Friendship is Optimal: Heart's Desire

Chapter Two: Farewell

Winter's close and the mountain high

I'll start my journey now

On this planet we call Earth we belong

I want to know

Why did God make me feel

There is more to be answered

Maybe God cannot remedy

Our souls if he tried

        Caleb looked around his empty room and sighed. Most of his belongings were being tossed into storage. He didn’t have the strength or the capacity to carry everything with him. Not where he was going. He reached for a tall glass of bubbling pulp-coloured liquid and took a cautious sip with a slight grimace. Ginger root and club soda was always hard to force down, but it helped him calm down.

        There was a rapping on the door, and a short middle-aged man walked in before he could answer. He was wearing a pair of wire-framed glasses, and his hair had abandoned him long ago. He still had the same blue eyes as Caleb, though.

        “Hey Son.” He stated tentatively. He walked forward taking a spare chair and sat himself down.

        “Hey Dad.”

There was silence between the two of them for some time. Caleb’s father cracked open a beer with his lighter and tossed the cap in with the trash.

        “So you’re really going then?” Caleb’s dad—Patrick—took a swig of beer.

        Caleb looked around his room and nodded quietly. “Yeah. I am.”

        “Are you sure? You could stay with Sean or something, couldn’t you?” Patrick polished his beer, he couldn’t look his son in the eyes.

        “Sean’s dead, Dad.” Caleb frowned. “He killed himself.”

        Caleb didn’t particularly like thinking about Sean. After their little adventure their relationship never got better.

“You’re the biggest jerk on the planet, you broke me Sean. You ruined everything. I’m never going to find what I was looking for ‘because of you’.” That had been what he told his friend the next day, more or less. Caleb hoped it wasn’t true, otherwise what was the point? What was the point of packing up? What was the point of leaving the state and his loving family behind?

        “Oh...” Patrick murmured. “I think you told me that, actually. Not sure how I forgot.” Patrick was forgetting a lot of things lately. Caleb was glad he wouldn’t be around to see where that road leads.

        “So where are you going again?”

        “I’m going to stay in Oregon with some friends.” Caleb finished his drink, and took a sip of pure water to wash it down.

        “From the internet?”

        “Yeah.”

        Patrick shifted in his chair. The idea of his son running off to live with strangers didn’t make him feel very comfortable at all, but he accepted it. The world was different than the one he grew up in. In some ways it was simple, and easy to bear. The difference between listening to a cassette player and an MP3 Player. In other places, things had changed considerably. He and his wife had frittered away their money needlessly. Caleb was smart, he’d get good grades, a scholarship, and everything would work out. Then he took a look at what a stint of college was going through post millenium and he was quite surprised.

        But even that was sane compared to running off and living with people he’d never even heard from.

        “Have you at least spoken to these people? Like over the phone?”

        “Video chat, Dad.” Caleb confirmed. “I’ve seen their faces too. I promise they don’t look too creepy.”

        Patrick nodded and finished off his beer. He reached out with his hand and clasped his son’s knee. It was about as close to physical expressions of affection anymore, unless one or the other was being shoved.

        “You’re a good man, Caleb.”

        Caleb blinked. “For seeing someone’s face before moving?”

        “No, I just mean...” Patrick shook his head. “I mean in general.”

        “Oh. Thanks, then. I think.” Caleb finished adjusting some things in his carry-on.

        “Do you want me to give you a ride, or your mom?”

        Caleb thought about that for a little while, then shook his head. “David wanted us to go to the Olive Garden or something before I leave. I think I’ll just have him take me.”

        Patrick shrugged his shoulders, tossed his bottle into the trash, and said the words he had been famous for. “Suit yourself.” He left the room.

        The only thing left to pack away was Caleb’s laptop. It still had his messenger program of choice open. He typed out a few last minutes quandaries and waited.

Five/Cups: Are we still getting a bite to eat?

StarSlayer69: You bet your ass we are!

Five/Cups: Okay.

Five/Cups: So where are we going?

StarSlayer69: It’s a surprise!

StarSlayer69: I can’t believe you’re going to Oregon, do you think they have any hot girls there?

Five/Cups: I’m sure there are plenty of hot girls there.

Five/Cups: I’m pretty sure if you look hard enough you could find hot girls anywhere, really.

Five/Cups: Except in Siberia, everything is cold in Russia.

StarSlayer69: =S

StarSlayer69: So when am I picking you up?

Five/Cups: If you could be here five minutes ago, that’d be great.

StarSlayer69: Uh huh.

Starslayer69: See you in a bit.

____

        David arrived roughly 30 minutes later, and Caleb was already waiting for him by the curb. His bags were arrayed beside him, he waited patiently for David to stop the car and open the trunk.

