The Summer We Met

Chapter 5:Sam

We both silently made our way to the car. I stole a few glances at Raj and I am damn sure he is going to beat my ass. He seems to be storing his anger until we reach the car.

On reaching the car, Raj still refused to speak to me. So I made the mistake of speaking first. "Hey sorry about what happened in there. I didn't really expect it. I am sorry I had jumped to conclusions without assessing the whole situation before and then I had got you included in this whole thing. I-"

"You regret taking me with you?", Raj said not looking at me.

"What? No. Absolutely not." The only reason I probably made it through the whole conversation was because I had him by my side. I looked over at Raj to see him look a little grim.

"Raj are you okay?-"

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. He picked it up before I could read the name. Hearing his conversation I could make it out it was his mother. If it had been about 4 years ago, I would have snatched Raj's phone and talked to his mother. But now, I am just happy that Raj actually agreed to accompany me in there and even saved me from embarrassment. This day will be going down in my history as one of the best days in my life. A little closer to Raj yet still so far away.

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I dropped Raj off at his place. He seemed to be deep in some thought and so I grabbed the opportunity to shut up and give him his space. After reaching his house, his mother's suspicious looks did not go unnoticed. I immediately left not wanting to be a bigger problem to them.

I really did not want to go home right now so I took a detour to the nearest medicine store. Might as well ask about the drug and their effects as long as I have the time. I never run out of time anyways, unfortunately.  I entered the shop and recognized the sweet sing song voice of the storekeeper. I remember the amount of times I had visited this store before.

I was glad to see the glint of recognition in Mr John's eyes when I entered the store. "Welcome back Mr who-we-were-glad-to-not-have-seen-for-over-a-year-and-has-most-probably-forgotten-about-us, a warm welcome to you,Sam", said Mr John in a loud and sarcastic voice with that same gloomy but comforting face.

"Come on I just came here. Give me a break and give your new Sam a hug!",I said stretching my arms out wide. Mr John rolled his eyes and returned the hug halfheartedly. So John coded.

I heard a shuffle behind me and knew right away who it was. "Hey you are back! How have you been? We really missed you", said Jamie locking me in a hug.

"I don't know about you but I wasn't missing him at all", said Mr John.

"Not even teeny tiny little bit?"

"No."

"How rude."

"Don't mind him he is just too cool to express love to others", added in Jamie.

"Hey everybody has their own way of expressing love. You keep to yours and I will keep to mine. No poking into other's business allowed in here', said Mr John in a matter-of-fact manner.

This place always gave me the life I had needed. It felt good to be back here again although the reason for coming here in the first place might not have been so comforting to most.

"Anyways I have come here with business in mind."

"Spill the tea and I will clean it up for you. If I am not too lazy, of course."

"I'll be off to work then. Bye Sam", said Jamie while leaving out the door.

I quickly produced the packet of drugs from the back pocket of my jeans. I kept it on his table. John quickly picked it up and inspected it carefully. "You use cocaine now? Not good boy."

"Its not mine. Remember Adam?"

"Yes a little bit."

"This was what I found in his bag."

"Oh." he observed me for a while and then finally said," I don't think it was his though."

"Why?"

"If your description was correct, this Adam guy would probably have burned the very existence of this before consuming it himself."

I laughed at it. Really missed him, didn't I?

"So what is your thesis on this? We all know you always have one."

"Well the best way to explain it would be somebody had put it in his bag. The other less making sense one would be that he himself put it in his bag because he had his reasons."

"But why would he? You yourself said that he would never consume this."

"Yes I did say he would never consume it himself. I never said he wouldn't give it to someone else. You never know how low someone can go when left desperate for more."

"What more?"

"Wasn't someone sick in his family?"

"Yes."

"How is she now?"

"The same place where he is."

"They were rich?"

"No poor."

"Was he/she sick for a long time?"

"Yes, till her last breathe."

"Does selling drugs get you a lot of money?"

"I think so."

"There you go. You have your answer right there."

"But-"

"Sam trust me on this. I have seen stuff like this happen all the time. Adam was no doubt a wonderful boy and he would have prospered in life if he had lived under better circumstances. But sometimes even the best of us end up doing something unexpected for the people that we truly love and care for." He put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me. "Its going to be fine. Go home and take rest. I will try to look into this more closely. Now go and don't hold up my line for so long, okay? Good night."

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I spent a good amount of time staring up at the ceiling while laying on my bed when I finally reached home. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed Raj's message. I immediately picked up his call and heard him whisper," Sam I think I have found something. I need to meet you as soon as possible. Okay bye." Just like that he hung up. New notifications appeared on my screen and it read: "At 11 near the coffee shop at my place. Don't be late."

I collapsed back again on the bed and fell asleep while wondering what other news was awaiting for me tomorrow.

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