Roxanne and Gloria were eighteen and the discussion leader was around twenty-five, so it was not too large of an age gap in their opinion. The ladies used to talk about this topic on the phone until one day Roxanne finally got up the urge to email her former discussion leader and ask him out for coffee. He never emailed Roxanne back, so she assumed maybe he felt it would look like acadenic favoritism if he had. Worse, maybe he was just not interested.

"Why did he offer to walk me home if he was just going to blow me off once I got up the courage to ask him out?" implored Roxanne.

"He might have been worried about his academic career/reputation because it might look like favortism," said Gloria. "At least you will always know he had a crush on you," she supportively pointed out.

This consolation made Roxanne get over the rejection of her first real crush. Gloria and Roxanne continued to make each other feel better that year and they were always there to support each other. Gloria hated living in the dorms and really had no one to complain to about this situation because it had been her mom's idea in the first place. Gloria wished she had an apartment instead of being disturbed by loud dormates at four o'clock in the morning, so Roxanne was the only person in which she could confide. The ladies continued to go out for coffee and have long conversations, but one day this all came to an end when Roxanne re-pledged the sorority she had dropped out of back in September.

Roxanne kept trying to induce Gloria to join her sorority that had a seven hundred dollar intiation fee and claimed to be one of the few academic minded sororities on campus. This part was true because Roxanne and her sorority sisters refreshingly did not look like the typical fake blonde, skinny, and big boobed sorority girls that snubbed Gloria the year before. However, Gloria had neither the desire nor the drive to join a sorority, so she kindly declined Roxanne's many invitations. After this Gloria did not see Roxanne as much, except for the few times they ran into each other and had lunch on campus. After Freshman year Gloria went home for the summer and came back her Sophmore year to once again to live in the dreaded dorm. Her mom continued to think the dorms were heaven because they had a salad bar and fruit, but Gloria told her you could buy these things at the store for much less than the sky high cost of tuition. Of course Gloria had grants and scholarships and she could have lived in an apartment if she had wanted, but she really did not have any friends from her Freshman year to move out with because he only real friend was Roxanne. A few times Roxanne and Gloria had talked about getting an apartment together, but the former seemed content to live at home since she only lived a mile from campus.

Roxanne and Gloria were still friends back at this point, but they had not yet grown into their best friendship that was to come. During Gloria's Sophmore year she actually met some nice people on her hall and occasionally went to a weekly Bible study and on a retreat with this supportive group of students. At the time Gloria was working and taking a full load of classes, so she did not have the time commitment to attend all the events with this group, but she appreciated their companionship from time to time. Gloria also met a Freshman named Estelle and the they soon became good friends. After Sophmore year Estelle and Gloria decided to get an apartment with another friend, which did not make Gloria's mom very happy. Her mom was under the notion the dorms were still this wonderful environment despite all the information to the contrary, but it usually takes mothers a long time to accept their children are growing up. Something about Gloria moving out of the dorms into her first apartment signaled her full step into adulthood and her mother was anxiety ridden about this. The dorms were a wonderful environment for people that liked parties or loud noises, but Gloria was finally happy to live in a quiet environment where she could study in peace.

Gloria still spoke to Roxanne and saw her on campus from time to time, but their friendship had no longer reached the level of closeness they had experienced their Freshman year. That is until the day Gloria was walking back from class when she spotted Roxanne in the quad. They stopped to chat for a bit and Roxanne revealed how her sorority was now defunct for some unbeknowst reason, but that she refused to go back even if it were still operating. Roxanne became disenchanted with her sorority after a sister had set her up on a blind date. The date turned into a relationship that most of the sorority sisters supported, but there were a couple of ladies that tried to break up the romance. Now Roxanne was interested in rekindling her close friendship with Gloria, but primarily so she could discuss her mom's strict rules and how mean the sorority sister's had been. However, at the time Gloria really did not see this because she had low self-esteem and felt any friendship was better than no friendship at all.

Many times Gloria would walk around alone on campus on the weekends and just read/study under a tree on the grassy lawn. Gloria's motivation for intensive study was so she could get good grades and graduate in four years since she had a thirty hour a week job, but also because there was no one else around to do anything with. However, during the week she had coffee and long chats with Roxanne after work, even if this meant sacrificing sleep. Gloria never wanted to say no to anyone and was afraid of hurting anyone's feelings, plus her self-esteem really needed help because she seemed so insecure about always being alone.

Junior and senior year continued on with this steady friendship that seemed to grow day by day. During senior year Gloria moved in with a roomate who did her share of the chores, but these two women never became friends. One lesson Gloria had learned was you should never move in with friends because this has the potential to ruin a frienship, which had happened when Estelle refused to clean up after herself and had her boyfriend living there rent free. However, now that it was senior year Gloria was so excited because she was going to be graduating and starting a master's program. On graduation day Gloria and Roxanne exchanged presents because Roxanne was going to business school in Chicago where her boyfriend who be starting his first job.

