It’s Saturday, just past noon and I still have to call Shelby. Yeah that’s a girl’s name, yeah he’s a boy, but he is, was, and always will be my best friend. Anyways, back to the task at hand. The phone rang at least three times before he answered.
“What do you want?” He sounded very annoyed and really exhausted.
“Did you forget that you’re the one that suggested I call you?” it sounded more annoyed than I wanted it to, but lately he has been angry and tired all the time, and frankly, I really hate it, I can’t stand to see him like that.
“Yeah, sorry Sam, I really didn’t mean to, I just haven’t been myself lately… I’m really sorry for going off on you.”
“It’s ok Shelby, but if it happens again, I swear to God, I will come over as fast as I can, and kick your sorry little ass.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see you try.” I heard him chuckle a little and honestly, that was the best sound that I have heard come from him for what seemed like forever, but was only the extent of about a month.
“So, what did you want me to call you for anyways?”
“Well…” he left his sentence open and from the 17 years of knowing this kid, I knew he was going to tell me something that he knew I wouldn’t like.
“Just tell me Shelby, I promise not to get completely pissed off.”
“How about this, you come over, I’ll tell you, and then I can run away if you don’t like it.”
I knew it was a dumb thing to do, but I agreed because I had nothing else to do for the whole weekend, because my mom and dad were off for business for about a month, unless their dumb boss had to extend their trip. I was an only child in a big house, more like a mansion to some, but it wasn’t too big, it was still homey, but still big enough to feel empty with a few maids and cooks.
As I was driving to Shelby’s house, which was only on the other side of my block, I thought about how we became friends. We were both at the park down the street from my house when a boy, a year older than us came up to me and pushed me off the swing, his name was Travis and I still hate that kid, he moved away a few weeks after that but I will always remember him because after he pushed me off the swing, I pushed him back and he hit me with a stick yeah I know, how rude?! He hit me with a frikin stick, but anyways, giving me a tiny, but permanent scar just below my hairline on the right side. After Shelby had seen this, he came over and told Travis that he needed to leave me alone, and Travis left. Shelby came to see how I was and after we started talking, we became friends, just like that, and I will never forget that day.
As I came out of my thoughts of distant memories, I heard Shelby knocking lightly on my car window. I looked over, probably with a confused look on my face and opened the door. He looked at me strangely for a second, but shook his head, like he was trying to get something out of it.
Still a little dazed I looked at him and suddenly asked why he wanted me to come over. “Well, I thought that if you came over, you couldn’t refuse, but the guys that I play with, wanted me to bring you, because apparently I talk a lot about you.
I thought about what he was saying and suddenly realized he was talking about the ‘friends’ that he plays poker with.
“Sure, but are you sure they’ll be fine with me there?”
“Of course! They are the ones that convinced me to get you to come.” He started to scratch the back of his head sheepishly, and I knew that if I rejected that he would be torn.
“Fine, but if anything happens that I don’t approve of, or if I want to leave, you absolutely can’t argue.”
He looked like he was thinking about this, but he finally agreed and told me that it was at some new guy’s house. The guy lived within walking distance, so we just decided to walk there. I noticed that the house was slightly similar to mine, but most of the houses in this neighborhood were, but this house looked like it belonged to a richer couple, maybe with a child or two, also it was decorated, painted, styled, etc. fancily. My nerves started to act up when we started walking up the pathway to the house, I looked over at Shelby for reassurance, and when he gave me a smile, grabbed my hand, gave it a slight squeeze, I suddenly felt better and my racing heart slowed down a bit. He has always had that effect on me though.
As we entered the door I could suddenly smell alcohol and cigarettes, I knew that Shelby drank, smoked, and did drugs, but he has never done them around me or pressured me to do them. I looked at him unsurely out of the corner of my eye, I didn’t think that he saw, but when he squoze my hand once more, I thought that he must have noticed I was tense or something. We walked over to a big green table, I have never gambled, or even watched someone gamble, so I had no idea what to expect.
“Shelby, ma man, what would you like to drink? The usual?”
He looked at me before answering. “No, tonight I will just have a coke.”
I had recognized this guy right away from school; he was in my math class. He looked at Shelby with a strange look and just shrugged it off, he went to the kitchen, but someone else came back with Shelby’s drink. He was so familiar that I felt sick because I didn’t know who he was. He looked at me for a split second and excused himself because his phone started to ring.
“I have to leave for a minute to go get more beverages; I trust that you all will be able to keep my house looking perfect?” He looked at every one of the boys with a stern look, but when he looked at me his expression changed to one of mischief. I felt scared for a second or two, but I calmed myself down after a few minutes.
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