Friends: We all have them. I certainly do. But what happens when someone who considers you their best friend meets your best friend? That is the exact predicament sophomore Casey Diletto found herself in just this week.
It all started when Diletto’s best friend, Arianne Hankovitch ’23, finally got out of a grueling semester-long quarantine.
“It’s been really hard on her this semester being in quarantine for so long. I wanted to do something special, so I called up four of my friends and this new friend I made at the beginning of the semester, C.J., to come hang out on the quad, eat some individually wrapped cupcakes and welcome Arianne back,” Diletto shared. “We’re meeting up tomorrow night but there’s already some drama about how it’s going to go because of C.J.”
According to sources close to the friend group, C.J. Colmes, another sophomore, met Diletto in Spanish class. They hit it off right away.
“C.J. was going through a rough time when she met Casey,” an anonymous informant told me. “Her other friend group ditched her at the end of last semester. I’m not really sure on all the details, but they pretty much just decided they were done with her. So Casey became her best friend pretty quickly because she just didn’t have a lot of people to talk to.”
Diletto enjoyed Colmes’s company as well, to the point that they have a standing bubble tea date each Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. after Spanish. All of this was going on as Hankovitch was isolated from the world.
“It was pretty shocking to rejoin society and have my best friend stolen,” Hankovitch commented. “I mean, who is this person? I don’t even know her. She could be a full-fledged rando for all I know.”
Hankovitch let Diletto know she was uncomfortable with Colmes’s presence at her “welcome back” party.
“I texted her and asked ‘Who are you inviting to this party?’ and she texted back the list of people she was inviting and I said ‘Oh ok.’” Hankovitch stated. “How much clearer could I be that I don’t want this person I’ve never met hanging around? I mean, I don’t know what I’ll do when I meet her. I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”
Colmes declined to comment much, but did offer, “I just hope Arianne likes me. All I know is Casey thinks the world of her and it’d be cool to be her friend too.”
Hankovitch, on the other hand, has done extensive research on Colmes
“I know her dog’s name, I know when her dog died, and I know her mom’s boss’s daughter goes to Smith,” Hankovitch detailed. “I’m ready for whatever she has to throw at me. It might not be pretty.”
Diletto, stuck in the middle, feels nervous about her new friend meeting her old friend.
“Arianne’s been kind of quiet and sometimes that means she’s jealous,” she worried. “But I think she’ll really like C.J. Who doesn’t like C.J.? I’m sure they’ll get along.”
Diletto was not entirely incorrect. While the evening started with an intense staring contest between Hankovitch and Colmes that lasted upwards of 15 minutes, the two got along swimmingly after a light breeze made Hankovitch blink. As of press time, Diletto was reportedly feeling “left out” of the gathering she planned due to Colmes and Hankovitch’s banter.