        “The next time you need a ride to the airport, book a flight that’ll let me dodge rush hour...” His friend grumbled.

Together they tossed the two bags into the trunk, then climbed into the car.

        “You probably could have avoided it if we weren’t getting something to eat first.”

        “Are you displeased with the prospect of free food?” David adopted a tone of mock outrage. “Why I never... There are starving children in Africa!”

        Caleb shrugged and looked out the window as they pulled away from the curb. “I’m just saying.”

        There was silence for awhile after that, and Caleb let out a relieved sigh as soon as they got on the freeway out of town. He couldn’t see those damned forests anymore, the forests he’d spent his entire life crawling through like some intrepid explorer. It was time to search elsewhere, but where to start?

        “I think you’ll like where I have in mind.” David smiled at Caleb wickedly.

        “Is it still a surprise?” Caleb looked at him wearily.

        “Uh... yeah? We’re committed to this now. No spoilers allowed!”

        “Then I don’t like it yet,” he leaned his head against the window. “Can you at least tell me what kind of food will be there?”

        “Sandwiches,” David nodded sagely.

        Caleb pursed his lips, then rolled down his window. “Okay then...”

        Another twenty minutes passed before they got off the freeway, and David’s car pulled up beside a large coffee shop. The sign out front read: Sleepy Hollow

        “David, is this a goth club?”

        “Not a club! It’s a coffee house!” He grinned with glee. “A traditional European style coffee house!”

        “Is it tradition for everyone to be dressed in black, and to carry around a macbook everywhere?” Caleb climbed out of the car reluctantly.

        David followed him, then stopped. His eyes narrowed and he stared at his friend with a very serious expression. “Well... Yes Caleb. Yes it is.”

        Caleb nodded as they entered the building. A cacophony of voices rose to meet him, and he winced. They took their place in line and he felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

        “David, they only serve coffee house sandwiches. They aren’t going to be filling. They’re just to make you thirsty for more coffee, or a five dollar bottle of coke or something.”

        “Chill out, they’ve got hamburgers too. You still like hamburgers right?”

        Caleb nodded and gave a grumbled reply in the affirmative.

        “Why don’t you go find us a place to sit? I’ll be there with the food in a bit.” David placed a hand on Caleb’s shoulder.

        “Sure, I’ll see you in a bit,” Caleb frowned.

        The place was crowded, but finding a table wasn’t difficult. It was next to a window, so it was marginally brighter than the rest of the cafe and it’s dark paint and faux ivy growth.

        Across the aisle from him was a noisy gathering of attractive young women, each more hideously painted than the last. What the hell had happened? When did black become the new pink? He knew there would always be the typical cheerleader girls, but they were quickly becoming an outlier. Or maybe he just noticed the goth types more, simply because he couldn’t stand them. Caleb was horrified to find that two of the girls were glancing his way regularly. Whenever he caught them looking they would blush and look away. The other girls would then start laughing.

        Very well, it seemed he must deploy the most ancient of defenses. Taking a page out of the book of Ancient China, Caleb grabbed a nearby menu and propped it up, thus creating a wall to lay his head behind. One of them may approach, the mongol hordes had proven that walls alone could not be trusted. She would approach and experience first hand the full fury of hell.

        “Hey there sleepy head! I come bearing gifts from the east!”

David placed two large plates of food on the table, followed by two large mugs, one filled with tea and the other coffee. He reached out and ruffled Caleb’s hair roughly, who then recoiled.

        “How did you carry all of that here?” Caleb reached for the coffee like the poor junkie that he was.

        “I’m a waiter. It’s one of our job abilities.” David spirited away some fries from Caleb’s plate. “So talk to me. You didn’t really think I was going to let you ditch the state without a word, did you?”

        Caleb grimaced and took a bite of his hamburger. “What do you mean? Do you have a problem with me leaving or something?”

        “No, no problem with that. I just need to know why.” David sipped his tea as a means of pause between statements. “Is this about Sean? I know he meant a lot to you and stuff, but I don’t know if leaving the state because he killed himself is the best move.”

        Caleb—who was at that moment testing his coffee—flinched. The coffee burned his lip and he let out a hiss, slamming the mug back to the counter. “I did not care about him.”

        “Oh Caleb... Sure you did. The two of you were practically homosexual for each other.” David spirited away some of Caleb’s fries. “So, if not Sean, then what? Why are you doing this?”

        Caleb shrugged, “I just don’t like being here anymore.” He refused to meet his friend’s inquisitive eyes. “I need to go, I need to keep looking, that’s all.”

        David’s eyes narrows suspiciously. “Keep looking for what?”

        Caleb shrugged again.

