2. Bittersweet

The day had finally arrived. The day they had spent their entire school life and willing to come faster so they could be saved from those God forsaken walls that have held them prisoner for the past fourteen years of their lives (of course, not including those first two years when they thought that everything they could get their hands on was food, and ‘ba’ was a perfectly acceptable way of telling their parents what exactly is that they wanted, followed by the next two years in which they were absolutely sure that they deserved every single toy that they wanted in the store, and if they didn’t get it, sitting down in the middle of the isle and screaming their little heads of was a completely normal method of negotiation.)

But anyway, the day of their high school graduation had finally arrived, and it had been eventful from the offset. The younger had slept at the blonde haired boys house last night in order to give them the maximum amount of time to get ready without worrying about meeting up before hand, however it seemed that time was not on their side, because when both boys finally awoke it was to the frantic voice of the home owner informing the pair that they had over slept, and that they needed to get up ‘right this instant, if we’re ever going to make it on time’ and ‘how could they be so careless on a day like today?’

Even so, although the day had gotten off to a rather rushed start, consisting of flailing limbs as skinny jeans were coaxed on to stick thin legs, and ties were fussed in to place by the doting mother figure, before the whole thing was covered by the pure white graduation gowns, accompanied by those God awful caps that would do nothing for the fresh out of bed look both boys slaved to achieve with their hair.

As they were pushed through the doors to the backseats of the family car, the two boys began to take the journey as an opportunity to think back over the memories they had shared leading up to this day, the memories which lead them to hold a friendship that was the kind every person strives to find because it’s just so perfect.

The dark haired male looked across to his best friend with a smile on his face, “Hey, do you remember that day when we first met? Man your face when you were told to sit next to me, it was priceless.”

“Shut up, arsehole. You try being stood at the front of class full of foreign kids, being told you had to go and sit next to the weirdest looking one of all with his big nose.” To anyone else that may have been listening to the conversation, without prior knowledge of the strange personality each boy was graced with, it may be put in to question how you could possibly see the pair as being friends, but this was just how they were, and how they had been for the past 11 years since that day in first grade when the kid with the weird voice had been pulled up in front of the class and made to do the dreaded speech of ‘tell everyone a bit about yourself’.

The elder received a soft punch to the upper arm before the pair laughed gently as they recalled the day they first met.

~

“Class, now there is someone I want you all to meet. This is Alexander and he’s just moved here from England, so I want you all to be nice to him okay?” The cheery voice of Mrs Horrocks was met by the already unenthusiastic mumbles of her first grade class as they all made their feeble attempts at agreement.

“Now Alexander, since you’re new, how about you tell everyone a little bit about yourself. Is that okay?” She looked down at the boy of just aged 7 as he looked back at her with big hazel eyes, giving her a small curt nod before turning back to the class of 6 and 7 year olds seated before him.

“Uh, my names A-Alex, and I’m seven. I have a dog called Max, and he’s m-my best friend. I like football - I mean uh... s-soccer...that’s what you guys call it right? Soccer?” He paused his self introduction to look at his new teacher for confirmation, receiving a gentle nod in return before continuing towards his new classmates. “Uhm, I don’t r-really know what else to say.” He once again turned to face his new teacher who he found suddenly stood at his side.

“That’s quite alright, Alex. Welcome to our class. Now if you’d like to take a seat over there right next to Jack, he’ll make sure you know where you’re going until you get the hang of things, okay?” She smiled sweetly at him before lifting her gaze to aforementioned boy, “Jack, could you please raise your hand so Alex here knows where to sit.” The request was followed by a hand instantly rising to the air, and once the elder boy had chance to identify its owner, he just couldn’t help but let his jaw hang loose. He wasn’t doing it to be mean, definitely not! It was just this kid looked so... weird. His nose was just that little bit too big for his face, and his face was just that little bit too long, and his stuck out just a tiny bit too much. But the light haired boy knew he couldn’t exactly say no now could he? So instead he slowly made his way to the seat next to the dark haired boy names Jack.

As he sat down he was met by the over enthusiastic voice of his new guide, as well as the same hand that had earlier been in the air extended in his direction. “Hi! I’m Jack!” the younger grinned, “I know.” The Englishman replied, but taking the hand in his own anyway and giving it a gentle shake. It was then that Mrs Horrocks announced that they would be starting off the day with an art lesson, to which the dark haired boy instantly grinned and nudged his pencil case towards his new friend “Here! You can share my pencils”

~

Little did the pair know that, that would be the day that lead to a better friendship than either of them could have imagined in their wildest dreams, from there on they were inseparable. Every possible moment they could spend together throughout their school lives was filled with all sorts of antics, when they were younger it had been spent on exploring their streets on their bikes, and playing ‘soccer’ on the local field. As they grew older bikes became video games, soccer became parties and as they matured the subject of girls often took up an extensive amount of their ‘guy talk'.

