Hello, Good Friend

I'm waiting, waiting for nothing
You're leaving, leaving me hanging
When did your heart go missing?
When did your heart go mis-

“Hello?”

“Hey, Chloe? It’s me, Tony.”

I quirked an eyebrow and propped my feet up on my desk, placing the book I was reading in my lap.

“Hi,” I replied, letting him know I was listening.

“So the gang is hanging down by the pier tonight around 8ish, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me before and we can meet up with them?”

My heart sank a little. I was not ready to reacquaint myself with everybody… at all.

“Tony, that sounds great, but-“

“Great! So I’ll pick you up in an hour?”

I looked at the clock that stood on my bedside table; it read 5:00. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, fine.”

I hung up the phone and threw it onto my bedspread. I tossed my book onto my desk and leaped out of the chair I was sitting in. I walked over to my still half-packed suitcases and started rummaging around for something to wear. I decided on dark jeans, a blue flowy tunic with a butterfly print, and a gray cardigan.

I took a quick shower and wrapped my wet hair in a towel, quickly changing into my chosen outfit. I brushed on some makeup but kept it light because I knew we were going to be near the beach and, knowing the guys, there was always a fifty percent chance we were going swimming. When I was done getting ready, I grabbed my cell phone and headed downstairs to look for my mother.

“Mom!” I yelled, walking through the halls, adjusting the towel that was still resting on my head. I walked into the kitchen to find the red-haired diva sifting through the mail.

“What is it, honey?”

“Guess who came into the diner today?” I said, taking a seat on one of the kitchen stools.

“Who?”

“Tony,” I said less enthusiastically, trying to match her obviously-bored tone.

“The Panici kid?”

“Yeah, that one.”

She looked up, finally interested in the direction the conversation was going. “Did he recognize you?”

“Not at first, but after I pushed him a little bit, he recognized who I was.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yeah, we’re actually going to hang out tonight. He’s supposed to be picking me up at 6,” I said, twisting around to look at the clock on the wall behind me. It was 5:53.

“That’s fine, just don’t stay out too late tonight,” my mom said, moving around the counter and walking to the fridge. She pulled out a water bottle before saying, “Remember, you have a job now.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and nodded.

“Hey mom, what happened to the Range Rover?”

“It’s in the shop,” she said, walking into the living room.

Before I could ask further questions, the doorbell rang, signaling that Tony was here for me. My eyes widened and my hands flew to my head when I realized my hair was still wet, wrapped in my bath towel.

“We’ll continue this conversation later,” I whisper-yelled at my mom while shuffling towards the front door. I slipped on my shoes, slipped off the towel, shook out my hair, and then finally opened the door.

“Oh…Tony,” I opened the door, pretending to be surprised that he was standing on my doorstep. “What are you doing here?”

“Ha-ha, very funny. Except… it actually looks like you weren’t expecting me, your hair is a mess,” Tony said, reaching out to ruffle my hair. I dodged his hand and made a mental note of what he had just said, quirking my eyebrow—was my hair really that messy.

I walked towards the staircase and grabbed my purse off the coat rack. I ran to the living room to say ‘good-bye!’ to my mom and to quickly check my hair (which was fine) and, moments later, Tony and I headed to his car.

“So where are we going?”

“The Fisherman’s,” Tony responded as he opened the passenger-side car door for me. I raised my eyebrow and swiftly slid into the seat. Tony shut the door and then ran around the front of the car to the other side.

“Isn’t that the date place?” I asked, buckling my seat belt.

“Yes,” Tony said, turning the key in the slot and starting up the car, “Yes it is.”

***

“I have to admit that this is kind of nice, Tony,” I said as we waited for the waitress to bring back our bill. I sat there smiling, looking across the booth at him.

We currently occupied a booth that was on the edge of the restaurant, with a window that overlooked the entire ocean. The restaurant was located basically on the strand, so the view was magnificent. I lifted my feet and placed them on the seat next to Tony.

“Why do you sound surprised? And I would agree, but… you just placed your stinky feet in my own personal bubble space.”

I gasped. He did not just call my feet stinky. If anything, they were cleaner than his. I did just get out of the shower a few hours ago.

“They’re cleaner than yours! You probably have athlete’s foot or some other fungus living in between your toes,” I joked, putting my feet back down and sitting upright. The waitress just came to give us back the change and I didn’t want to seem disrespectful.

