Closer to Heaven than You

Just as I was about to answer he walked away to go sit by Jacey to get to know her. Our group was really open and accepting. Before I knew it they were all sitting at the table laughing like old friends. It wasn’t easy to just ‘step in’ when I hadn’t seen her in a long time.

I stopped acting like time had stopped and joined them at the table.

Jimmy stated,” Oh yeah, matt went through a horrible acne stage.”
Gates added,” And he was fat.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed,” Alright guys let’s stop spilling my secrets that she wasn’t around for…”

She shook her head,” I don’t believe any of that. Even at nine years old he was a freak about his weight!”

Johnny questioned, “Nine year old steroid matt?”
I chuckled,” You know it!”

She gasped and pulled out her little tiny wallet which held her license, debit card, some money, and a picture. She smiled as she pulled out the picture,” This was the last picture that was taken of us at my ninth birthday. I’ve carried it for years and I find it to be a good luck charm.”

Sure enough, there was a picture of us on a curb drinking root beer out of green bottles. She had white heart shaped sunglasses on and her dirty blonde hair, which is now black with some blonde in it. I had a green hat on and my arm was around her. She was always one for making faces at the camera but she was also very photogenic. I wasn’t even looking at the camera.

Then her phone rang and it was a text from her band asking where she was. She threw her beer can away and said,” Well guys, I have to go. It was nice meeting you, jimmy, Johnny, and Zacky.”

I saw Jimmy opening his mouth so I interrupted,” I’ll walk you to where you need to go.”

She nodded and smiled while waving goodbye. We stepped out of the bus and she quickly put her hair in a ponytail as the temperatures outside were rising. I noticed that her black jacket exposed her stomach as she tightened her ponytail. I asked,” I can’t believe you’ve kept that picture for so long.”

She winked,” think I’d forget about you that easy?”

I shrugged,” maybe.”

She bumped me with her hip,” No you made an impact on my life. Couldn’t forget about you if I tried...”

I smiled at her comment. It was nice to know she always thought about me. We had gotten to her bus a lot quicker than I expected. I wasn’t sure what to say so in all awkwardness I put my hands in my front pocket of my jeans.

She hugged me. Surprised; it took me a second to register and put my arms around her. When she let go she ran her fingers through her long hair and said,” 562-461-5221, Keep in touch Matt, so we can pick up where we left off minus puberty.”

I chuckled and entered her number into my phone. I stated,” Its great so see you again and actually know I can see you sometime soon.”

She replied,” Seriously anytime, we just got done with the warp tour so I’m home all the time. I’m excited; I get my best friend back.”

I nodded,” Same.”

She smiled and then boarded her bus leaving me to watch her drive away once again.

I stood at a gas station outside of the bus with Synyster while he smoked. He offered the cigarette to me,” Want a puff?”

He shook my head. He kept asking anyways though. I replied,” No gates, I don’t want to
smoke a cigarette.”

He stated,” It’ll get rid of the stress.”

I acted like I wasn’t sure what he was talking about,” I’m not stressed.”

He scoffed, “That’s bullshit Shadows. You can’t sit here and tell me seeing someone that you’ve had a lifelong crush on, show up out of nowhere didn’t freak you out. Or the fact that your stressed and nervous about chilling with her when we get back to HB?”

Caught me there; I groaned,” Shut up.”

He laughed, knowing he had gotten under my skin. But I still wouldn’t take the cigarette from him.

He asked,” So are you going to call her when we get back?”

I nodded,” Of course, I’ve always kind of hoped for this day.”

He put his hand on my shoulder after throwing his cigarette, “well I’m glad she’s back in our lives now.”