As the journey continued the memories continued to fly through each boys minds, reminding them of all the small moments that they had forgotten the significance of in the midst of all that had happened, in particular the single event that had happened just a small 3 years ago. It seemed to refresh itself in their minds simultaneously, and both boys gave a knowing glance to the other before divulging in to their own personal reminiscing.

~

It had been after school, on a Tuesday they seem to recall. The younger had been at home completing the English homework he’d completely forgotten about due the next day, and as far as he was aware his best friend was currently on a date with his girlfriend of 6 months, Katie Holmes. The elder had be ‘totally stoked, man’ ‘cause it was their anniversary and he had this whole romantic night planned for them both. He may have only been 14, but he went all out on this, he’d made a reservation at her favourite place to eat, and was planning on taking her to see that new film she wanted to go to at the cinema just across the road.

So imagine his shock a couple hours later, when a commotion downstairs startled him from his almost sleep (that essay took a lot out of him, okay?) only to be followed a few minutes later by said best friend crashing through his door in a fit of tears as he staggered his way to the occupied bed mumbling incoherent words.

“Alex? Alex w-what’s wrong?” the dark haired male yawned.

“Sh-she-she b-broke up with m-me!” it was distorted, but after years of seeing his friend in several different states of mind, the words were loud and clear for the now wide awake boy.

“SHE DID WHAT!?” He couldn’t help but let his anger and surprise seep through his words, how could she do this to him? He’d always been – in Jacks eyes – the perfect boyfriend to her, he had bought her presents on each of their anniversaries, he had taken her out for meals and to the cinema, and had convinced his parents to let he tag alone whenever they’d had a family trip, but the heart broken boy currently cowering in the bottom corner of his bed was blatant proof that apparently that just wasn’t enough for her.

“Sh-she said t-that I w-was t-too m-much for h-her, a-and that she d-doesn’t t-think we’re w-working anymore. She t-told me d-during dinner Jack! J-just like t-that! A-and t-then she l-left! Before I c-could say a-anything! J-just left m-me t-there! W-what did I d-do!?” By this point to any outsider these sentences would have long since transformed in to a string of child-like noises, but the dark haired male could hear every word perfectly.

“Oh ‘Lex, c’mere,” he reached his arms out to his broken best friend, encouraging him to join him at the top of the bed, pulling the covers back so he could join him in its warmth. He continued with his comforting as the light haired boy crawled his way up the bed and in to his friends arms, instantly being cocooned in the warmth of the duvet “you didn’t do anything wrong, y’hear me? She just too stupid to realise she just let go of the best person she’s ever going to get. And I know it hurts, but you have me alright? I won’t ever leave you, and you’ll get better I promise, and when she finally realises what a huge mistake she’s made, you’ll have moved on and you’ll realise that you made the mistake in ever wasting your time on someone who hurt you that much.”

No more words were exchanged after that, and apart from the youngest gentle comforts of ‘shh, it’s going to be okay’, the only noise to break the silence that had fallen upon them was the sounds of the quite sobs leaving the eldest’s chest. The pair cuddled for the rest of the night, both eventually falling asleep to the sound of the others steady breathing.

~

By the time the two boys had finished their internal trip down memory lane, they took a look at their surroundings to find the car pulling in to the school parking lot, surrounded by a sea of white as their fellow class mates made their way in to the building.

The each opened their door and exited the vehicle, closing the door behind them before walking to the front of the car and meeting each other in the middle. As they began to walk towards the building that had been their security blanket for the past four years they gently joined hands, each reminding the other that they would get through this.

The darker haired male realised throughout the day just how talented he had become at putting on a brave facade. It seemed that no one had become aware of the ache in his chest caused by his slowly shattering heart. Because what they didn’t know is that after today nothing would ever be the same again, not anymore. The younger of the two had always thought, right from the day he declared himself and the blonde haired boy best friends, that they would grow old together, they would always be by each others’ sides, bailing one another out of whatever trouble they may get themselves in to, but no. That wasn’t going to happen anymore, not from the looks of things at the moment anyway.

