It was exciting to me to read about someone who had grown up in Africa or Europe or Asia. Someone whose life I couldn’t even imagine. I guess, in some ways, I was one of those people who couldn’t really write myself so I did my best to make sure others had the help they needed.
I wondered what had become of River. He’d been the skinny, clearly not straight kid that defied the odds. He hadn’t been bullied much, mostly because he didn’t allow anyone to do that.
After we were put together on a group project in history once, we’d become fast friends. Well, to the point I knew how to, really. I liked to hang out with River, because he knew I liked quiet stuff more than the loud, boisterous things like sports or music.
Movies I could do, even though sometimes I had earplugs in for the more actiony stuff River had liked to go see in the theater. He came with me to see the occasional historical film, and we both loved disaster movies. Those could get loud, too, but I didn’t mind it so much when I had my earplugs and the movie itself was more interesting to me.
Mostly though, we’d hung out in the library. We did our homework there together on most days, and I really enjoyed the peace and quiet.
He used to laugh at me when I glared at kids who came in and were too loud. He said I was exactly like old Mr. Cunningham, the librarian.
Smiling, I tried to guess what River might be doing these days. The boy I remembered had been determined and kind, patient and really caring. Several times, he’d used his allowance to buy snacks for a couple of kids who didn’t have lunch money because he got so worried.
He’d always been the one to make sure I wore warm clothes in the colder seasons and remembered hats and sunscreen in the summer.
In some ways, River had made me feel much safer than anyone else, including my own parents, ever managed.
I’d only had him in my life for a little over two years when Henry died and my mother pulled me from school to homeschool me instead. I understood her fears, but when she didn’t want me to go out to the library anymore and didn’t want visitors at the house either, well, I lost contact with River like I did with everyone else.
Besides, around the time I saw River for the last time, it was from the car. Dad was taking me to the optometrist, and I saw River and his new boyfriend walk together toward the record store the boyfriend worked at after school.
Sighing, I put down my book. I hadn’t been reading it in a while anyway.
I left my room and went downstairs into the shared kitchen.
“Hey, Ben, how’s things?” Shelly, one of my housemates, asked from where she sat at the kitchen table, eating something I couldn’t identify.
“It’s okay. I’m leaving tomorrow for a while. Not sure I told you?”
“Another job?”
“Yeah. I’ll be gone about a month, I think. Something like that.” I grabbed some stuff off my shelf in the kitchen that would go together and made a couple of sandwiches. “So tomorrow, feel free to raid my shelf if you need anything.”
She grinned. “Will do. You have the best stuff.”
“Did I hear something about getting my grubby paws on your stuff?” Cade, one of our other housemates appeared out of thin air. Or his room, which was downstairs by the kitchen.
We laughed. Yeah, there had been some confusion when Cade had first moved in, and I might’ve told him to take his grubby paws off my food.
At the moment, it was just us three, but there was another bedroom free upstairs next to mine. Shelly’s was on the other side of the hall from the empty one. I had liked the relative quiet, because my room was also above the dining room that was mostly used as a gaming room these days.
“He’s going to be away for a month,” Shelly told Cade, pouting. “Who will call us out on not wearing sunscreen now?”
Okay, so maybe River had rubbed off on me back in the day.
“Don’t worry, darling, I’ll rub lotion on you any day.” Cade winked and leered at her.
I snorted as they continued their banter. They seemed to be doing this weird mating dance around each other a lot, and they both liked flirting, so it was kind of funny to watch even though I didn’t really understand the whole deal. They needed to get over it and get together already.
I grabbed a glass of water and sat by the table opposite from Shelly, then ate as I followed the verbal tennis match between my housemates. I liked these people. I wasn’t sure if I’d call them friends, but I was certain they’d callmeone. That was how most of my relationships with people had always been. I had trouble connecting with them on a personal level.
I also sank into my work in a very single-minded way, which was a blessing and a curse. If I was working on my own, I sometimes snapped back to reality just to rush to the bathroom because I hadn’t realized I needed to pee. Oftentimes it was my stomach making monstrous sounds that alerted me to the fact that there were, in fact, more important things than words on paper.
After I finished my meal, I told Shelly and Cade goodnight and to feel free to eat my food once I’d left the premises the next morning.
They wished me safe travels, and I returned to my room.
Since I had my own bathroom, I took a long shower and tried to get my brain to calm down enough to rest. I didn’t hate flying, but it was still icky to be either in the air or on a boat over water for some reason. I preferred my feet firmly on the ground, thank you very much.