Gloria enrolled in business school in California and quickly discovered she did not have the personality for this profession. She finished the program and used her degree to get an entry level position for a small business that needed freelance writers. It was during this time that Roxanne and Gloria truly became best friends, or it seemed that way to Gloria at the time. Roxanne had dropped out of graduate school to marry her boyfriend, and Gloria was always a little bit jealous that none of her boyfriends ever wanted a commitment. Gloria had grown up with both parents in a happy household, so by the time she was twenty-five she was itching to walk down the aisle. Gloria had her share of suitors, but most of these men wanted a fun time and no commitment. Now Gloria had decided to give up dating to focus on her book, and so she could fly across country to visit Roxanne. During Gloria's visits Roxanne always complained that her husband was controlling because he would not let her have a full time career, but was this really the case? No one wants to doubt their best friend, but Roxanne had been living close to campus when she dropped out of business school to marry and she could have finished the program or entered another program. Also, Roxanne would complain about not having a job, but many times when Gloria suggested places to apply she would receive a laugh in response.

The last two years of Roxanne's five year marriage involved many long distance calls to Gloria. Gloria would be getting ready for bed around eleven when the phone would ring with Roxanne on the other end launching into a tirade about her controlling husband. Gloria never wanted to tell Roxanne to leave him in case there would be resentment for that, so she vaguely hinted that there were other options out there. Roxanne also had a mother who bluntly told her that this husband seemed too controlling, but she had ignored her parents pleas and eloped with her fiancee. There were several people who had told Roxanne to follow her heart and do what was right for her, so ultimately it was Roxanne's decision and hers alone.

Gloria would stay up late to talk to Roxanne and she would even spend her vacations visiting Roxanne out in Chicago. One time Gloria was nearly mugged when waiting for Roxanne and her husband to pick her up at the airport, but they took three hours to arrive even though they knew her flight was coming in at noon. However, in Gloria's opinion Roxanne actually had it pretty easy because her husband gave her the option of not having to work and sit at home watching television all day, especially since she did not have any children to care for. Roxanne had admittedly only applied for two or three jobs over a five year time span, which explained why she was still unemployed. Gloria tried to suggest some positions for Roxanne, but Roxanne would always giggle and say those jobs were beneath her. This was the first time in the friendship that Gloria was beginning to feel maybe Roxanne looked down upon her a little bit. Yes Gloria was just a freelance writer for a small business, but she was also working on her book and one day hoped to publish it.

Roxanne always wore designer clothes, gold jewelry, designer makeup, and bragged about how her husband threw a fit when he saw how much she spent. Gloria always tried to be happy for Roxanne and reminded herself that she should not covet what someone else had. Honestly she could not understand what her friend was going through with married life. However, it did not help when once Roxanne giggled when Gloria confided she wished she had meant her own prince charming. Roxanne never seemed interested in hearing about Gloria's blind date disasters, but the latter was always available to hear about husband woes. Looking back Gloria realized she should not have always been so there for a friend who would not return the favor.

Roxanne finally decided to visit a marriage support chat online for women who are considering divorce. The women in this group told Roxanne some surprising things, such as how Gloria should have slapped Roxanne and made her get a divorce. Gloria was nauseated hearing about the marriage support group and tactfully pointed out it was not her place to tell Roxanne what to do with her life. Gloria had politely pointed out that Roxanne always had other options, and no one can make up her mind for her. As the weeks went by Roxanne told the group how unhappy she was with her husband and they encouraged her to get a divorce. Now that Roxanne divorced her husband she rarely called Gloria and they never went out for coffee anymore. Gloria was a little sad at first, but then she sat down and thought about why this friendship had never truly been an equal one. Most conversations had revolved around Roxanne and what she wanted to do, and Gloria was always coming to visit her and not usually the other way around. In addition, Gloria ended up offering to pay for many of their movie and coffee dates because Roxanne complained of being low on cash, which was puzzling because the former always seemed to wear nicer clothes than the latter. Was this ever a healthy or equal friendship?

The friendship had ended abruptly, but Gloria also stopped to consider how there had been other times in the past when they had not talked for a stretch of time. This break turned out to be permanent, but a year passed and Gloria realized it was all for the best. She had always sacrificed her time and her favorite activities to do what Roxanne wanted to do. If there was a restaurant or a movie Roxanne wanted that is what they did. If there was something Roxanne wanted to talk about, that was usually the topic of discussion. Gloria realized Roxanne had always changed the subject back to herself by using the phrase "not to change the subject, but what do you think about...." and thus the topic always revolved around Roxanne. Gloria really sat there and thought about it and realized she had had a case of the green eyed envy monster and envied what Roxanne had had and did. Also, Gloria realized she had been too insecure to ever say no in their friendship when Roxanne came to her for something, so this was going to be the end of that. From that day forward Gloria began to pursue friendships where things were equal and she voiced her opinions. Finally two years after her friendship ended with Roxanne she realized it was never a true friendship. Gloria began to consult the Bible more and strengthen her relationship with Jesus. Gloria realized that being alone was a blessing because now she could work on her book more often and on her relationship with God, who would always be with her through good and bad. Gloria does occasionally spend time with friends, but it is not draining like it was before. The few times Gloria is social is with people who ask about her life, and she has learned how to say no when she is tired or running low on time. Gloria has learned some friendships come and go, but the true friendships will last forever. This story is dedicated to the true friends worldwide.