Meet Me Halfway

JR

Not many men would, but I’ll bravely admit I’m not one to hide my feelings; when I feel pain I let it out. When I got the news Lauren had passed on, I didn’t want to believe it. I always knew her as the fighter and optimistic type of person, but the battle had become too overwhelming for her. As soon as the realization set in, I cried and, though I’d never admit it to her, I even cried during Aubrey’s speech at the service.

I stared out the window, thinking how five months can pass you by in an instant. One minute I was just starting my first semester at Berkeley and the next I was flying out to Long Beach to fulfill Lauren’s final wish. I didn’t have anything big planned for the summer, so I was really looking forward to spending a month in California at the beach house; and even if I did have anything planned, I’d cancel them immediately.

I felt the piece of paper in my pocket, pulled it out, and unfolded it to reveal Lauren’s handwritten letter. I was already used to her letters, her writing. I could expect three letters a week from her, about life, school, friends, especially Aubrey. I didn’t mind though; even if she and I weren’t real close, it was nice to know she was doing fine. An overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over me knowing this was the last letter I’d ever get from Lauren. I studied each stroke of the pen and smiled as I reread it, hearing her voice speak the words.

JR!

How I could ever express how lucky I am to have a best friend like you? I always thanked Aubrey for being where she was that moment we all met, because she if hadn’t we probably wouldn’t be friends, though she tells me to stop reminding her. It makes me sad that we couldn’t spend more time together; that we couldn’t be friends longer, but it amazes me how fast we did become friends. Well, to get to the point, I have a small, final, request of you. Hoping you don’t have any plans this summer or at least the month of June, I’d love it if you’d stay at my beach house that month; I promise you won’t regret it, but you have to go alone. If you do go, I put the spare key in the envelope. Take care JR and keep up your optimism, I know you’ll be at Sochi in 2014.

Xoxox Lauren

I didn’t need to think twice about coming; as soon as I could, I bought my plane ticket and waited for the months to go by. The sun was beaming this afternoon and traffic wasn’t as bad as I expected. Long Beach still looked as it did five months ago and seeing the coast with the waves crashing and the herds of people on the sand made me feel nostalgic.

It had been a year since the last time I came to the beach house and I almost didn’t recognize it; a golden tan color covered up the once blue outer walls. I stretched my arms over my head and took a deep breath, smelling the fresh ocean breeze. I grabbed my bags and guitar and headed inside. It felt strange walking in the vacant house alone; I was used to being welcomed by Mrs. Vosteen and the fresh smell of Christmas cookies (usually due to a scented candle). Strangely, the house smelt of such, bringing back fond memories of days and nights spent here. I looked around the foyer and eyed the photos lined against the walls. Most were of Aubrey and Lauren, but there were a few that I made an appearance in.

After reminiscing through the pictures, I headed up the stairs to put my things away in the room that would be mine for the next thirty days. It was just how I remembered it; blue walls with a nautical theme. I set my bags and guitar down and sat on the edge of the bed, taking out my ear buds, not knowing what else to do, but felt like I was waiting for something to happen.

My attention immediately was directed towards the bathroom door, which slowly crept opened and now that I didn’t have my earphones on, I could faintly hear music coming from it. I rose slowly and cautiously walked towards it, hoping it wasn’t an intruder.

“I chime in with a ‘haven’t you people ever heard of, closing the…” she stopped dead in her tracks, staring at me in disbelief, gripping the top of her towel, as the music continued to blast in the background.

She mumbled something that wasn’t audible to me and ran back into the bathroom. “What the hell are you doing here!” she yelled from the other side of the door.

I didn’t know what to do or say; I just stood there perplexed about the whole situation. It was obvious neither of us knew the other would be here; otherwise this little welcoming would’ve gone a lot better – though now that I think about it, probably not. After a couple of minutes of gazing out into the loft, I walked up to the bathroom door and leaned my ear next to it, knocking three times.

“Aubrey? Aubrey come out, I swear I didn’t see anything. Come on open the door,” I said resting my forehead on the plank of wood.

She didn’t answer; it didn’t even sound like she was in there. I knocked once more, hoping she’d open the door. “Come on Aubrey, come out,” I pleaded.

“Don’t you think if I wanted to come out, I would have already? Besides I can’t,” she retorted.

She always sounded so angry when she talked to me and only me, but I always tried to maintain my cool and respond politely. “Why can’t you?”

I heard her walk towards the door and let out a sigh. “Because, I’m naked and I need my clothes.”

I chuckled to myself, laughing at her bluntness. “Do you want me to bring them to you?” I offered kindly.

“No. Can you just leave…please?” the latter sounded forced, though I appreciated it anyways.

I quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind me and waited in the loft, taking a seat on one of the recliners. My mind was cluttered with too many thoughts to process. When Lauren wrote to come alone, I thought I would be the only one here. She said I wouldn’t regret it, but I started to think I would.

“So, what are you doing here?” I heard Aubrey ask as she came out of the room.

She leaned back against the wall, folding her arms across her chest; she looked tired and fragile, not like her normal self. I guess Lauren’s death really took a toll on her.

“Probably the same reason you’re here,” I replied, getting up from the chair.

She scoffed and looked down at the floor. “Lauren,” she whispered.

I nodded my head in agreement. “Yup, she would be the reason.”

She sighed. “And she said I wouldn’t regret it – too bad I already am,” she said looking back at me.

I’ve learned there’s no point in answering her back when she says something like that, because she could go on with the rude comments and I’d end up getting angry saying something I’d regret.

