Keep Your Potential Friends Close

“Yeah, tonight? No that’s not a problem.

The Writer chucked to himself…myself. Whatever. “You don’t think...well of course you do if I am. This could be it. The letter said you would be contacted. She may really be the one you’re looking for. I wouldn’t doubt it.”

I ignored him and continued to talk to Lauren. “Okay…oh great. Where do you want to eat?”

“Well” said The Writer “If she has you choose, which we both know she will, I have a suggestion.”

My father pulled up to the entrance of La Casa del Roma. Lauren gazed up at it. “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten here before”

“Well it’s a pretty new place actually. In fact, we ate here a little while back, and I thought the food was great. But that’s just me” my father responded.

“No, not just you” I said. “I thought it was great. Good pasta there, you’ll love it Lauren”

We entered the golden doors and we were seated immediately. That being after I slipped a twenty at the entrance. This was a nice place, and I didn’t have time to wait. Of course I didn’t normally approve of such behavior, but this was an important matter and I needed Lauren to be in a state of relaxation if she were to tell me what she knows willingly. I preferred it that way by a long shot.

I quickly made my way around the table and pulled out Lauren’s chair for her. She thanked me and I took my place at my seat. “So Lauren, how have you been? I feel like we haven’t talked in a little while. I mean really just sat and talked”

She shifted in her seat. “Well that’s probably because we haven’t talked in a while.

“Well…I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately. I’m really sorry about that. But that’s why I wanted to ask you out here tonight, so that we could just talk about whatever”

“Like about what?”

“Well…uh, let’s see. How about The Writer?”

“The Writer? You mean that guy that wrote that piece of paper going around the school? What about him?”

The Writer appeared next to me. “Oh smooth, buddy”

“Well” I said, stammering. I wasn’t exactly as prepared as I should have been. “What do you think about him?”

“What’s there to think about him? He’s a freak who hates pretty much everyone. I don’t see why people are making such a big deal out of him. His parents were probably just abusive and now he’s taking it out on the world. But I have to admit. I read the thing, and I kind of enjoy his writing style.”

I puked inside myself.

Are you okay?” She said leaning toward me. “You seem a little sweaty”

The Writer went berserk. “I KNEW IT. She knows everything. She could tell anybody. She could have ALREADY told anybody.”

“Shut the hell up!” I screamed inside my own head. “We don’t know that she knows anything! She just said that she likes the writing style” But it was no use. It’s impossible to lie to yourself. Especially when yourself is wigging out right next to you.

“Excuse me” I said, putting my napkin down on the table. “I have to use the bathroom”

As I walked towards the back of the restaurant, I saw a young boy, about nine or ten years old screaming bloody murder at his father. The father looked worn out, and about ten years older than he probably was. His glasses hung low on his face, as if they might show a sign of perpetual wisdom, but on him, it made him look sad and tired, as if he was waiting for some happiness that he knew would never come.

I ignored it and kept heading towards the bathroom. Half way to the back and I could still hear the kid yelling. It irked me to my very core, but I kept moving. This wasn’t my problem. Then the yelling stopped and the boy came running towards me. As I reached for the handle of the bathroom door, the boy bumped me out of the way to grab it himself, blocking me from sweet relief.

“Ok” said The Writer. “NOW it’s your problem”

I stepped out of the bathroom with a smile on my face. The boy stepped out of the bathroom with frightened eyes, a bit of urine in his shorts, and most likely a bruise forming on the back of his fragile little neck.

“What took you so long?” said Lauren.

“Oh”, I said, taking my seat. “There was a line. So what were you saying about The Writer?”

“To be quite honest, I don’t want to talk about him” she said. “I want to talk about us”

This got my attention very easily. “About us?”

“Well mostly about you. I’ve noticed that you haven’t been yourself lately. I mean, what you talked to me about in the hallway yesterday gave me the impression that something important has been 

on your mind for a while and I just wondered if there was something I could help with. You just…you just seem different lately”

“I don’t know, I guess lately, I just don’t know exactly what to do. You know, one of those feelings where you just want someone to tell you what you need to do”

The Writer raised his hand to signify that it was for that exact purpose that he sat next to me.

“Well whatever it is, I want you to know that I want to be here to help. However I can. All I want to do is help you”

There was a certain way that she said this that held great significance. On the one hand she was my girlfriend who wanted to help me. On the other, there was a great chance that she was this would-be apprentice that wanted to follow in my work. It was the way that she looked at me when she spoke these words that made me think that she might have been. Just that certain gleam in her eye and the steadiness of her voice. I was almost certain now.

I gave her a knowing smile and said, “That would be nice”

We finished our meal and got picked up by my father at the front entrance. We dropped her back off at her house. I kissed her and said goodnight. And then as I sat in the car on the way home, I contemplated what it would be like to have Lauren as an apprentice. It might actually be good. She and I are already very close, and a person like her is exactly the kind I would want to carry on my legacy. Or a legacy soon to be.

I got home and decided to turn in for the night. I’ve come to find that when there’s a lot on your mind, you have a much easier time falling asleep. And a long night of sleep often helps with anything that’s happening in your life.

I went to my computer to shut it off when an orange flash caught my eye. It was the signal that someone was attempting to instant message me. I was basically forced to download it when I began dating Lauren. At the earlier stages of our relationship she would insist on talking to me for a large portion of the day. My curiosity got the better of me and I clicked it open. The name next to the typing was what first caught my eye. It read ANONYMOUS874. The next thing I looked at was the righting directly beside it. It read “Hello, Writer. I said in the letter that I would make contact. Well here I am, and we need to talk”