Forever Thursday

Thursday night had been our routine for a long time.

Chrissy would pick me up around 8 and he would smoke on the entire drive over.

Punkass always said he would be ready when we arrived but kept us hanging for half an hour, finally coming out reeking of Drakkar Noir.

It was either Pearl Jam or U2 on the ride over.

The parking lot was the kind of place where you didn’t want to leave your car at any time of day, not that Chrissy’s car was worth the effort.

Chrissy still left the windows down and glove box open.

Through the entrance and down a series of stairs into the basement, the hall open up and unfolded before us.

Masters of the Universe, Thursdays was play all night for one price.

Punkass would rack the balls, setting them and resetting them a dozen or so time until some specific number in his mind was reached. Chrissy would break first since he drove.

Stale beer, oil soaked fries, and a plate of onion rings were the banquet.

When the hall closed it was a ride down to the waterfront to this one particular park that was always closed.

Entry through a gap in the chain link fence.

The three of us would sit on a wall, a terrifying height to the ocean below.

Taking something for granted assumed one even knew it might end one day.

Some friends were never really friends, but a convenience.

Some friends moved on in life and deliberately left you behind.

Some friends continued to wonder for years why Thursday evenings had to ever change.

When Loyalty Costs You the Chance You Didn’t Know You Had

Time.

Enough of it had passed in that the questions asked no longer mattered.

Whatever could have potentially happened had long cooled, and the trials of life had piled on.

Now there was only a shared history that could never be changed.

Did I remember that moment at the party, when everybody left the room and it was just the two of us sitting there?

The silence in the room broken by her first as we talked about nothing at all.

I remember that the conversation, our proximity, and what she was really wondering about.

What she was really asking was why didn’t I ask her out.

At that moment?

Out of loyalty.

She had just broken up with my best friend.

The fact that she dated him right there made her off limits.

But what she didn’t realize at the time, and what took me a few years later looking back was that such loyalty was misplaced.

My friend never had my best interest at heart, or for that matter any of my interests.

I was convenient to him and helpful to have around as I never backed down from anything, both a character strength and flaw.

He knew I would always back him no matter what, and that was useful.

At the time I missed the entire point of our conversation and that our friends in the room didn’t leave because they had somewhere else to be.

They left knowingly so I could ask you.

I missed all of that, otherwise perhaps I would have followed you to Florida.

Strike Out

When the Headmaster stepped into the room for a moment and told Chrissy and I to see him after class was over both our minds started racing.

What were we in trouble for this time?

Did somebody snitch on us?

There was no way anybody saw us.

Best to go in begging for forgiveness our  plan was to only admit to half of it, just enough to stay under that threshold between detention or a parental pickup.

Do you two still your gloves?

Gloves?

Somebody had told the Headmaster that we used to play in the Pony Colt baseball league and knew our stuff. The Headmaster was putting on a friendly exhibition game with another school in the area and Chrissy and I were going to be Captains of our school’s team.

Captains?

Our school didn’t even have a team.

We’ll it does now.

Practice at lunch, game is in two weeks.

Put together the team.

There were a few others in the school who played Pony Colt with us, they were on the top of the list, as was some of the guys who played Basketball at lunch since at least they were athletic.

The list was a start, but there was one person we needed above everybody else.

A secret weapon that nobody on the other team would suspect.

Chrissy agreed.

We needed Tey Tey for this to work.

Tey Tey beat all of us in the senior arm wrestling fundraiser, was a champion on a soccer league outside of school, was faster, stronger, and naturally athletic.

We needed her.

The three of us arranged practice at lunch as we started to put the team through the paces.

Chrissy came up with the motivational speeches, Tey Tey with the athletic drills, and myself with the overall tactics of how we were going to win this thing.

A week or so in it was clear we weren’t going to be able to cover all the bases.

A mixture of athletic players who nothing of the game and players who knew the game but weren’t athletic.

Could you do that again?