So, I just changed the subject. “Why were you even using that bathroom? I thought you and Lauren had that bedroom,” I said pointing the bedroom adjacent to us.

“I don’t know, something’s wrong with the shower or something like that,” she replied shrugging her shoulders.

“I can have a look at it later if you don’t mind sharing a bathroom ‘til then,” I offered, hoping she wouldn’t come back with a snide remark.

To my surprise she smiled at me, her eyes actually glistening with life. “Thanks, that’d be nice.”

Ding. Dong.

We both turned our heads towards the stairs and then back at each other with confused looks on our faces. Aubrey walked passed me and peered over the balcony, trying to see if she could get a look at who was at the door.

“Is there anyone else we should be aware of that’s coming?” she asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Knowing Lauren, who knows?” I responded joining her at the balcony.

After the bell rang another time, Aubrey turned to me and motioned for me to go answer the door. I furrowed my eyebrows together and shook my head.

“Why do I have to answer it?” I asked with a small chuckle.

“You’re the guy, what if it’s some psycho killer ringing door bells? I’d be an easy target,” she said.

Though I didn’t like her logic for me to answer the door, I did as I was asked, heading down the stairs and checking out the window to see who it was. It was a deliveryman, holding a medium sized package in one hand and a clipboard in the other. He rang the doorbell one last time before I answered it.

I smiled at him, waiting for him to speak. “Hi. Um, I have a delivery for a JR Celski or an Aubrey Trigo.”

“I’m JR Celski,” I answered pointing to myself.

“And its Trigo, pronounced like tree and go,” I heard Aubrey correct him.

I rolled my eyes and took the package from the man as he held out the clipboard for me to sign. I felt Aubrey walked up next to me, her eyes set on the box under my arm. It wasn’t a heavy package, yet it wasn’t light; I had a hard time deciphering what exactly could be within it.

“Thank you and have a nice day,” the man said after I finished signing my name.

“Wait.” He turned around looking at Aubrey. “Who’s it from?” she asked.

The man took a look down at his clipboard and then back at us. “It says it was from someone named LV.”

I heard her whisper, “Should’ve known,” and then thanked the man as she closed the door behind him.

Together we walked into the living room, sitting next to each other as I placed the package on the coffee table. For a while we both just stared at it, wondering what was in it and who would open it. Since there was a sense of awkwardness in the room, I decided to break it and began to tear at the tape.

It was a bit of a struggle considering I didn’t have any nails to dig under the edges of the tape, but I kept trying. I felt Aubrey get up from the couch and turned to see her heading for the kitchen. When she returned I looked up at her and saw her holding up something from her keychain. She smirked and it revealed to be a simple pocketknife.

“There,” she said after sliding the blade through the tape.

“Well aren’t you gonna see what’s inside?” I asked her.

She sat back down and turned towards me. “Honestly, I’m kinda scared to see what’s inside. Why don’t you check?”

I nodded my head in agreement and opened the flaps out and peered inside. I felt one of my eyebrows arch, a little puzzled as to what the box contained. There were two shoeboxes, one labeled with my name and the other with Aubrey’s name, and in between them were two DVDs. I reached for my box and took out the DVDs, while Aubrey peered forward into the package, taking out the other shoebox.

“Should we open them?,” she asked looking at me.

Before answering her, something written on the DVD caught my eye. It read Play me FIRST.

I walked towards the entertainment center and carefully placed the DVD in the player and turned on the TV. “No, not yet. I think we should see this first.”

Lauren appeared on the screen, smiling and waving at the camera. She looked tired and weak, but she kept up a lively façade for her audience, Aubrey and me. I stole a quick glance at Aubrey, who seemed stiff and void of emotion; she kept her focus on the screen, waiting for Lauren to speak.

“Hey guys! If you’re watching this, then I hope you are Aubrey and JR, if not well, enjoy this little video of me talking. So, assuming you are my two best friends, I will continue on. As you can see, I’ve asked both of you to come to the beach house and I’m sorry I didn’t tell either of you the other would be here, but I didn’t for obvious reasons. So Aubrey please, would you wipe that pissed off look off your face?”

I turned my head to look at Aubrey whose cheeks were flushed from embarrassment and began to slowly shake her head and form a smile. I laughed a little and returned my attention back to the screen.

“Ok, so now you’re probably wondering ‘why am I here?’ right? Well it’s simple; it’s all part of my final wish. You see there are two boxes and each contains some letters, thirty letters to be exact. So yes in total I wrote sixty letters; call me crazy. Anyways, they’re dated for when you can read them, starting tomorrow. This probably doesn’t make any sense to you right now, but in the end I know you’ll realize what I knew from the very beginning. And I hope you two grow closer as friends, because together you keep me alive on this planet -- there’s a part of me in each of you. Now, I bid you farewell…”

It was evident there were tears in her eyes as she spoke those words. As soon as she said them, my eyes began to water with warm tears and I could hear Aubrey sniff back some of her own. Then, I felt Aubrey lay her head on my shoulder and saw her wiping away tears that started to stream down her cheek. It was a strange moment, like when she hugged me at Lauren’s house, but I welcomed it like I had before, placing my hand on her back, slowly stroking it to comfort her.

“…it-it’s time for me to go now, but don’t worry I’ll put in a good word for you guys, what are friends for right? Bye JR, bye Trigo.” She blew us a kiss and waved goodbye. “Love you guys,” and the screen went black.

Now we wait; we wait for tomorrow.