I’ve only known Lucy a little bit over a year and she’s already one of my best friends. I remember meeting her in my freshmen journalism class, but things didn’t begin to click for us until about the end of the first semester when we found out we were both watching “Gilmore Girls.” She was farther in the series than I was and I remember bantering over which of Rory’s boyfriends was better (unfortunately I was team Dean at the time). Little did we know, that day would be the start of a long year filled with stressful Facetime calls where we both struggled to understand our chemistry homework, text streams trying to make plans that allowed for us to talk face-to-face while socially distanced and my favorite, deep discussions over our favorite TV shows. 

As Mara and I have gotten to know each other, we have found that we have very similar taste in movies and TV shows. I love this about our friendship because it has quickly become one of our favorite things to talk for hours about TV shows and our very strong opinions about them. Our most recent discovery is that we both love the show “Psych.” I recently started watching it and have watched many more hours over the past few weeks than I would care to admit. I mentioned watching it to Mara one day, hoping that I could convince her to watch it with me. However, I was surprised when her reaction was something along the lines of “Oh my gosh Lucy I love that show!!!!” I was so happy hearing this and I thought, wow we really are a great match! Since then, I think every conversation we have had with each other has involved her asking which episode I am on and what my thoughts are on it. 

Before I dive into my long-winded analysis of Lucy and I’s friendship with our favorite TV show, I think we must give you, the reader, a little backstory. “Psych” has been one of my favorite TV shows since I started watching it with my sister in 6th grade and since then I have only met a few people who liked it as much as I do. It follows Shawn Spencer, a detective genius who mainly comes across as an immature 13 year old boy, as he solves crimes for the Santa Barbara Police Department under the false façade of “Psychic detective.” The viewer quickly learns that the show is as much a story about friendship as it is about solving crimes when Shawn’s best friend Burton Gustor (Gus for short) is introduced as his business partner. It’s pretty obvious from the very first episode that Shawn plays the role of the needy one in the relationship; always borrowing money from Gus and dragging him across California with his crazy ideas and food cravings. 

When trying to capture Mara and I’s friendship as it relates to “Psych” to talk about in this column, I did many hours of research, watching the best episodes I could find and talking to Mara. Through this process, we had many discussions about who was the Shawn and who was the Gus of the friendship. And although she is way too nice to ever admit this, I think I am probably more of the Shawn. Some of Shawn’s defining characteristics are immaturity and arrogance, but he still manages to be a good person with his friend’s feelings defining some of his actions, all of which I can relate to. As for Mara and Gus, they both are incredibly supportive of their friends, very focused and hard-working, and willing to drop everything for people they care about. It is not too hard to find examples in which Gus is to Shawn what Mara is for me. This being a very loyal friend I can always count on, someone who will support me, back up my ideas, and make me feel more confident. 

When we first tried to start writing this column, Lucy and I kept drawing blanks as to how we would find a way to tie our relationship to Shawn and Gus; neither of us drew any similarities between ourselves and the personalities of the characters. That is up until season 8 episode 9. “A Nightmare on State Street” which might be the most bizarre “Psych” episode I’ve ever watched, and that’s including an episode entirely dedicated to a Bollywood homicide. In the episode, Gus seeks out a dream therapist to resolve the conflict of his recurring nightmares. As Gus sits on a chair, identical to the one you find in a dentist’s office, he recounts the terror of his dream to the therapist to find a common theme. Upon countless failed theories, Gus finally realizes that the thing that scares him most about his nightmares isn’t the zombies or the cyclops hiding in the sink but is instead the thought of Shawn leaving him.

Lucy was one of the first friends I made at STA — she’s the person I walk out of Honors Algebra 2 with and talk to while crossing the quad, the person I lean on after adding time in a swim meet, she’s the type of friend you want to be able to grab coffee with when you’re old and losing your teeth. About a month ago, Lucy told me her dad got a new job: in North Carolina. When I found out there were only about six months left of Lucy and I living in the same state, I was as scared as Gus was when Shawn continually left him in his nightmares. I wasn’t scared that when Lucy left I’d be surrounded by monsters and goblins though, I was scared that when she moved to North Carolina we’d lose touch.

It took me a conversation with my mom to figure out that I was being pessimistic. After spending about three months quarantining and not being able to hang out with friends, I was worried that when I finally was able to see other people it would be awkward. On the day the mayor of Missouri lifted that stay-at-home order I found it was just the opposite. When my friends got together again after quarantine we clicked right back into place, talking, joking, and laughing just like before. So if quarantine couldn’t wipe out our friendship, what’s a couple of miles going to do?

At the end of December, I found out that I would possibly be moving halfway across the country to Charlotte, North Carolina. I was scared to tell Mara about my move and put it off for several weeks, just like Shawn. In the series finale of “Psych,” Shawn decides to move from Santa Barbara to San Francisco and doesn’t tell Gus. Throughout the episode, he tries, starting the conversation several times, but is never able to finish it. He is too scared about how Gus will react and what this will mean for them as friends. He eventually ends up telling him in a recorded video. This is the same thing that happened for me. I would be talking to Mara and think about bringing it up but would decide not to because I was scared. Once this potential move became more certain, I decided that I finally had to tell her. Similarly to Shawn, I am not great with the hard, meaningful or emotional conversations because they scare me. After Shawn tells Gus about the move, he starts to get better at the tough conversations. This is exactly how I felt when telling Mara. As soon as I told her and listened to her sweet, supportive response, I realized I should have told her so much sooner. 

With this move, so many things in my life are very uncertain, but I know that my friendship with Mara is not one of those things. She has been an amazing friend to me this past year and a half, and I have no doubt that nothing will change in that aspect, even if the state I live in does. Now imagine me dramatically raising my finger and pressing it into the side of my head as I say, “I’m sensing… Mara and I will be friends for a very long time.”