Asymmetric Bonds

The hieroglyphics meant something once. That's what Maya kept thinking as she stared at her phone, the blue light washing out the ancient wonder before her. Behind her screen, Sam was posting about their trip to Giza. Their friendship had always been this way—her watching, him performing.

"Maya, you have to see this," Sam said, grabbing her arm. He held up his iPhone to capture the perfect angle of himself against the Great Pyramid, his smile calibrated for maximum engagement. "This is going to get so many likes."

She nodded, swallowing the comment she'd been holding back since college. Since he'd talked her into joining that nutritional supplement company—that pyramid scheme, though he'd always corrected her: "It's multi-level marketing, Maya. You're just thinking small."

She'd bought the vitamins. She'd bought into his vision of their future as entrepreneurs, as best friends building an empire together. Instead, she'd lost two thousand dollars and three years watching him succeed by convincing others to fail.

"Remember those vitamin shakes we used to sell?" Maya asked, the question escaping before she could check it.

Sam lowered his phone, his reflection in his sunglasses unreadable. "Ancient history. We were kids."

"Twenty-four," she said. "Not that young."

"We're still friends, aren't we?" His tone was light, but his eyes searched hers. "That's what matters."

Is it? she wondered. They'd maintained this friendship the way the pharaohs had built their monuments—stone by heavy stone, through sheer force of will, creating structures that looked impressive from the outside but were mostly hollow inside.

Her phone buzzed. A notification: Sam had tagged her in his pyramid post. #FriendshipGoals #Travel

Maya looked at the ancient structure behind them, at the symmetry that had survived four thousand years. Some pyramids were built to last. Others were just schemes built on sand, selling dreams in exchange for whatever you were willing to pay.

"Yeah," she said finally. "That's what matters."