“I think these might come in handy.” I tossed him the pillows, and he laughed when one hit his face.
“Absolutely. Let me just…” He started to organize them into the pile we’d already made, and I took note that we’d put them all in the middle of the bed. That meant watching the movie like we had when we were kids; pressed together.
This time, there were implications if we chose that. I wasn’t sure if I wanted that yet, and once again, River read me like an open book.
“All right. Let me settle here, and you give me the popcorn and settle down, then hand me my coffee?”
“Sure. Did you find the movie?”
“Yup, I rented it from YouTube.”
“Awesome.”
We managed to get settled so that his laptop was mostly on his right thigh. The popcorn bowl was in between us.
“Ready?” River asked, his finger on the spacebar.
“Ready.”
He pressed play.
The memories invaded my brain immediately. We’d seen the film in a theater when it was brand new, because River “had a thing” for both of the lead actors. He’d also been into the “homosexual subtext” which had been amusing to a point, mostly because after some scenes, he’d nudged me with his elbow and given me a look of “I told you so.”
At that age, I wasn’t super into such things, but my best friend was, and that was enough for me.
Now, as I sat there with him, I felt this feeling of coming home.
We finished the popcorn pretty quickly, because, well, popcorn. I moved the bowl back onto the bedside table with our mugs, since we’d drained those too.
Somehow, we ended up changing positions, so that the laptop was across my thighs, and River was cuddled up into my side.
My arm went around him naturally, and I felt his laughter as much as I heard it whenever something funny happened on the screen.
At some point, I realized I wasn’t looking at the screen, I stared at the top of River’s head, the bleached hair sticking up because he’d run his fingers through it after his post-work shower.
“Why blond?” I asked without thinking.
He glanced up, then pressed the spacebar, and sat up.
“It was a form of rebellion, I guess. I wanted to dye it some crazy color, but I couldn’t, because the head nurse at my job didn’t even like the blond.” He shrugged. “The blond stuck, though.”
I tilted my head, looking at him thoughtfully. “I don’t think you need flashy colors. You stand out anyway.”
River looked taken aback, but not in a bad way. He smiled a little, then cuddled back up against me.
This time I pressed play.
* * * *
When the credits rolled, I noticed River was asleep. I felt a tug of gentle affection somewhere in my chest. I couldn’t believe my luck. I hadn’t thought I’d ever have him back in my life, yet fate had brought him to me again.
We were different people now, of course. For one, we were grown men and that already made everything different. But we had also changed in the ways people do when they grow up. Yet, somehow, I could still see my old friend in this version of River in perfect relief.
He’d been this vivacious boy who reined himself in when in company, but never around me. He’d never fit perfectly with his family, but few of us did, at least in hindsight. He’d done some athletic things to appease his father, but his heart had never been in it.
Not in the way it was in reading and movies, at least. I smiled as I remembered Lake telling me how River didn’t read much these days, because he said he’d gotten his fill of reading while he’d studied for his dream career.
Nursing was so…River. He’d always been the worrier and caretaker and the more I thought of him, the more I remembered.
