Cocktails, Lost Wallets, and the Friendship Loading Bar

When Fruitloop asked me how my weekend was, I didn’t even know where to start because it was so cool. Saturday night, I worked with my friends at a cocktail bar during a party. The deal was amazing: after we worked, we could have free drinks and free food. Of course, that made everything even better. We made cocktails with syrup and sparkling water, and although I wasn’t very good at explaining the ingredients in English, it tasted great anyway.

The party was incredible. I danced, laughed, and stayed out until around three o’clock in the morning. It was really warm, and everyone was having fun. The next day, I slept until two in the afternoon, which sounds terrible, except I had dancing at three. That was the moment I became stressed. I practically threw clothes on, rushed out of the house, grabbed something to eat in the village, and made it to the dance event just in time.

The best part was my outfit. Frank had sent Fruitloop a video, so she had already seen it. She told me she loved my flower headband and hairstyle. I was very proud because I had done my own hair. All the girls had matching hairstyles, and I thought we looked really pretty. It was warm and uncomfortable at times, but it was worth it because the whole day was so much fun.

After talking about my weekend, Fruitloop introduced the topic of relationship balance. At first, I thought it meant balancing time with friends and time alone. She explained that it was much bigger than that. It includes relationships with friends, family, teachers, and even romantic partners. According to her, relationship balance is about sharing support, energy, trust, and effort. Sometimes relationships are easy, and sometimes people fight, but strong relationships can survive disagreements because people work together to solve problems.

When she asked about my social battery, I realized I don’t really notice it running out when I’m with people. I’m very sociable, so I can stay around others for a long time. The real problem comes when I get home. Suddenly, I don’t want to talk to anyone anymore. I just want to go to bed and exist quietly for a while. While I’m with friends, I can simply listen, laugh at jokes, and enjoy being there without talking much.

We also talked about feeling appreciated. For me, one of the biggest signs of friendship is trust. When a friend tells me something personal, I feel honoured because it means they trust me. That makes me feel valued. With my parents, it’s often the small things. My favourite example is when my mom sees a Kinder Bueno in a shop and buys it for me. It isn’t about the chocolate itself. It’s about knowing she thought of me. As for teachers, I appreciate the ones who smile. That sounds simple, but not every teacher does. French teachers have a reputation, and Fruitloop found it very funny when I admitted that some of them are not exactly sunshine and happiness.

The conversation moved to friendship conflicts. I remembered one friend I stopped talking to for a couple of months. We eventually became friends again, and for a while our friendship was even stronger than before. However, later the friendship ended completely. Looking back, I think that experience taught me something important: I don’t want bad friends in my life.

Then I accidentally performed a magic trick by clicking the wrong button and turning off my camera. Fruitloop laughed and said, “Now you see me, now you don’t.” Honestly, that was probably my greatest achievement of the meeting.

When she asked if I had friends who could cheer me up on a bad day, I immediately remembered the disaster with my wallet. A few weeks earlier, I had gone to a fair with friends. Somehow, I lost my wallet, which contained my money, bank card, identity card, and other important documents. It happened around eleven at night, and I completely panicked. I was crying because I was so stressed.

What I remember most is how my friends reacted. Three of them stayed with me while others searched around the fairgrounds. They weren’t experts at comforting people. In fact, they were hilariously bad at it. But they tried. They kept telling me everything would be okay, bought me a hot chocolate, and distracted me from the situation. Eventually, I stopped thinking about the problem for a little while and started laughing again.

Unfortunately, I never found the wallet. I had to replace my identification cards and worry about travel documents for my upcoming trip to the Canary Islands. Thankfully, I already had my passport. Looking back, I think the experience taught me several lessons: close your bag properly, keep important documents safe, and maybe don’t carry your entire life around in one small bag.

The discussion about relationships continued when Fruitloop asked what I had learned from working with my mother. That one was easy. At first, my mom didn’t really trust me to handle tasks on my own. Every time I tried to help, she wanted to do everything herself. I kept telling her, “Let me try!” Eventually, I proved that I could manage orders, organize things, and do the work properly. Now she trusts me more and gives me more responsibility.

Of course, there was also the cake incident. One day I ignored her advice while baking. The cake turned out horribly. She looked at me with the expression every mother dreams of making and said, “I told you so.” Unfortunately, she was right, and I had to admit it.

When Fruitloop asked about family members who make me feel loved, I immediately thought of my grandmother. She is absolutely hilarious. She complains about people in the family, but if we suggest speaking directly to them, she suddenly says, “No, no, don’t say anything!” Watching her do this is one of the funniest things ever.

We also talked about feeling misunderstood. That happens a lot during family dinners. Sometimes I share an opinion and immediately hear, “You’re too young to understand.” Apparently, being under eighteen means my thoughts occasionally disappear into another dimension. When that happens, I usually become quiet. Then, when they ask for my opinion later, I jokingly remind them that I’m “too young” to have one.

At the time of the lesson, Father’s Day was coming up. My brothers and I had bought a perfume gift set for our dad. I used part of my monthly allowance to contribute. I was also preparing myself mentally because I would be the only girl spending the day with my father and brothers. I had a feeling I would be asked to make salads and help with things. Fruitloop reminded me that it was Father’s Day, so I should probably behave myself and not unleash my “bad character.”

When the topic turned to stress, I realized my friends usually notice it before my parents do. If I tell my mom I’m stressed, she often says, “Don’t stress, Sarah. It’s okay.” My friends, especially classmates, can actually help with the problem. We compare work, ask questions, and support each other, which usually reduces the stress.

Another lesson came from a friendship experiment. I used to be the person who always suggested activities. One day my mom told me to stop initiating everything and see whether the other person would make an effort. She didn’t. That friendship eventually ended, and I realized that real friendships require effort from both sides.

Fruitloop then asked one of the most difficult questions of the day: would I rather have a fun friend or a reliable friend? At first, I said fun. But after discussing situations like losing my wallet or missing a bus, I changed my answer. Reliable friends are incredibly important. Still, I think the perfect friend is both fun and reliable.

One of my favourite memories came up when I described helping a best friend through a breakup. The moment she told me what happened, I called her and invited her over. We spent time in the swimming pool, watched films, and distracted her from the sadness. Sometimes people don’t need solutions. They just need company and a chance to breathe.

We also discussed whether friendships become easier or harder as people grow older. I think both are true. They become harder because people have jobs, families, responsibilities, and less free time. But they can also become easier because you understand people better and build deeper connections.

At the end of the lesson, Fruitloop introduced a funny idea called the Emotional Bank Account. If relationships were a real bank account, I think I would deposit love, good memories, energy, and advice. In return, I would hope to receive those same things back.

Then she asked what actions would fill a friendship loading bar like a video game. My answer was easy: listening to music together, going out together, having simple but memorable adventures, and enjoying each other’s company even when we’re doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes sitting on a bench in a park can create the best memories.

Finally, we played a game where friends became plants. My childhood best friend Axel was definitely a giant potato plant because he is hilarious and often seems to live on another planet. Josephine became the sunflower because she is bright, cheerful, and blonde. My newest close friend became the cactus. At first, people might think she is tough or distant, but once you get to know her, she is kind, caring, and wonderful inside.

By the end of the lesson, I had learned something important. Relationship balance isn’t about having perfect friendships or never arguing with family. It’s about trust, effort, kindness, support, and being there when someone loses a wallet, burns a cake, gets dumped, or simply needs a hot chocolate and a friend.

And honestly, that’s a pretty good investment.