“No, I actually don’t,” Tony said, getting up from his seat and offering me his hand to help me up. “My feet are sexy.”

How do you respond to that? I just laughed at him and let him lead me out of the restaurant, our hands still clasped together. When we got outside, Tony released my hand and fished in his pocket for his car keys. He pressed the panic button and a car alarm went off somewhere in the far end of the parking lot. Before Tony could walk in the general direction of his car, I grabbed his wrist.

“I’ll race you to the car?”

He looked down at me and smirked. “You’re exactly how I remember you, you know that? You’re on. Winner gets what?”

I thought for a second.

“If you win, I’ll answer the question you asked me inside.”

“What question?”

“Exactly,” I laughed. “And if I win, you get to tell me exactly how you remember me from four years ago. Deal?”

Before he could agree, I sprinted in the direction of the car. When I got there, I turned around and found Tony walking leisurely toward the car. I scoffed in disbelief. We both hopped into the car and soon we were making the short drive to the pier.

“So,” I started. “How do you remember me back in 2003?”

The light ahead of us turned red and Tony applied the brakes. From where I was, twisted in my seat facing the driver with my back against the window, I could see Tony smile slightly before he answered my question.

“You were a total tomboy. The only thing girly about you, besides the obvious body parts, was that you had your belly button pierced. You skated better than I did and you and Ryan always had little petty fights that we all had a blast laughing at. It amazed me how easy you two got back together though. And your wardrobe, that was my favorite part. Because I never felt bad hanging around you for wearing stuff like that. Now when I’m with girls wearing revealing clothes, she’s always a whore… but it was never like that with you.”

The light turned green. As Tony returned his focus to the road ahead of him, I continued to examine him from the passenger seat. I smiled at what Tony said because all of it was true. I wore spandex and sports bras out of the house and challenged the guys to skate better than I could. Ryan and I got extremely angry at each other over the littlest things and said mean things that neither one of us meant, but we always found a way to reconcile and be best friends again. That’s why he called me his “good friend,” because he knew that I would always be there for him in the end.

“What are you smiling at?”

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Tony’s voice. Looking around, I noticed that we had already reached the pier parking lot. It was 7:25. I shrugged, jumping out of the truck. Tony followed and soon we were walking down the pier.

“What else do you remember about me?” I asked him.

“You hate swerving cars.”

I rolled my eyes. “I already knew you remembered that! From the ride home after the diner, remember?”

This time it was Tony’s turn to shrug. “A follow-up wasn’t part of the deal.”

When we finally reached the end of the pier, the sun was making its way toward the horizon. Fishermen were either casting or pulling in their lines and kids were inserting dimes into viewing machines, trying to see if they could spot a dolphin or two out at sea.

“Well, that’s too bad. You almost had me believing that you missed me while I was gone,” I joked, folding my arms over the top rail and leaning into it. I looked at Tony and noticed he also had this grin on his face that just wouldn’t leave.

“I did miss you, Chloe,” he said, leaning on the rail with his right elbow so he was looking at me. His face switched from looking so happy to looking so serious and that made me almost fully believe him.

“Maybe you did, for the first few weeks, or months. But you got over it,” I smiled sympathetically. “I don’t exactly blame you either. I mean, high school in California could be pretty distracting, if you know what I mean…”

Tony just shook his head. Together we watched the sun set beyond the horizon in silence, not one of us saying a single word. I couldn’t help but feel as if I had offended him by saying that he didn’t miss me, but I don’t think he understands how heartbreaking it was to leave my best friends and never hear from them again.

Just moments after the sun set, Tony’s phone began to ring.

“Hello? Yeah. Yeah. Ok bye.”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“They want to meet by the promenade,” Tony said, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking back towards the strand. By the time I realized what was happening, I had to jog in order to catch up to him.

“Do you want to know the answer to the question that you asked me?”

“Well, it depends,” Tony said, looking at me and smiling slightly. “What was the question?”

“You asked me why I sounded so surprised when I told you that dinner was nice. I think it was because I had you frozen in my mind as that immature little boy who loved to see my eat it on my skateboard or would stare at me funny whenever I cried. I never realized you had it in you to be so…”

Tony looked at me with an amused expression on his face as I tried to search for the right word. “So what?”

“Charming,” I said, pulling my gray cardigan closer to my body to try and keep the night chill out.

He laughed incredulously and threw his arm around my shoulder. We walked in silence toward the promenade, but this time, it was a comfortable one.