I Believe in Candy Runs

It was 3:40 when we left that day. The school bell just rang, and Tyler and I were exhausted from putting up with all of our teacher’s lectures. We decided it was time to go on a candy run. We had gone on several before, but when we left the high school parking lot we knew that this one was going to be legendary. It was just me, Tyler, and the roaring sound of “Mambo Number 5” by Lou Bega pouring out the windows of her van. It was my turn to use paper money and her turn to use coins, so I pulled out my wallet to reveal how much money we could spend. She pulled out her change and we counted it all up, giving ourselves a spending limit of five dollars. Luckily Broulim’s was right around the corner from our high school, so by the time we had parked we knew what our game plan was going to be. “Get in and get out,” I repeated as we hopped out of our car seats and walked inside.

By the time we got into the candy aisle, we’d always get indecisive as to what we should buy, and start to compromise our spending limit because of all the wonderful choices they had. Bulky candy bags were our favorites because it meant more time together and more candy for the both of us. Sometimes the candy we would grab was super sweet and other times we would grab candy that was rich and filling. What candy we grabbed really depended on what we were going to talk about that day. If one of us needed a rant session or just a good cry, we’d grab the chocolate. If we were planning on talking about how annoying some aspects of our lives were, we’d grab something super sweet or something tangy and sour. I wouldn’t take those calories back for anything. We knew it was super unhealthy to be going on these candy runs, but it was also super healthy for us emotionally.

The candy runs of our senior year are hard to drown out. We spent so much time talking about life, boys, drama, and especially how far we had come since Elementary school. As the sun began to set, we would ponder about the past and congratulate each other on how far we had come in life. The bag of candy would continue to disappear as we shared everything that has happened to us recently and our feelings about it all. The candy tasted so good that we would never want it to run out.

We’d sit and talk in her van all day if we could, but there were times when the candy runs just weren’t going to happen because there was work to be done. Even now, as a college student, I would never take back the candy runs that I spent with my best friend, Tyler. I believe in candy runs. Sharing feelings and life-long dreams with each other made the experience sweet, rich, and most of all, priceless.