Never too far from a beautiful mystery

There's no place like home

Andrew's Pov

I get in the car and Mrs A greets me with a hug and a smile, "hey Andrew, you're looking great. Wow I'm so proud of you".

"Thanks Mrs. A, how are you?"

She starts the car, "well a lot of work to do, but I'm good". After five minutes of driving, Mrs. A asks "are you excited to get home?"

I chuckle and look out the window, "actually yes, I miss my parents and it's great seeing you Mrs. A, thank you for everything".

She smiles and says, "you remind me so much of my son".

I say in shock, "I didn't know you had a son".

She clears her throat, "I had a son".

I felt the tension form in the air, "oh I'm so sorry Mrs. A".

She says "it's not your fault, don't be sorry, I've never told anyone this but my son was an alcoholic, he suffered from addition himself. I tried to help him but he just didn't want to be bothered with".

Intrigued by the story,, I ask "but what happened?"

"One night he was partying with his friends, they went clubbing and whatnot, his friends told him not to drive, but he didn't listen....a little kid about 10 years old was walking home from tutoring. My son picked him up and was going to drive him home, they were at a red light, that's when another driver swerved over to his lane and hit his car. My Lance survived, but unfortunately the other boy didn't".

"But what happened to your son?"

She answers, "they sent him to prison, and the inmates killed him five days later, drowned him in his own piss". 

I say, "pull the car over".

She pulls the car over and starts to sob, I hug Mrs A. "It's hard without him, it's been twelve years now, I even miss carrying his stupid ass to the couch at one in the morning". We both laugh, "thanks for caring for me like a second mom".

She smiles and keeps driving, "thank you Andrew for being another son, at least your not a douche bag like Lance, he was a good douche bag though".

"I'm sure he was hahaha, wow Mrs A, I didn't know teachers were chill like this".

"Oh come on Andrew we're not robots, shush or else we won't stop and get Chinese food". 

Just the thought of Chinese food made my stomach growl. We stopped at a Chinese restaurant and I ate my fucking face off, I was so happy some would say this is the best meal I've had, to be honest it actually is.

After we ate, Mrs A got me home. A place I feared to come back to but also a place I couldn't live without. Mrs A catches me staring at the house, "go ahead Andrew, I would go in with you but I have to catch up on grading some tests".

I nod my head, "thanks again Mrs A". She drove off and I headed to the house. I was walking up the concrete slab of sidewalk to my front door, I heard someone say, "wow you look healthy". I turn around and Stephanie had a card in her hand, she handed it to me, I looked at it for a couple of seconds.

The card had a big emoji smile on it sticking out it's tongue. "It isn't much, I just felt bad I kind of abandoned you all of these years, I'm sorry I treated you like dirt".

I chuckle and read the card in silence, I'm sorry for leaving my best friend behind, I'm sorry I left you face down on the concrete, when the rain drops were like weights. Sorry that I can't take the time back and treat my best friend like a best friend. But you gave me more than friendship, you cared and loved me but I just.....it was hard to accept to see what you had become but now I'm proud to see my best friend is back to his old self.

I smile, "after all of these years, I never thought I would hear you call me your best friend again. How did you know I went to rehab again?"

"It was very noticeable and since you've been gone for almost two months, I figured you were getting help".

"I did, it was the help I needed. I'm a forgiving person, and I do forgive you.  A friend doesn't laugh in a friend's face, you don't call him a worthless junkie, I believe those were the words. I know the choices I made were wrong but you should also look in the mirror for once, if you're asking for my forgiveness, sure you got it but you're no best friend".

Those words hit her like an airplane hitting a air pocket. I could tell she had a knot in her throat, "I just hope that sometime in the future we could get past all of the bullshit I said, me and Marcus were total assholes. I really feel terrible, I didn't really mean any of those things that I said".

"Sometimes I think that you did mean them, I miss the old days when we used to hang out and watch movies all day, fuck maybe a little fucking support would've helped, but no one even bothered, I was just surprised you didn't".

She says with frustration, "do you think it was easy seeing you go through that, the only person who helped me back then was Marcus!!! I just had to watch you destroy yourself, it wasn't fucking easy!!"

I joined in her frustration, "I loved you, but when you decided to fucking give up, drugs was the only thing I cared about, do you know how broken I was when I lost you, then I was getting better, you had your hero Marcus, then treated me like a stranger, like a piece of dog shit. You didn't see a broken friend, you only saw a junkie!!!"

Her eyes tear up, "trust me Andrew I loved you so much, but I knew things were going down hill as soon as we stuck that needle in our arms years ago, that's when we drifted. I quit that shit shortly after and you wanted more, when you got out of control....I just couldn't see you like that, it hurt".

"I know it did, that's why no one will ever see me like that ever again, not even my self".

"Do you want to catch a movie later, with me and Marcus, like a double date or something?"

At first I felt like saying no, but she was really trying so I said "sure, but I really don't have a date".

She smiles, "don't be modest, I'm sure you'll find someone to go with".

"Alright, I'm going inside to drink some hot chocolate. See you at the movies".

I walked into my home and my parents were waiting for me in the kitchen. "Hey Andrew".