Ice Cream and Catch Up

Friendships can go awry in an instant. Can they as easily be won back?

The arcade was ablaze with purples, red, yellows, and greens.  Even though it was a kid-friendly place, the people were drunken on exhilaration.

Crowds were huddled around a particular Japanese racing game.  Lazy employees slacked on their jobs to gather and watch, and frustrated teenagers cursed as a player dominated their scores.  I was that player.  My score was climbing beyond even what I had expected.  Adrenaline was pounding in every vessel.  I was nailing it.  Every turn, every power up, every obstacle: I navigated through it all without a slip.  That 2,000 dollar scholarship was mine.

Then came in Micheal.  We had been friends for years; he knew most anything about me.  Heck, we even planned on going to college together!  Still, he was always so clumsy.  His timid attitude and caring disposition usually expiated for his ludicrous follies, but this time, oh this time, his sin was beyond atonement.  That scholarship was my ticket to the college of our dreams: how could he be so careless?!

I was rounding the final bend, my no-hit bonus streak ready to cement my name on the recipient line of that scholarship.  Micheal was trying to get closer to the front to see me win.  Like the genius he was, instead of watching for wires as he pressed against the crowd, he tripped.  The grape soda he was holding (who the heck even likes grape soda?!) spilled all over the game.  The screen and controls became like the splash zone seats at a fizzy, purple Sea World show.  It went from a glorious display of neon graphics to a fizzled-out black monitor.  Just before I hit top score.

The crowd was silent.  I was in shock.  The judge looked like he was about to stay something, but the preppy kid whose score I was about to beat cut him off.  He was just waiting to spite me, wasn't he?  He said that it was stated int he rules that game malfunctions or accidents were not an excuse.  Whoever's score was recorded as hitting highest would get the money.  Since the game shut off just shy of his score, he technically won.  I wasn't getting the scholarship.

I looked at Micheal, my insides flaring coals.  He blanched snow pale, had trembling hands, stared slack jawed at what his stupid, clingy actions had wrought.  He caught my eye and visibly tensed, disappeared into the crowd and never talked to me again.  Serves him right.  As the crowd awkwardly cheered for the snob who "won", I was practically plotting Micheal's murder.

That was two years ago.  Micheal and I had basically zero contact since that incident.  Then of course I got that 2 AM text. "Let's meet at the park around 2:30, Sunday?"  He was so annoying, never sure of himself.

I don't know what possessed me, but I agreed.  What's the worse that could happen, besides me ending up in a youth prison for the assault of one of my peers?

Despite the darkness that I expected to take place, when I got to the park, it was a nice, late spring kind of day.  By this point we were both second semester seniors.  The air had a weight to it like it didn't three years ago. But the park was full of children's laughter and the smell of honeysuckle and lavender.  It brought me back to a time of wonder and excitement, a much needed relief to the melancholy stress and fatigue of my current year.

"H-Hey?" I felt a hand tentatively tap my shoulder and turned to see Micheal standing over me timidly.  He looked more mature than I remember.  Wait, are those gray hairs in his bangs?

"Hey, Micheal." I said somewhat flatly, pat the seat next to me on the bench.

He stuttered something and sat nervously.  I took the time to look at him in whole.  He was hunched over, staring hard at the grass, and I noticed that his hands were shaking.

"S-Sorry," He blurted after a few moments of tense silence. "I'm sorry about the game, about the scholarship, about avoiding you, about waiting until now, I-I..." He choked a little and bit his lip.

Suddenly I was thrown into the past,  For the first time in two years I remembered why I truly enjoyed being in Micheal's company despite his many (many) mistakes and flaws.  He had a heart of platinum.  For the faith he lacked in himself, he more than made up for in others.  He believed the best of everyone.  Even when I unjustly hurt him, he never held it against me.

Nostalgia washed over me as I remembered that even my other friends really appreciated him being around.  One night while we were hanging out at a small shop on the square, a friend confessed to all of us that one of his cousins had nearly overdosed on their medication.  The friend started crying and saying that his aunt blamed him in her hysteria and he started believing it.  The rest of us were shocked, silent, wordless.  Micheal was the first one to say anything, and eventually helped that friend to confront his aunt and cousin.  After that, they were even closer than they were before.  It was Micheal who did that.  And that's not even the first or only thing he did, now that I think of it.  He would mediate if someone in the friend group had a problem with someone else.  He was our glue.  It's no wonder that after he started avoiding us (me), there's less than half of our original group still in contact.

Micheal took in a shaky breath and continued. "I shouldn't have been so clumsy; I should have been more careful.  I shouldn't have just avoided you, either, I'm so sorry!  I-I don't expect you to forgive me, I know I really messed up..." he sniffled and looked in the opposite direction.

Again I'm thrown.  I imagined that he was finally broken by what happened, but not like this.  I imagined his forgiving and understanding was finally shattered when I so coldly avoided him like the plague and glared from a distance.  Instead of him finally breaking into bitter unforgiveness, it seems he's just further undone with guilt and humility than ever.  Not only doe he still hold nothing against me, even admitting he did wrong, but I'm convicted that, were the tables turned, he would have forgiven me long before now.  My Gosh, Micheal, what did I do to you?

"Micheal?" As I touched my hand reassuringly to his shoulder, he looks up at me pitifully.  I smile shyly and say, "Why don't we get some ice cream and catch up?"  I stood up from the bench and put my hands shamefully in my pockets. "After all, we still gotta plan what college we're going to."

Author's Note

Hope it flows okay and the characters make sense. Word choice, dialogue, whatever you think needs improved: reviews are greatly appreciated! Tell a friend you love 'em!

Image Credit: http://www.arcadeexpo.com/