Bullied

Eight

One day, I decided to buy chicken from Justin's place. The place I usually ordered from was closed and if I'm being honest, I wasn't sure if Fred should still be doing this. Justin was a tool in the past so maybe some of it was deserved, but at the same time, it's not helping Fred either.

The past is the past. He was a bully then, now he's just a butcher with no education. Whether he's changed or not, I wanted to see him. I was sure the first nice conversation we had at the shop after such a long time was not just a fake one, or was it?

"Hey kid," Jake said when he saw me. "Came here to visit your old friend?" he pointed at Fred's house.

"Actually I came to buy some chicken from the other old friend," I hesitated a little, unsure if friend was the right word.

"A kilo of chicken coming right up," Jake said enthusiastically. I looked at Fred's house, remembering how if he was looking out the window, he could probably even see me.

"Here you go," It was Justin who brought me the order.

"That was fast," I said.

"A dead bird is no match for my knife," he showed off his knife, a big sharp one. It looked new and well maintained. It looked like it could cut through an arm in just seconds.

"Maybe you would make a good cook then," I said the first thing that came to his lips.

"Maybe," the way he said it confirmed what he had thought about it.

"You're actually interested in it. Aren't you?" I asked.

"Well, I have been thinking about it for a while now," Justin put the knife back in its place. He looked a little uneasy, as if he thought he shouldn't have said it. Jake noticed it. He tapped his son's shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

"Hey, do you want to come in?" Justin's inviting me to his house? That's new.

"Go on, why don't you fill in your friend on that. I'll take care of the customers. It's not like there are that many anyway," Jake said.

"I'm going to need your honest opinion on this okay?" Justin opened a door that led upstairs. I followed. He and his dad had individual rooms on each floor.

"Sure. But what is it that you..." I couldn't even finish my question once the smell hit.

"I've been practicing some dishes. I don't know how to pronounce their names but I can still cook some of them," he said, picking up a Thai cookbook and showing it to me. "I just finished this batch when I heard you. Wanna try a piece?'' Was he nervous? Yes. Yes he was. Justin was nervous and excited, like a kid wanting mom to like his first ever finger painting.

"Sure, I would love to," I took a bite of the chicken and... it was delicious. All sorts of chemicals exploded in my mouth. Before I knew it, I was biting on the bone and even sucking it as if it was a popsicle.

"So how is it?" Justin asked, curious but also worried.

"This is the best chicken I've had in a long time," that was all it needed. Justin let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks. I was worried Dad was just being nice."

"Haven't you tried it yourself?"

"I kind of burned my tongue earlier today so I can't really tell the taste that well."

"Well, it's great and I think you just found the perfect career for you."

"Thanks," he was actually grateful. Was this even the same person? It felt like someone else entirely. We sat together and I took a few more pieces. We made some small talk regarding how he made the dish and his dream of opening a restaurant.

"How come we never had any nice conversations like this back when we were in school?" The words left my mouth before I knew it. It took me a while to even notice what I'd said. Justin's smile dropped a little but he wasn't angry. He was... I'm not sure what emotion I saw on him.

"Because I was an asshole," he admitted. "I'm sorry for everything I did," he said.

"Let's not talk about all that. I'm sorry I even brought it up."

"No, it's fine, I... I understand. That time of my life has haunted me since. I couldn't get admissions in any of the schools because of what I did. I used to go crazy every now and then. I know I crossed the line last time when they showed it on TV," we both nodded. I didn't know about the TV part. Silence took over and if I could, I would've gone as far as to fart, just so we could have something else to talk about.

"Do you have any girlfriends or what?" I asked, changing the subject. Justin nodded and took a second to answer.

"Look at me dude. The only way I can pick up a girl is if I do it literally."

"Same here, I couldn't pick up a girl even if I had a crane," they both chuckled.

"I did have a little crush on Susie, back in class. I wanted to ask her out."

"Why didn't you?" I didn't remember any Susie but was still curious.

"I was known for being a bully, she was the shy type, I was the butcher's boy, and she was a vegan. What more can I say?" he sang the last part like in the Avril Lavigne song, it's complicated.

"Have you talked to anyone else other than me and Fred since then?" I asked.

"Yes, I have. I've chatted with a few from our class. We stayed in touch through Facebook. Trump has opened a new YouTube channel too," Trump was what they called David, a classmate who looked too much like Donald trump to not make fun of. Now that I think about it, Justin did have some friends. He had a group of friends that was also his gang. I was usually so busy with his own friend circle that he barely paid any attention to them.

"Remember the silly names all the boys had?" you didn't need to be a friend to know what nickname the other had.

''Yours was... Quicksilver right?" I nodded even though it wasn't. I was always Nate to the ones close enough to me. This just shows how little I knew about my classmates. In my defense I was there for little over a month after all. "And I was Jerkometer," Justin said. I nodded again, this time more enthusiastically. I had heard that name. "I remember we had... Bulldozer, Cowboy, Miss Piñata, Bathman... etc." Justin said before giving up on his memory. What sounded insulting then now sounded comical. "We're all on good terms," Justin paused before adding, "Well maybe not all but some of us hang out every now and then."

"How come Fred and you never got like that?" His smile dropped and silence took over. I instantly regretted asking the question.