Say Goodbye (Dan Avidan)

5 - Sudden Absense

Arin was waiting for me at our usual lunch table as I stepped into the cafeteria, and to no surprise he was seated with another guy. Chubby, hairy, had an unusual beard going for him, and wore a jacket that was clearly a size too big. They sat together chatting to themselves until I walked over. It was then that Arin looked up at me and shed the wide smile he always did when he saw me.

"Hey man, I was wondering when you'd get here," he greeted as I approached the table, before placing a hand on the shoulder of his new pal. "This is Jon. I met him in History this morning."

"Sup, Jon?" I held my hand out to shake his. He responded with a toothy smile and a warm introduction.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm guessing you're Dan?"

I shrugged with certainty as I took my seat across from the two at the table. "The one and only."

"Yeah, Arin's been talking all about you," Jon spoke. "Keeps talking about how cool of a guy you are, and stuff..."

I couldn't help but let a smile make it's way onto my face. For the couple of weeks that Arin had been attending this school, we've been practically inseparable. Before school, he would join Chloe and I before the first bell would ring. During breaks, he would join us for lunch, and join in on our conversations. It was surprising how much we all had in common, especially with how little time we had spent together. Now, he was finally spreading his wings and finding more friends to hang out with. He was really fitting in. I was proud to see it happening with my own eyes.

"So anyway," Jon turned back to Arin to resume their conversation, whilst I placed my bag down to dig out my lunch for the day. "I'm thinking of a parakeet, but Mum reckons I should settle for a finch bird or something. She thinks I'm not responsible enough to look after a fish, let alone a bird..."

"Well, they are a maintainence to look after," Arin pointed out, raising an apple to his mouth. "What kind of parakeet though? There's a fair few kinds..."

As he took a bite, Jon weighed his options.

"I dunno. There's a fair few kinds to choose from. I like the look of the small concures, but the lovebirds are pretty cute too. Though, you need to buy two of them, and I doubt Mum would let me get two when she's already having trouble accepting one to join the family..."

As I listened to Jon's pet troubles, and enjoyed my sandwich among other things, I felt a light tap on my right shoulder. Turning my gaze over, I spotted Chloe's weakly smiling face looking back at me.

I swallowed the bite in my mouth. "Hey there."

"Hey," she spoke, almost barely above a whisper, like she was trying to keep the conversation between us.

I frowned, as I lowered my sandwich away from my face. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. It's just...I'm gonna have to go home early today, so I figured I'd let you know before you stand outside waiting for me after school."

"Oh." I was surprised by this sudden announcement. Normally, Chloe couldn't wait until the end of the day when we could walk home together. We'd spend the whole twenty minutes of walking bitching and whinging about teachers, schoolwork, the other kids in class, home life and everything in between. It was a good way for us both to destress after the day. If I'm being honest, I would say that was one of my favourite times of the day.

But I couldn't help but wonder...why?

"How...how come you're leaving early?" I asked, resting my sandwich on it's silver foil on the table.

"Oh," she forced a small chuckle and glanced away. "It's no big deal. Just girl troubles, you know..."

"Ahh." She didn't need to say anymore after that. I understood girl troubles enough to know that when they didn't want to talk about the matter, you left it as is. No forcing, no prodding, just leave the topic as is. If she wanted to talk to me about it, she was more than welcome to. But I wasn't about to push any buttons on her mood meter, especially if it was that time of the month.

"Oh," I heard Jon say towards us, and our attention snapped towards the big man across the table.

"Sorry, I didn't realise we had more company," he smiled, before he held his hand out to Chloe. "Hey there, I'm Jon."

Chloe didn't shake his hand. She just lifted her hand into a weak wave and said, "Hi. I'm Chloe."

Jon pursed his lips as he pulled his hand back, clearly embarrassed by the handshake rejection. I had to purse my own lips together before a laugh could escape.

That's when Chloe stood to her feet, and said, "Well, I best be going."

I frowned up at her. "Wait. You're leaving already?"

She nodded. "Yeah. But, I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully feeling a lot better than I did today."

"Oh no, are you sick?" Arin asked with concern across the table.

Chloe shrugged. "You could say that."

She then looked to the two of us. "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow then..."

She then looked to Jon and smiled, "It was nice to meet you, Jon."

The burly man gave a small wave back to her, barely looking in her direction as he said, "You too."

She flashed me another weak smile before she turned on her heel and walked towards the exit of the cafetia, disappearing into the crowd of students that were filing in.

"Is she alright, dude?" Arin asked, as I turned my attention back to the table.

I nodded, though I wasn't so sure myself. But I only gave Arin the answer that she gave me. "Yeah...just, girl troubles, you know?"

"Ahh." Arin spoke, instantly concluding the conversation without having to speak another word. It must be a universal thing to just know not to barge in on a girl's private business.

"So, who was she?" Jon asked, looking across the table to me. "Is she your girlfriend?"

I shook my head, a small smile appearing on my face. "No. Just a really good friend."

"Yeah, Chloe's just a good pal to hang around," Arin spoke up, pushing a lock of his long hair away from his face. "Most of the time though, she and Dan are pretty inseparable. It's like they were born from the same uterus, right Dan?"

"Gross, Arin," I laughed, hearing the two boys before me join in, before I picked up my sandwich and took another bite.

Jon and Arin quickly calmed down, resuming their conversation about birds, as I quietly sat to the side. Though I didn't have much to say to join in on their conversation, I didn't have much nerve to talk at all. Chloe's sudden absence had left me with a feeling that I hadn't felt since the first night we met: loneliness.