Love on Craigslist

Aria winced as she propped herself up in bed, her head pounding. Around her, a duvet that had escaped its cover and half her closet. The carpet was littered with the contents of her makeup bag and a few stray fries. Her alarm read 2:17 PM. Last night had not been kind.

“Out of sight, out of mind,” she muttered, forcing herself out of bed and out of her room. She stumbled into the kitchen, where her roommate was already preparing her signature French toast. Aria’s stomach and nose were conflicted on whether to ask for some.

“Have a slice,” offered Sophie, as if reading her mind. Aria nodded, plating one straight off the skillet. They ate in silence, leaning against the counter.

“So,” started Sophie, between bites. “How much do you remember?”

Aria blinked, trying to make sense of her cluttered memories. They had definitely gone out. She didn’t recall anything out of the ordinary happening at the club. Then they’d gone home, apparently getting fast food on the way. Once they’d gotten home, they would have slept, obviously. But she felt like she was missing something.

“What happened?” she finally relented. Sophie grinned.

“We had quite the discussion once we got back.”

“About?”

“Our plans for the summer,”

“What plans?” Sophie tilted her head, amused.

“You really don’t remember?” Aria glared, daring her continue getting on the nerves of a hangover patient. “Okay, okay.” Sophie paused. “We’re going on a road trip!”

Aria wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

“Sophie, that doesn’t even sound possible. Work starts in July, and that’s not even counting the time it takes to move-”

“Your idea, not mine,” started Sophie, placing both their plates in the sink. “You sat down and planned a month-long road trip across the country. I was just a bystander,” Aria shook her head in disbelief.

Sophie swung open the door to Aria’s room, heading straight to her desk.

“What are you doing?”

“Finding proof.”

She opened Aria’s half-closed laptop, typing in her password with confidence.

“How long have you known that?” questioned Aria, bemused.

“Please,” said Sophie, swiveling around to face her. “It’s your birthday. A five-year-old could hack this. Isn’t this the first thing they teach you at engineer school?”

Before Aria could retort, the screen flashed something slightly alarming. A car rental site.

“Okay, so I was browsing,” shrugged Aria. “Doesn’t mean anything,”

Sophie navigated to Aria’s account (she had an account?), where she saw something truly terrifying. A dark blue SUV looked back at her under completed rentals. And beneath it, a hefty sum in the vicinity of $2,000.

Aria felt lightheaded.

“So, this is your car for the next month,” said Sophie, with the air of someone trying to calm a wild animal. “And I’ll pitch in! Well, all of us will.” Aria snapped back to reality at the last sentence.

“All of us?”

Maybe for some, this phrase would make perfect sense. It would conjure to mind an image of inseparable friends-- laughing, crying, and spending the entirety of their college lives together. Aria knew people, and those people knew people, but being part of a go-to, close-knit group was a foreign concept to her. And as result, she had no idea who Sophie was talking about.

“This is the other thing,” started Sophie. “You really wanted to go with a group.”

“Who could I possibly want to go with?” Sophie browsed the twenty-something open tabs, landing on Craigslist. This was an interesting twist. She again navigated to Aria’s account, and under it (no, it couldn’t possibly be), a posting.

The tag was travel/vac. And the title was “seekig travel budddies”.

“No. No, there’s absolutely no way,” Aria pushed Sophie aside and frantically scrolled through the posting. The description was arguably the worst part. It read, “going one a trip to evrywhere with me and 1 sophie. pls join if u want to live. leaving tm!” Aria turned to her roommate in disbelief. “How could you let me do this?!”

“Don’t shoot the messenger!” she exclaimed, stifling giggles. “I wasn’t in my right mind either,” Sophie glanced past her at the screen, her eyes widening. “There is no way…someone actually replied.” Aria whirled around.

There was indeed a reply.

“down to join. got a group of 3 if that’s ok. lmk when you leave” A phone number was listed below the comment. Aria took a deep breath and sat down, brushing aside a stray wrapper.

“This person is clearly out of their mind,” she said, after a pause. “I don’t even think there’s a need to respond,”

“I don’t know, they sound pretty coherent,” said Sophie, frowning at the screen. “It’s not like he said he was bringing 2 Maxes or something—” Aria tossed a fry at her, which Sophie absentmindedly dodged.

“So, what? You think we should follow through with this?”

“I think we should consider it,” said Sophie slowly. “I mean, the car rental site charges an insane cancellation fee. Unless you want to use a $2,000 rental to get groceries for a month, a road trip’s your only option,” Aria shook her head, unwilling to admit the formidable web of bad decisions she’s spun around herself. “Look on the bright side. We’re stepping outside of our comfort zone!”

“There’s plenty of ways we could step outside of our comfort zone without outnumbering ourselves with strangers on a road trip to god knows where!”

“Okay, how about this?” started Sophie. “You text them. We all meet at a well-lit public location. We gauge their vibes. If they give off any red flags, it’ll just be the two of us!” Aria turned away in order to hide the fact that she was considering this ridiculous plan. There was something to be said about the mystery, the spontaneity of it all. Aria wasn’t the type to do anything without a plan. She’d memorize conversation points before a first date. This was uncharted territory, which came with its share of fear and excitement. “I’ll take that as a yes!”

“I did not say—”

“Then I’ll decide for you. Aria, this is your last summer before you go full-time. I mean, just think about it,” Aria was thinking about it. “The rest of your life is already waiting for you. You’ll be a Woman in STEM until you die, and one month of spontaneous fun is not going to derail you.” Sophie was persuasive, as to be expected from a political science major.

“I don’t know,” Aria started, still hesitant. “My parents will ask so many questions.”

“It’s decided then!”

“How can that even remotely mean it’s decided?”

“If you’re talking about your parents, you’ve already made your decision” said Sophie, swiftly getting up. “We’ll figure out what to say to them on the way. Get packed!” Aria groaned, admitting defeat.

This was actually happening.