It was during batting practice that I first saw it.

Chrissy was going to be our pitcher as that is the position he played during our Ponly Colt days and he still had some skill at it.

He was pitching the ball to Tay Tay and she was consistently knocking it out of the field.

We weren’t even practicing on a real baseball diamond, but adjusting for distance it was almost always a home run. 

Forget feilding, it would just have to be whatever it is.

We are going to focus, all of us, on batting practice and scoring as many runs as possible.

Those that could smash it would smash it, those that could not hit, just bunt and get on base.

Tay Tay was going to be our cleanup hitter and bring everybody home. 

 

We only needed to win by one point.

Confidence was high on the bus ride over.

Chrissy gave a good pep talk, Tay Tay had the confidence of a goddess and I felt good that my numbers would hold.

When we got off the bus we knew we were in trouble.

The other school had a dedicated baseball field, and all the players were dressed in a uniform.

The Watch Between Us

I was elated that he reached out to me on Linked-in.

Chrissy was one of my best friends in high school, sharing so many adventures together.

Playing in a band.

Skateboarding.

Drama club.

Shooting pool.

We hung out all the time and he was the guy I wanted to be.

When college came around we slowly drifted apart despite both going to schools in the city. 

Life kind of got busy as I got wrapped up in the dojo, he had his art and marrying his high-school sweetheart. 

How many years had gone by and he wanted to meet up again and reconnect. Start hanging out again, shoot some pool and stuff like that. 

Was meeting at a local Starbucks good later in the week?

Yes!

You think I was going out on a date given the anticipation and excitement I had all week. 

I knew what shirt I was going to wear despite changing it half a dozen times, and I knew what shoes I was going to match it with.

The afternoon of the meetup I got to the Starbucks early and parked my car two blocks away. 

Honestly?

I was ashamed at driving an almost twenty year car. 

It worked, still looked good for its age, but at this point and time out from college maybe I should have been driving something a bit different. 

I looked at the shirt in the back of my car and decided to go with what I had.

I made the right call on the car, as I saw him get out of a brand new Jeep which was parked out front. 

He looked the same.

Same hairstyle, earing, style, and swagger.

Was he a bit shorter then I remembered? 

I called out.

My man.

Roppo!

It took a moment for him to register me, and from the tracking of his eyes I don’t think he expected me to be so tall, and dressed so differently.

The long hair definitely stood out. 

Just like that we were back in high school.

Talking about all the games, the venues we played, classes and teachers. 

Whatever happened to that guy questions and suff like that.

When he asked about my relationship situation I answered briefly and changed the subject as I knew things didn’t quite work out with his high school sweetheart. 

He was still doing his art, and was even designing custom skateboards.

Was I still doing that karate thing?

I wasn’t quite sure why I didn’t correct him, I just said yes. 

It was strange to hear him refer to it like that as he was the one who got me started on it when we both joined the dojo together. 

Surprised I was still doing it, he wondered where he would be if he had stuck with it.

We shared pictures on our phones, finally revealed what secrets we knew from high school and made plans to shoot pool next Friday once he checked his schedule on Monday.

A few hours flew by in what felt like minutes. 

It was getting late, he had to pick up his daughter. 

Absolutely. 

One last thing before we left.

Did I remember his dad’s watch?

His watch?

The one he would sometimes wear when we went out to clubs. Somewhere along the way it got lost and he was wondering if I might have remembered what happened to it, if he had lent it to me to wear at the club.

Asking about the watch I knew this wasn’t about a reunion or even catching up.

I told him I didn’t remember anything about it.

I lied.

I absolutely remembered it. 

An Omega speed master with a black dial and stainless-steel link band. He sold it to another kid at school for a few hundred dollars to take his girlfriend out to dinner. 

It was a long walk back to my car and our reunion didn’t quite go as I had expected. 

I knew we would not be shooting pool next week, and that I wasn’t going to be hearing from my friend again.