I still think of her daily. And it still hurts. Jessica and I had been inseparable since high school.

我每天还是会想她。自高中时代起，我和杰西卡就形影不离。

As if we were joined at the hip, we did everything together. We sported matching leather backpacks, and even accidentally got the same haircut and colour done one Saturday afternoon before meeting up for dinner, the two of us laughing hysterically¹ upon discovering our matching bobs with blonde highlights.

我们密不可分，什么事情都要一起做。我们背着互搭的皮革背包，甚至在周六吃晚饭前，我们还会偶尔剪一样的发型、染同样的颜色。看到我俩剪了一样的波波头、挑染了金色之后，我们笑的歇斯底里。

We'd even unintentionally worn the very same pair of underwear when we'd lost our virginities (same underwear, two different boys, and two different occasions, just to be clear). Where I was, Jessica was. We shared everything: food, clothes, makeup², books. The only thing we didn't share was ex-boyfriends.

失去童贞的时候，我们甚至在没有说好的情况下穿同样的内衣（但澄清一下：同样的内衣、两个不同的男生、两种不同的场景。）我在哪，杰西卡就在哪儿。我们分享一切：食物、衣服、化妆品、书。我们唯一没有彼此分享的就是前男友。

In our early twenties, although we chose very different paths, we still call every day. When she was travelling for work, I'd sit on the phone with her for hours, which eventually drove a wedge between me and my boyfriend at the time. He said that she was manipulative and possessive. Jessica maintained he was just jealous. Of course, I sided with Jessica. Bye-bye went my boyfriend. After all, if he didn't like my soul sister, then he wasn't my soulmate.

二十岁出头的时候，尽管我们选择了不同的道路，我们还是会每天打电话。她出差的时候，我会和她煲几个小时的电话粥，最终导致我和男朋友一度出现裂痕。他说她很会操纵人，占有欲强烈。杰西卡表示他只是嫉妒。当然，我站杰西卡这一边。于是和男朋友说了分手。毕竟，如果他不喜欢我的灵魂姐妹，那他也不会成为我的灵魂伴侣。

Jessica and I weren't without our tiffs³. We had plenty. She lived with me on and off throughout our early twenties, and her free-spirited, deal-with-it-later approach made my angry at times. We'd eventually hash it out, our tempers getting the better of us.

我和杰西卡也会争吵，吵了很多次。二十岁出头的时候，她一直和我生活在一起。她自由奔放、以后再处理事情的态度总是时不时的惹我生气。最终，我们会处理好事情，我们的脾气也越来越好。

After a brief period of silence, one of us would call the other, and we'd pick up again, as if our fight had never happened. Our friendship always restarted right where it left off, and our fight would then be filed away in the archives that all long friendships have, never to be spoken of again.

一段时间的沉默之后，总有一个人会打电话给另一个人，我们会再次和好，就像从未争吵过一样。我们的友谊总会在停下来的地方重新开始，我们的争吵也会被列入档案，就像所有长久的友谊那般，永不再提起。

But by our mid-twenties, change had come about for both of us. I left my retail⁴ job to go to uni, and my newfound education seemed to irritate Jessica. She often made chastising⁵ remarks about my student debt, as if to suggest going to study had been a bad decision on my part. Around the same time, she was promoted in her job.

但到了20岁中期，我们都发生了变化。我辞去了零售工作，上了大学，而这种教育似乎激怒了杰西卡。她经常批评我因为上学而欠下的债务，好像读书是个错误决定一般。与此同时，她升职了。