Friendship

The true essence of friendship.

The two friends hiked the mountain’s face.

“Dude, remember that time when I asked you to come over, and we watched that movie with that really hot actress? What’s her name?” the one asked. 

“I don’t know, but, yeah, that was a good time,” the other responded. 

The one smiled, and each one of his strides had a pop to it. The other was smug faced; he strained as he put each foot in front of the other. 

“Wasn’t that concert the other night amazing?” the one asked. 

“Yeah, it was. Thanks for buying those tickets for my birthday,” the other replied. 

The one periodically turned around to see how the other was doing. The other distractedly peered at the ground. 

“By the way, how’s your mom doing? If you and her are struggling, I can cover your groceries again,” the one stated. 

“She’s okay, not much has changed. Actually, that would help us out a lot. Thanks,” the other said. 

The one chuckled as the destination became visible. The other grunted at the distance to the stopping place. 

“How about we go ride bikes tomorrow, if the weather is this nice again,” the one proposed. 

“I can’t. I have a lot of homework to do,” the other answered. 

The one inhaled at the view. The other sighed in relief. 

“Look at that view,” the one said. 

“Yep,” the other responded. 

The one tripped and went over the edge, but managed to grab the side of the mountain. The other walked toward the place where the one had fallen.  

“Help,” the one cried. 

“I can’t. I’m too tired,” the other said. 

The one lost his grip and fell. The other continued up the mountain’s face, and each one of his strides had a pop to it. 

Reviews

[Aravindhan]

Reading the initial parts I felt the stark difference in the attitude of each of them, while the ending quite astounded me, i must agree. How would you like to explain "his strides had a pop to it", am not quite sure if my train of thought follows yours.

[Justin E]

Thank you for your comments. Although this is quite bleak, from my experiences in friendships, there is always one who is more invested in the friendship; thus, to portray that, I had "the one", at the beginning of the story, having a pop to his step (he enjoyed the friendship, and he enjoyed doing things for his friend); throughout the story, you can see that he was the one invested in the friendship and doing things for "the other." Then, at the end, when "the one" was in need of something, "the other" was too selfish and did not want to inconvenience himself, despite all that "the one" had done for him--and when "the one" needed him the most. When "the other" was finally rid of the friendship, which was a burden on him--seen by his reactions, and of "the one", who he clearly only wanted to benefit from and did not want to invest in any furthering of true companionship with him, "each one of his strides had a pop to it" because, just as quickly as "the one" was gone, "the other" was freed from the apparent burden that "the one" had been on him, despite what "the one" had done in his favor.
I hope this helps to clarify a few things. I apologize if my explanation is a bit confusing; I hope that is not the case.

[Justin E]

Further, my intention was that "his strides had a pop to it" would elicit a sense of contentment, or even joy.

[Aravindhan]

Your explanation does throw light on the grey areas. The sudden change of circumstances while the "other" gains the upper hand on "the one" is truly what happens sometimes.
I agree with you that in many a friendships, in fact in more than what I would like to admit, there's one who is not as sincere as the other.