Letting Love In

Chapter 1, Part 2

AS A KID Jonny Copper was sort of weird looking. He was shorter than all of us, yet he had the biggest mouth and he would always want to lead. We'd usually slap him back down to his size to hush him up. I mean come on, he was short and we were tall, of course we'd exploit him. Thankfully, he didn't run to his parents to get us in trouble all the time, he'd usually stand up for himself, and we'd sometimes allow him. But we were all friends nonetheless.

His small head was always covered by a dirty old cap probably saved from when his great grand papa was still alive, but the kid wore it in pride, with strands of his brunette hair sticking out. He'd always wear T-shirts that were two times his size, which again, seemed like they were saved back from his great grand father, and his pants also were bigger than him. He'd wear a long, beat down belt and pulled it tightly around his waist making the pants look bumpy and uneven. And on his feet a pair of old football shoes with the cleats (somehow) ripped off. We didn't care though. He was just another kid to play with, and that's what we did.

How we met him wasn't exactly the best way to meet someone. When he first moved, the next day he was running in his giant clothes and shoes, not caring if he tripped, down the street to get to the field where the rest of neighborhood kids were. I don't know why of all the groups of kids, he became friends with us, and by us, I mean, Rian and I. Squirrel and Esther weren't in the neighborhood yet.

When Jonny Cooper ran up to us with his clothes bouncing on him, Rian and I couldn't stop laughing. She even fell down onto the grass and held her stomach, I don't think he was that funny, but she probably did that to make him feel worse about himself. He obviously didn't, because the short kid still came up to us.

I thought that took guts, and a whole lot of it. To run up to two kids who were laughing at you and make them know you aren't something to laugh at. And so we became friends after that -- well not right after. Rian and I had to ride roughshod over the puny kid for a while before accepting him into our clique. So yes, we were bullies at a point in our lives, but we're over it now, and Jonny is obviously okay with it, because he's now clinging onto the arm of my girlfriend like his life depended on it.

He didn't seem like he meant any harm, with his smiles and everything. He just looked like the fun loving guy we grew up. Actually, that's a lie. He didn't look like the fun loving guy we grew up with, he looked like a jock, he looked like Mark Walker -- big and tough and has the potential to he a character on WWE if he worked out a bit more. His brunette hair was still messy and disheveled, only difference is that he wasn't wearing an old cap. He wasn't wearing clothes bigger than his body, no, in fact they might have been somewhat smaller than him. His jeans were tight and shoes looked as though his foot had to shrink to fit into them, the only thing that wasn't as tight was his T-shirt. He wore this giant grin on his face as Rian spoke with him and walked to us.

She wasn't holding her school bag, because she's found a trustworthy person to keep it for her, but Jonny Cooper still had his bag on his shoulder. They finally came to our table and Squirrel and Esther finally stopped talking to stare at our old friend. Their faces contorted into a look of surprise, my face was already that way when I saw Rian walking over with him. I was too shock to even notice them about the tall guy walking beside Rian who we pushed around on occasion once upon a time.

"No way," was the first thing that left Squirrel's mouth when he looked up and found Jonny standing above him with Rian. Squirrel stood up gleefully and without another word, he tugged Jonny into a bone crushing hug. Jonny didn't hesitate to hug him back similarly. Next Esther stood up and hugged Jonny and placed a kiss on his cheek, leaving the slight remnant of her kiss by having a tiny smudge of light pink remain on his skin. I stood up and hugged him as well, abs it wasn't until then that I really understood what the phrase 'bone-crushing' meant.

"Man! Its been so long since I've seen you!" Jonny exclaimed happily as he took a seat next to Squirrel and I, and Rian sat on the other side of me. When Jonny left we didn't know it then, but we missed him. Back then, all that mattered was how much games we could play, we didn't really care that we lost a player, which is very unprofessional. He left at the ending of summer and we went to his place to say farewell to him. We all huddled around his skinny, short frame to hive him a group hug, then all simultaneously smack him on the head. He laughed it off then followed his parents into the car. He waved goodbye from the back of the car until the car bent the corner and was out of sight. And that as it. He was gone and we turned around and ran back to the field to play a game.

We didn't care. Its sad how much we didn't care. He could have died on his way to wherever he was going and we would have continued playing our game because we were young and careless. All children are young and careless.

But now he's back. He's sitting ideal next to me. Should I feel guilty that I didn't care? If so, then all of us should feel that way. We should feel that way about not caring about Rian as well. We were some savage little kids. Neither Esther nor Squirrel seemed to feel guilty about anything; they laughed along and spoke with Jonny as if nothing ever happened, and he was the same.

And then there was a short silence before Esther began speaking. She continued talking about a program she and Squirrel heard about from a guy talking loudly in the street.

"I think its a good thing," Squirrel said and looked around the table. I sighed wearily, "Guys, come on, he just came back... Why are we talking about this? How were things in Manhattan, I didn't really care about what they were talking about. I was more interested in our departed friend.

Jonny looked across at me and he grinned widely, as if thankful that I asked about him and not where Squirrel and Esther were planning to carry the conversation. Both Esther and Squirrel looked somewhat bewildered, but didn't comment on it.

Jonny began speaking about how busy everything was in the city and how almost every night there was something big going on, like a party or whatnot. He said he could have gotten a fake ID pretty easily and could go into a lot of clubs. Everyone around the table caught every word that fell from his tongue in complete and sheer and utter interest. Not many exciting things happen in this place.

The last thing that really had people going 'wow!' was three years ago when two cars crashed into each other and somehow managed to break down a concrete fence. I for one was absolutely shocked that it happened. And then about fifteen minutes later a car being pulled along by another car, managed to get unhinged and there was a large clanging noise that got everyone's attention. It was an eventful day in the neighborhood. No one got hurt but it was sort of epic to see, and hear. The clashing sound of metal on metal had every single person out of their houses to see what was going on out in the street.

But now Jonny's back and he's telling us about all his New York adventures, and they all sound so thrilling, and I wanted to be part of that. I wanted to be in New York with him to experience all that he experienced. But I wasn't there, so I just sit and stare at him and listen to him speak, along with everyone else around the table.