My Best Friend Jimmy

Coming Home

As I walked to my apartment, Jimmy's words were still fresh in my mind. I wondered whether I should tell him what was going on, but I didn't want to spoil the time we were going to spend together for the 4th. As I packed, I decided not to think about it anymore and to just focus on getting home to see family then party it up with some old friends and Jimmy.

I was just about to pack my last pair of shoes when I heard my phone buzz. My heart truly sank way down to my stomach at the thought of who it could be. I slowly walked over to my phone to see who it was.

Whew. Nancy. It was a long message saying how she'd been. I forgot I had texted her before. Nancy and I were a different kind of friends than Jimmy and I were. Nancy and I were the kind of people that we were close when we wanted to be, but we didn't truly depend on each other. Jimmy and I, we were the type of friends that weren't able to go without contact for even a day. We loved each other. Not the type of marriage love, but the type of if he were freezing to death in Siberia, I'd give him my only coat.

After I saw her text, I gave her a call. She knew that anything she told me wouldn't get to anyone. Not even Jimmy. We talked about how she had been working a lot and how she had met someone at work and she thought she was falling for him. I let her know that she had a choice to make; Jimmy or that sub-par man she had met that wouldn't even come close to what Jimmy could give her. She said she'd make her decision this weekend and let Jimmy know what was happening either way. How wonderful. She's going to break her boyfriend's heart while he'll be with me. How great.

We wrapped up the conversation and I told her how I hope she makes the right choice.

Fast forward a few days. I had spent some kick ass time with my family and it was finally time to party at the pond. I gave Jimmy a call to just make sure that he'd be coming.

"Oh hell yeah! I'll be boarding the plane soon so I'll be at the airport near you at around 2 p.m."

"Okay sounds like a plan! Hey have you talked to Nancy lately?"

"No..." he sighed in a lower tone. "She said she'd stay in touch with me while she was away, but I haven't heard anything from her and its been 5 days..." he trailed off. "Why?"

Shit. I didn't plan this far ahead. "Oh well I talked to her a few days ago and she said she would call you this weekend." Okay, I think that went okay. Lying to him feels awful, but it's not my thing to tell him.

"Oh okay. Well we're boarding the plane now." I could tell that he was upset now. "I'll see you when I land, pal. Do me a favor, just bring me like a sandwich or something to eat? You know how I get when I'm hungry."

"Oh yes sir I do... so just a sandwich? Mayo?"

"NO! NO! STOP! You know how much I hate mayo! NO! Don't fuck around like that!"

"Okay okay okay, so extra mayo?"

"NO!!! You're going to--"

"Okay so extra mayo and I'll see you when you land!"

"Wait--"

Click. I loved messing with him like that. It was too easy. Only a few hours and I'd be seeing my best friend. As I laughed to myself for while, it was cut short by another buzz of my phone. This time, I knew exactly who it was. It sent a chill right up my spine and and made me feel sick. I opened the message and, of course it was Eddy.

"I know you're going to the party at the pond. I'm coming and I will talk to you there. You better have a damn good explanation for why the hell you haven't been answering. I swear to God, if you're not there, I know you're in town, so I'm going to find you."

I felt as though I was going to throw up. He didn't have enough balls to come there and confront me in front of all those people. He won't do it. As much as I wanted to believe that, I knew that something was going to happen. Something terrible.