Wow, this is exciting! You all know Lauryn, also known as THE Skinny Confidential, right? But did you know we’ve been best friends since the first week of 7th grade? It’s crazy! Friendships like ours are rare, and we’ve experienced so many life stages together, including high school.
We really made a mark in high school! We were quite the pair, embodying the early 2000s Paris Hilton-obsessed teens, causing chaos in our low-rise Frankie B jeans, yet still managing to be A+ students.
Fast forward 20-something years, and here we are. Still best friends, with our third little bestie arriving any day now (#BABYBOSSTICK), running a business together, and she’s still the only person I can chat with on the phone for two hours without a second thought.
So, we thought it would be fun to do a little blog swap, interviewing each other about what we were like in high school and what we think of each other now. It’s such a fun interview, and I loved reading Lauryn’s answers about me. I think you’ll enjoy it too. And don’t forget to check out The Skinny Confidential today to see my answers for Lauryn! Now, let’s hear what Lauryn thinks of high school Erica.
**High School Q&A Interview with The Skinny Confidential**
**Q: What was I like in high school?**
Lauryn: When I first met Erica, she was nervous because she was new to the school, and we were in middle school. I already had my group of friends, so I can see how it would be intimidating to come into a new school without knowing anyone. Initially, she was kind of shy.
I got to know her through my friend Torrie, and we slowly became friends. Then we started dating older guys who were best friends, which helped us connect. As we got to know each other, we became closer friends.
Once I got to know her, I realized she was dramatic, funny, self-deprecating, and didn’t take herself too seriously—basically my kind of person. When we were younger, I used to play on her dramatic side by teasing her a bit. Her reactions were so over-the-top, I couldn’t help it. I always say, give me anything, just don’t give me boring, and Erica was anything but boring.
Her emotions were always running wild when we were younger, and I found this both funny and exciting. And by funny, I mean in a way where I wasn’t mocking her—she was in on the joke too.
She was always about ‘principle.’ For instance, if someone was talking badly about one of her friends, she would always stand up for them. She was bold, non-judgmental, and always ready to defend a friend.
**Q: Tell the people a funny story about me/us?**
Lauryn: One time, a bunch of us were at her house for a sleepover (we mostly stayed at her house because her mom was so cool. Shoutout to Linda!). Four of us girls were having a slumber party, writing in our diaries, talking about boys, when suddenly we heard pounding on the roof. We looked up, and one of the older guys from school thought it would be funny to do his business on the skylight in Erica’s room.
Erica went ballistic, and it was absolutely hilarious watching her run down the street trying to chase down the guy. The funniest part is that I knew Erica would have to clean it up. Like, who else would do it? Not us, not Linda. LOL.
Erica came back from chasing the guy with dark circles under her eyes, so angry, being dramatic, with all the theatrics. And by the way, we totally got the kid back, but that’s a whole different story. It wasn’t as gross, though. (We may have stolen his car in 3rd period to go get heart tattoos on our hips.)
**Q: What was the hot pop culture vibe when we were in high school? (music, style, who was a heartthrob? What was the thing to wear?)**
Lauryn: Abercrombie & Fitch was super cool, and their tennis skirts were a must-have.
Mean Girls was all the rage. I was Regina George, Erica was Gretchen Wieners. We thought the movie was hilarious. All the girls at school would go to Barnes & Noble and wait in line to go number 2, and Erica and I thought it was funny because in the movie, they talk about how all girls go there to do that.
Thick white eyeliner from MAC was in. Great Lash mascara too, which I still think is good. Smirnoff Ice was our go-to. Every weekend, we had a lineup of Smirnoff Ice and Smirnoff vodka.
Our Frankie B jeans were lower than anything you’ve ever seen. I can’t even believe how low they were.
Our hair was zebra-striped with highlights. Rocket Dog shoes were all the rage (white or black, please). Plus, you could definitely find a toe ring on each of our toes.
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos residue was under everyone’s fingernails. There was nothing cooler than playing Snake on your Nokia during 4th period while the teacher droned on about who knows what.
