Chapter Text
Do you ever think back on that friend you had so long ago, like in the third grade? That one person you would spend all your time with at recess?
I do. Mostly because I hated his guts.
Now I know how that sounds: if I hated him, why did I spend all my time with him? Well, it's not like I hated him hated him. I just... hated him. You know? Everything we did was a competition. Every time I left home to go outside with him, it was “I'm going to beat Keith's butt today!”
Yeah, we were great friends.
Things are, obviously, different now. I'm not a kid anymore. I've got an apartment I share with my best friends, Hunk and Katie. Hunk is working on his engineering degree at the Garrison and Katie is all but fresh out of high school with enough scholarships offered to her to build a small bookshelf. I have a job at a new coffee shop down the street with a girl who is one of the most gorgeous people I've ever seen. The shop is owned by her uncle, and the two of them have a nice, cozy family vibe.
I think about Keith sometimes when there's nothing else on my mind, which isn't often. I wonder what he's up to now. Does he go to school? Does he have a job? An apartment or house? A partner? Does he remember me?
Buuut, before we get into all of the good stuff, I should probably tell you why we were split in the first place. I don't remember much of the time during which he moved away; it's like in my memories we were always fighting over something and then he was just gone. I actually met Hunk shortly after he left.
What I do remember is his dad's funeral. Big bummer, right? I remember a few days before, Mrs. Kogane in my living room, puffy eyed and droopy as she talked to my mom in whispers and murmurs. Keith hiding behind her legs, looking like a lost, wet cat and sniffling every so often. He ran up and hugged me when he saw me, and we never left each others' side during the funeral service.
Sometimes, I swear I remember the sounds of a moving truck pulling away from their house. I wonder if I cried.