“So where am I actually taking you?”
“Kai’s flat.”
“He knows you’re coming?” He asks, his eyebrows raise.
“Nope.”
Harry smirks then fails at holding back a laugh.
“You’re not great at this whole communication thing are you?” He says, glancing briefly to see my expression.
“Yeah I probably should have warned him,” I say, my mouth forming a smile. Sitting in the car with Harry and seeing the rolling hills and sand dunes of my favourite place on earth makes the muscles on my face do weird things. I can’t help but look out the window in awe. Just like sunsets, Cornwall will never get old for me.
“You think?” He laughs and I join in. “It’s okay I’ll take you to Kai’s. I imagine you’ll be taking the spare room?”
“Hopefully,” I say with my fingers crossed. Considering my childhood home had to be sold to pay for the funeral, I think it’s safe to say Kai’s spare room is my only option.
“I think it could be nice to stay with Kai, if he’ll have me.”
“I’m sure he will, man. It doesn’t feel the same seeing him on his own.”
The ride is filled with tearful laughter and aching smiles. It feels incredible to be that way again. We arrive at the top of the hill that leads to Perrancombe. That hill that leads to home. When we drive down the winding road, the town comes into view and I almost cry.
It’s just as I remember.
The town is sandwiched between two massive cliffs, with a golden beach in front. The main strip of the town looks vibrant and full of life. I can almost smell the Cornish pasties from here. Pasties don’t taste the same away from home.
We reach the bottom of the hill and take a right turn. We stop outside Kai’s flat, and my heart leaves my chest. I hope this goes okay.
“Do you want me to wait outside in case it all goes wrong?” Harry asks, standing at the side of his car with his arms folded. He’s big and muscular now, so he’d definitely be a good bodyguard. Hopefully I’ll have no need for one, but I appreciate the offer.
“You have no faith in me man, I’ll be fine. Kai loves me,” I say, exaggerating the word love to further prove my point. I send Harry on his way and make my way to Kai’s flat.
This could go one of two ways. I knock on the door, he opens it, we hug, and we’re friends again.
Or I could knock, he tells me to fuck off and he slams the door in my face.
To be honest it’s fifty-fifty. Just saying that in my head stirs my stomach. I haven’t seen him in a year, so he might be a completely different person. I’ve changed a lot too, so what’s to say he hasn’t?
The flats were modern once, but now the wood and railings are all rotting. His flat is number twenty-seven. I walk up the rusting metal stairs to the second floor of the complex. It’s in an L shape, with Kai staying on the top floor of the longer side.
As I knock on the door the metal number seven falls onto the floor and hits my toe, causing me to yelp in pain. There’s a quick moment of panic as I kick the silver (well it used to look silver anyway) number seven to the side of me.
Kai opens the door and I feel myself become paralysed. I should have been preparing a whole speech before this. Like, hey I know this is weird but , hey, I’m back.
I don’t have anything planned so of course I say the dumbest shit ever.
“Hey Kai.” Who the fuck am I? Hey? That’s it? I attempt a smile but it definitely doesn’t look like that. People don’t smile the way I just smiled. It’s almost as if I’ve forgotten how to be human. What is wrong with me?
“Noah?” He asks, studying me. He’s definitely different. There’s dark stubble on the top of his lips and on his chin. His hair is shaggy and coloured green, but the colour is faded. He has a couple more piercings now, a black lip ring, an eyebrow one, and a dangly upside-down cross on their left ear. They’rewearing black jeans with the knees blown out, and a green hoodie with ‘love and peace’ written on it. I can’t help but notice the yellow paint on the wrists of his hoodie. I guess that means he still paints, which is good. I always loved his paintings.
“Do you, uh… want to come in?”
“Yes… yes please,” I stutter.
He shuts the door behind me and the living room is covered in paint buckets, blank canvases and bright colourful ones that make me smile. They’re a messy swirls of colours that most wouldn’t call art, but something about them makes me feel something bright.
“I love your paintings,” I say to Kai, who replies with a smile. We sit down opposite each other on the couch. Something hard pokes against my thigh and I stand to pick it up. It’s a bottle of pills.