Skipping school to go to the mall was a regular thing. Erica and I were even known to bring our small dogs on campus, even though we weren’t supposed to. We would sneak them in our Juicy purses that matched our Juicy Couture tracksuits. Little Coach bags with the little C’s all over them were the bags of the moment too.
All photos were taken with a digital camera, and we blasted rap music when we drove up to school (but blasted Avril Lavigne on the way out). We were always lying to our parents about where we were sleeping. Oh, and lots of older boys (Michael went to my high school, but sorry babe, we were in the same grade, so that wasn’t gonna happen for you just yet).
**Q: What’s your fave memory you have of us together?**
Lauryn: Driving in our cars, blasting Avril while we snuck to Planned Parenthood to get birth control behind our parents’ backs. We also used to go to the gas station and only fill up with $5 because we had no money. We both worked at Studio 1220, which we basically managed. It was a pretty big job for girls in high school.
Also, I may have cheated off Erica’s history homework one too many times.
**Q: What’s the worst fight we’ve had?**
Lauryn: We fight all the time, and we have since we were 12. But we make up in one second. It’s just part of our friendship. We fight about little things, and in high school, it was always about copying each other. The good thing about us is that we both recover quickly and don’t hold grudges, which makes it really easy to have her as a friend.
There’s no pressure. We’re not the type of friends who feel like we have to talk all the time or always get together. We can not see each other for months, and when we do, we pick up right where we left off. And sometimes we see each other every day. Our friendship ebbs and flows, and we’ve always been really confident in our relationship.
**Q: Talk about our high school boyfriends (lol)!**
Lauryn: Our boyfriends were best friends, and I hate to say it, but in high school, they were real jerks. They were two very popular guys in the ‘cool’ group. They loved beer and getting us in trouble. But they were fun and necessary for the moment. I feel like you need to go through that kind of boyfriend to get to the next chapter in life.
We both dated them for six years. I think they’re still friends today, actually. We had a type, let me tell you. But like I said, give us anything, but don’t give us boring.
**Q: What’s something you remember that we used to do together?**
Lauryn: We had these diaries that we wrote in, which were essentially like blogging. We did this for years. We’d put pictures in and write things together between sips of Smirnoff Ice. It’s fun to look back on these because we were blogging before it was blogging. We would make time to do it every night, together, and we were always sleeping at each other’s houses.
**Q: How would you say I’ve evolved over the years?**
Lauryn: Erica has grown so much. She used to be so dramatic and emo, and she’s learned how to be more logical. She also doesn’t waste her energy on toxic things. She’s also grown creatively. She started a blog where she was just talking about Tumblr pics, and it’s grown into this whole brand. She’s taught herself graphic design and can do it better than anyone I know.
She’s put herself out there more consistently, she’s more confident, and her boobs never stop growing. That girl. Seriously, I had to get implants. (I actually showed my surgeon a pic of Erica’s boobs when I got mine done when I was 18).
Our friendship grows too, as we go through different chapters and seasons of our life. Our friendship is one that grew very parallel instead of growing apart as we’ve changed.
**Q: & how am I the same from when we were younger?**
Lauryn: She still loves a bit of drama every once in a while. Her voice is always so loud when we’re at restaurants, she’s one of the best gift givers, she’s a great conversationalist, she’s inclusive, non-judgmental, and open to all different points of view. And like I said, we always recover when we fight about the silly stuff.
**Q: Describe what the weekend looked like for us in high school?**
Lauryn: Diary time, boys, Smirnoff Ice, maybe some vodka, a sourdough sandwich, staying up late, waking up late, copying Erica’s homework, stalking her clothes, admiring her toothpick legs, shopping at the mall, lots of white eyeliner, a couple of fights, and a lot of hair flat ironing. All with Avril Lavigne as the soundtrack.
**Q: How would you describe our friendship now that we’re grown?**
Lauryn: We talk about business, we talk about blogs a lot, and we talk about our business together—blog-doo. It’s a blog design company where we make custom blogs. We felt there was a gap in the market because there wasn’t anywhere to go for a chic, modern blog design. So blog-doo was born.
We are constantly texting about books we’ve read, and she’s really helped me with my pregnancy. But we still talk about fun stuff, gossip, life, and we’re always non-judgmental and always laughing.