Forever Unfinished

Chapter 10

Now

I received a text from an old friend I wasn't expecting. It was late and I was washing my face, about to go to bed when my phone buzzed. Joe's name popped up on my phone, a message below saying he was in the city and wanted to meet. Didn't even ask me, just forwarded an address of a bar I've never heard of and told me to meet him the next day at 9:00 pm sharp. Very much in keeping with his personality. I wasn't on call soon, so the timing was perfect.

After med school he applied for a residency program in America, worked all through college to achieve that goal and after a lot of hard work, attained it. I hadn't seen him for a while, but we texted often. It was easy to maintain a relationship with him even from a distance. He was open, and called me to chat or update me in his life every time he could. I did the same thing and he always made the time to be available. Of course, the friendship was different now than when we were in college but we made it work. It amazed me how every time we saw each other again, even if months had passed, we were back at the same place we used to be.

I sat at the bar waiting for him. As usual, I was early. I was seated facing the entrance door and saw person after person walk in before he came through the door. The first thing I saw was his sandy blond hair between the crowd of people walking in alongside him. As the bodies dispersed around the room, they finally let me see his face. Joe scanned the room looking for me, making his face lit up at the sight he was looking for. He gave me one of the biggest smiles I've seen on him in a very long time. His old smile. Playfulness flickered at the corners of his mouth, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

After a beat, he rushed through the room to hug me.

"I've missed you so much! How have you been?" Joe asked, still not letting go. His scent rushed through my nostrils and up to my brain, unlocking memories that reminded me of a much simpler time and also of complicated moments in our lives.

"I've been good. I'm so glad you're here. Did you get here last night?"

"This morning but I texted you last night so I could see you as soon as possible."

We both sat down at the bar and two gin and tonics were set right before us. Our usual drink.

"How long are you here for? How are your parents?"

"Well I haven't seen my dad yet but my mom is good, she's a grandmother now so I got to see my nephew this morning. He's the cutest one year old I've ever met." That was something coming from him since he wanted to be a pediatrician and saw children and babies everyday.

He pulled out his phone and showed me some pictures of his nephew. I've met his sister, used to hang around a lot at Joe's house back in college. She wanted to be a mom so bad back then, I'm glad she finally did. I haven't seen her either in too long or her husband Mike. Lucas, their son, resembled his father very much – dark hair, similar features, same nose and smile – except for the eyes. He had his mother's eyes and his uncle's; light tones of clear blue colored his eyes, even their form was similar, downturned shaped.

We started to catch up about life with each other. He told me about his life there. He met a man who actually got him thinking he could get serious with, also a pediatrician. Joe liked dating too much. He loved flirting and meeting new people and always moving around, never settling down or committing. This man must be very special to him if he was actually considering something serious. Joe didn't go into much detail before talking about the residency program there and how happy he was.

I told him about life over here, about my surgical residency and how I loved it without living out the not too glamorous part: the heavy workload and long hours. He asked about Uncle Alvaro and I made sure to give him a full update on him. Then I went on to describe my life with Noah and things with Carlos.