Some Kind of Novel 2

Chapter Two

We left there. And it was tomorrow. There were trees. Colored lights. Wrapping paper. Ungiven gifts.

We did what we always had. The same way we always did. Stars. Clouds. Not talking.

I've always liked being awake when the prospect of tomorrow is swallowed up by today. Illusion colliding with reality. One bottle after another.

How it changes, but it never does.

Our lives chasing their tails like untrained puppies.

We left there and met up later on. The deer was still in my eyes, but a few beers later it was gone.

I remember watching him pack his things. Delaying my own departure to better remember how he looked. His half-assed jokes. His techie wisecracks. And thinking that I didn't want to start something new. And at the same time knowing it had already begun.

I could've said no when he first asked. And I almost did. It was such a bizarre request.

But all in all, I think I made the right decision.

Well, maybe not right, so much as, the one I can best live with.

We left there. Dirty stools still fresh in our memories. The words of drunks our surest wisdoms. We left there thinking ourselves different, but knowing we'd failed.

We said to each other that we'd never look back.

But I did.