Beautiful Calamity

Ferris Wheel

Sean

Waking up, the first idea that popped up in mind was tonight's festival. Wild nights were always my favorite...

Us, under the open wide night sky, which is beautifully decorated with stars, all by the beach in the cool breeze... everything just seems to be a thousand times more beautiful and livelier.

My thoughts shifted to Bandit, who was sitting next to my face on the pillow, licking me. "Hey there, lil guy. How you doing?" I said, lifting Bandit, then placing him on my flat stomach. "I had a goodnight. How about you?" Bandit's face lit up, and he jumped next to me, turned on his back, and waited for me to give him his morning belly rub. I laughed at that, sat up in my bed, and granted Bandit his wish.

After a seemingly endless belly rub, with Bandit insisting on not leaving every time I stopped, I finally escaped the hold of this cute lil monster. I didn't bother showering, because I had basketball practice first thing in the morning, so I changed into my uniform and headed out.

Basketball practice was great today. We were all up hyped, all in a good mood, and all playing well. After an hour and a half, the coach blew the whistle, and we were done with basketball for the day.

Tom and Andrew ran up to each side of me. "You're in an awfully good mood today." Andrew teased me.

"Yeah, I'm actually excited for today's festival." I answered him with a grin.

"Oh yeah, you've got a thing for late night fun." he laughed.

"Yup." I looked over at Tom, who was looking at me, and I felt like there was something he wanted to tell me, but didn't.

"Yow Andrew!" one of the guys called out from behind. Andrew stopped, looked behind, then said, "hey, I'll catch you guys later." and ran back.

"You're coming today, right?" I asked Tom, who hasn't spoken a word yet.

"Yeah, of course." he smiled. "So... Alexa's coming tonight, too."

"Yeah, she is." I said briefly, thinking Oh, this is where this is going...

"And about yesterday, you-"

"Man, just cut to the chase... don't beat behind the bushes." I'd abruptly stopped. As much as annoyed I was by this, I was actually thankful to Tom for not talking about this in front of Andrew. Knowing Andrew, it would've turned into an episode of mockery.

"What's up with you and her?" Tom asked, looking concerned.

"What? You've never seen me talk to a girl before?" I said, defensively.

"Is she like the girls you've talked to before?" he asked. The asshole made a good point.

"Look." I said, wiping the sweat off my face with the back of my hand. "Every time I talk to a girl, just talk, she seems to think that I want more than that. It pisses me off, okay? They always want more... I never do." I stopped, feeling the anger fade. "Alexa, she doesn't want that. She doesn't expect me to obsess over her, call her, or text her every hour. She doesn't want anything, and neither do I... so is it a crime to talk to a girl because I see a genuine friend in her?" I finished, with a pinch of irritation.

Tom stayed silent for a moment, probably anticipating what he's supposed to say after this. Then, he sighed, and started, "listen, I'm sorry, okay? You're my brother, man, and I'm just looking out for you. And I believe you, so I'm sorry."

Tom has been my best friend from the beginning. All the way from kindergarten, we'd have our sleepovers, we'd turn over the sofas and make them our forts. We stayed through middle school, to high school, to college, dealing with each other's shit. He's been next to me through every misfortune I'd have to deal with in my life. Tom is my brother. He's family to me, and I couldn't be mad at him for looking out for me.