See what they didn’t know is that after today the person that had become his missing piece was leaving again and leaving that gap ten times as big as it had been before he’d come along. Yes, that’s right, Alexander Gaskarth, the weird British kid from first grade was going back home.

His parents had decided that now High School was over they were going to return back to their native country, taking their son back with them and leaving both boys completely heartbroken. The dark haired male had begged and pleaded with his parents to just let him go with him, because he could make it over there! He could! He had his best friend, that’s all he needed, he could do it! But he was met with a firm no, with a speech explaining to him in extreme detail how he just wasn’t cut out for moving to a different country so far away on his own, regardless of the fact he was accompanying the Gaskarth family, because it’s just not the same.

So the Barakat boy decided he was going to make this night one that would stay with the both of them for the rest of their lives. He wasn’t going to cry about it in front of his friend, oh no, he’d done plenty of that in the privacy of his own room for weeks after he’d been told the news, but now was the time to be strong for his best friend, now was the time to show him that they could do this. They could get through the separation, their friendship would still be the most important thing to the pair of them, it would just be a little different that’s all.

The ceremony went by in a bit of a blur really, neither of the newly High School graduates paying particular attention to what was going on, only walking across the stage to accept their diplomas after their names were called, just like they’d rehearsed so many times over the past few days. And once the events were over they instantly found themselves at the others side as they searched for their respective families, the younger explaining to the two sets of parents that they would be absent for the next few hours so they could say goodbye before the Gaskarths early morning flight the next day.

Both families agreed, before taking the graduation gowns and caps of their sons and leaving them to complete the plans that had been set for the night, allowing them to try and find the much needed closure in relation to the far too soon separation.

The dark haired male drove them both to their local ‘Taco Bell’ it wasn’t fancy, or expensive, or to anyone else particularly important. But to the two boys this fast food restaurant had been home to some of their most revealing conversations, they had discussed their plans for the future in this very here booth, making wild plans of moving to the big city and making something of their talents, they were going to be big they just knew it. So when making his plans, the Barakat boy just knew that this had to be the place for their final meal together. The waitress’ knew the boys well, so he was able to request that very booth for his plans, to which they happily complied.

They spent a little under two hours there, their long since empty plates laying forgotten on the edge of the table as the shared every detail of their friendship they could possibly remember, all the laughs and the cries, the arguments, the fights, the trouble they had caused together, anything that would guarantee the friendship would be fresh in their minds for a long time to come.

After their final meal the younger of the two lead the elder to the nearby pier, just a twenty minute walk away, where they had spent so many nights just talking. Sometimes writing songs together, sometimes not saying anything at all, just simply sitting in the company of the most important person they had ever known. So take the blonde haired boy on their final night seemed like a bit of a no brainer to the Lebanese boy.

They sat down on the edge of the seemingly unstable wooden pathway, just like they had so many times before, their shoes and socks discarded behind them as their feet skimmed the otherwise still surface of the water. And somewhere in the silence the unspoken agreement that the simple clasp of hands was what would help them the most right now was shared, closely followed by the action itself. This encourage the elder of the two to shuffle closer to his best friend in order to place his head in the crook of the dark haired boys neck, who responded by placing his own head on top of his friends.

“I love you, you know that right Jack?”

“Of course ‘Lex, I love you too.”

“Always, right? We’ll love each other always?”

“That’s right ‘Lex, always.”

“I’ll miss you y’know. I’ll think of you every day.”

The younger sighed, feeling the tears he was fighting so hard to keep at bay beginning to find their way to the barrier his eyes created.

“I’ll miss you too, so, so much. But it’s gunna be okay. We’ll be okay, and sure, things will be a little different, but we’re going to stay in touch okay? And when we’re older, we’ll be together again, I promise.”

It was then that the elder rose to his feet, and dusted the dirt of the back of his jeans before outstretching a hand to his best friend, encouraging him to stand. The younger complied, in turn brushing the dirt of his own jeans before looking back at his friend.

The blonde haired boy, again, extended his hand to his friend, a silent request to dance together one last time, an action which had only been shared between the two in the privacy of one of their bedrooms. The dark haired boy places his own hand in the one outstretched to him, gently placing his free hand on his partners shoulder as he rested his head on top of the now placed hand.

The elder placed his own free hand on the hip of his best friend, before beginning to softly sing the lyrics which may have seemed out of place to any other person, but at this moment in time, to the two pair of boys who had known hardly anything but each other for the past 11 years, they were the only lyrics that would ever really make sense to hear right now.

And in the night we'll wish this never ends
We'll wish this never ends.