        David let out a sigh and continued making a dent in Caleb’s fries, he seemed utterly uninterested in them. “You’re acting like you’re in the throes of destiny. Oh champion of Ithaca. I really think you need to check yourself before you do something stupid.” He chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed. “Destiny’s not real. You’re mostly just an INFJ dealing with a detachment from reality. If you go out there, I’m afraid you’re not ever going to find what you’re looking for, and you’ll lose a lot of good friends in the process. Your family too, you’re like the only guy I know with a dad who doesn’t suck.”

        Caleb did nothing but grumble in reply. He took another large bite from his hamburger, and washed it down with coffee. “I get it, but I’m still leaving.”

        “So that’s why then? I just want to know for sure before you go.”

        Caleb finally began picking at his fries and responded, “Yeah, that’s why.”

        “Well, you’re a fool, but I can respect that. Fools are important too, you know.”

        “I know.” Caleb finished his hamburger. “So how are things going with you and Jessica?”

        David feigned a wounded smile. “The tables have turned!” He sipped down his tea. “Actually, we kinda broke up about a week ago. I’ve been keeping it to myself.”

        “Really? Why?” Caleb stared at his friend with confusion and eagerness. Relationship issues were always of genuine interest to him. “Do you want me to talk to her for you?”

        “No, don’t do that.” David scowled at his friend. “For once in your life do not meddle. I hate it when you meddle. She just got really obsessed with that My Little Pony thing. She kept trying to drag me to conventions with her, but it’s just not something we could share.”

David finally moved onto his own tray of sweets. Caleb found it weird that a traditional european coffee house carried hamburgers and what looked like candied insects, but said nothing. “Anyway, there’s an MMO for it now, you know? Equestria Online or something? You play it on these little tablets, pony pads I think they’re called? She started trying to get me to play it, but it’s not like I have time for an MMO in between work and college.” He paused to take a bite. “Anyway, she says she met some guy on there, Star Chaser? She said that we didn’t really have any reason to see each other anymore.” He took a napkin and wiped at his mouth. “Her loss, I bet Star Chaser is some massive nerd or something. Then again, maybe that’s why they get along so well.”

        Caleb frowned and reached out for his friend’s hand, then stopped. He instead chose to run it through his hair. “That’s pretty awful Dave, I’m sorry to hear it.” Things were getting pretty awkward, time to eat some fries. “I’m sure you’ll meet someone else soon enough. You always do.”

        David flashed him a wry look, as if the comment had been sarcastic. It hadn’t been meant that way. “I always do.” He licked his lips and brushed at his face with another napkin. “So, you don’t look like you’re over the moon about those fries. Are you ready to get to the airport? You must be feeling anxious by now.” He started doing his waiter thing, sorting the trash into easily carried piles. “I always am, anyway.”

        Caleb picked at his fries one last time and nodded. “Yeah... Let’s get this over with.”

        David marched off to get a box for the fries. He’d eat them when he got home, apparently. Caleb made himself useful by disposing of the garbage. Together the two of them hopped back into the car and made way for the airport. They were nearly there when Caleb spoke up again.

        “You know, I really don’t know why people keep bringing up Sean. He killed himself a year ago, so it’s been awhile for me to start making decisions because of it.”

        “A year isn’t really a long time, Caleb.” David pulled into the parking lot and got a ticket from the security guard. They were early, so neither of them left the car after finding a spot.

        “Do you know how he did it? He was your friend more than mine. All I know is something about a letter.”

        Caleb frowned. “That’s all there was, really. He left without saying anything to his Mom, a week later she found a letter while packing away his room. Something about him going to Japan and being “Dead to the world.” or whatever. Melodramatic stuff, you know how Sean could get.”

        “That’s kinda calling the kettle black, Mr. Pot.” David frowned. “Something about it just bothers me, I don’t know. I’ll talk to you later, have a safe flight and all that.”

        Caleb nodded, together the two of them pulled his bags from the trunk. Once they got Caleb situated, David sped off into the sunset. He seemed in a hurry to leave, but Caleb brushed it off. David was always like that when he felt something was worth investigating.

        There was no hurry, but he made haste to the terminal anyway. He checked both of his bags and made it through security easily. By the time he made it through he was an hour early. He sat in the airport staring out the window, and watched the sun slowly set.

        Here he was, leaving behind everything he ever knew, and he felt depressed and afraid. Not because it felt strange or inauspicious. Caleb noted with a trembling heart that everything felt the same.

        Honestly, it was the same sun that had set last night, and it would set again tomorrow. Did he really think flying out of state would change where he was?

        The sun was gone when his flight was called, but the sky was still illuminated. It was filled with pinks, yellows, and deep purples. He stepped lightly onto the plane, and decided a cup of coffee wasn’t going to be enough to keep him awake.