Bridge over troubled waters

4| Faster Food

Bailey

While being in Chicago was fun and cool and all, I was still here to work. So I have to look into art studios and places to develop my pictures because I'm old fashion and I like to do it that way. Some people think it's annoying, but I liked to create things with my hands so this is what I do.

So I decide to walk around the city while taking some pictures to kill two birds with one stone. I put my favorite camera up to my eye and snap some pictures of the buildings. The structures here were beautiful and the architecture was stunning. You can capture so many different ideas and hopes in one picture it looked too good to be true. I can't believe I get to live here for a year. 12 year old me would have fainted by now, but I'm keeping my feet on the ground and my eyes on the sky.

I move my camera from building to building until I see a familiar sight. I see Corey standing there smiling at me and I snap a picture before letting the camera hang around my neck. Corey walks over to me and pulls me into a hug and I smile big. I inhale deeply as his cologne dances around in my head. I swear this man gave the best hugs there ever was.

"Someone got done with practice early" I notice as we break apart. He holds me closer than usual as he looks into my eyes.

"Practices don't last long with coach Q. He's short and sweet and to the point" he explains.

"And how did you find me" I wonder.

"I can always find my way to you" he claims. Well how sweet is that?

We continue to walk around before I find a art studio I was looking at online earlier today. I was trying to find a spot where I can be inspired and grow and I just didn't feel like I can do that in my apartment. I would never leave that place if I set up there and that's not what I wanted. I wanted to spread my wings and that's just what I'll do.

"How how did you enjoy the game the other night" Corey wonders as we walk in and I smile.

"I loved it. I've never been to a professional hockey game and I'm happy my first time I got to watch you play. You were great" I admit.

"You studied in Montreal for five years and you never thought to go to a Canadiens game" he questions.

"Hockey is Brady's thing. And he doesn't play anymore and you were in Chicago. I didn't really care to go to the games out there" I shrug.

"You only want to watch if I'm playing" he smirks and I scoff.

"You're the only professional player I know" I remind him.

"Uh huh" he teases as he nudged my side and I roll my eyes.

"Knock it off. We gotta find me a studio" I insist and he sits there with the biggest shit eating grin on his face. I just shake my head at his silly antics before heading into the studio.

Art has always been my way of being expressive. I had some struggles growing up and this was how I dealt with the pain. Words never worked but my heart and my brain was able to get my hands to say what my mouth couldn't.

When I was four my parents gave birth to another girl, her name was Brianna and she was such a cutie. The youngest of us kids being born a year after Bennett was here. We got five beautiful years with her before she passed away because of cancer. I was nine when she died and I was absolutely heart broken. She was my everything and I lost her. Luckily Corey was there and helped me through it all. We had been friends for just over a year when she passed but he was everything I needed in order to grieve for my sister and be able to move on. He held me when I cried and he came over and did tea parties with me in her absence. Even back then he was my rock and I couldn't imagine living without him.

It's been hard these past few years when he came back home less and less. I wish I knew why he stopped coming, if there was a way I could have gotten him to come back I would have. But maybe it's a part of the job? Since he was getting moved up he had to stay out here? I don't know. I'm just happy the terrible two were together again. 

"This is a nice set up" Corey admits as we look around.

"It is. And it has a killer view of the city" I admit.

"You gonna get it" he wonders.

"I don't know. Isn't it a bit predictable to get the first studio I look at" I question. I was trying to lose that "doesn't think things through and does stuff on whim" title I've been given.

"If you say yes to this one we can stop looking at studios and we can get some Mexican food" he claims.

"What's that" I wonder and he stops. He slowly turns to me and I feel like I just said a bad word.

"You're painfully Canadian" he accuses and I laugh.

"Oh, and you're the perfect American boy" I say.

"I have in fact almost been mugged twice, got drunk and passed out in a bar and I have experienced Chinese food, Mexican food and fast food in my four years here" he defends.

"We have McDonald's too" I scoff.

"There's no poutine at these ones" he claims and my eyes go big.

"Is that even legal" I question.

He just laughs at me as he swings his arms around my shoulder. "Come young one. You have a lot to learn" he claims.

So I rent out a studio place here and we were on our way. And just in time as my stomach was starting to grumble. So we walk into a place that looked a lot like a food court. There was about ten different restaurants and fast food chains here making my eyes go big.

"Is everything so big and extravagant here" I wonder.

"Pretty much. In America the portions are nearly double what we're used to, so you gotta be careful with that. Then again I watched you eat a whole chicken in one sitting and not gain a pound" he accuses.

"Hey, I have a high metabolism" I defend.

"Then let's get you some food" he insists.

Corey takes me to all the stands so I had some options and he even doesn't yell at me when I can't decide between two of them. Like a true friend. I finally decide to get one thing from one place and another thing from another we find a place to sit.

"You know your mom called me the other day and asked how you're doing" Corey mentions to me and I let out a groan.

"For gods sake I am 25 years old! And everyone treats me like a kid who doesn't have a university degree" I pout. I mean, they have a point. But I haven't even messed up yet and I'm being baby sat.

"Oh put that lip away. She just wants to make sure you're settled and you're okay" he defends.

"And what did you tell her" I ask.

"That I wouldn't let anything happen to you" he claims and I roll my eyes.

"Great, another person who wants nothing other than to protect me" I mumble.

"I'm not here to protect you Bai" he promises. I look up and I see him looking right through me. "I know you can handle you're own. You've been covering my ass for years and you can surely cover your own. But I know that if something happened to you I would never forgive myself" he claims.

I just look back at him as I try to figure out what the hell was going on. "What does that mean" I ask. I've been asking him that a lot lately but I feel like he is saying everything he always said to me, but in a way I don't quite understand yet.

He lets out a sigh as his soft brown eyes advert to his food. "Nothing. Doing worry about it. Eat your food" he insists.

I return to my food but I still have a feeling that he needs to tell me something. I know him better than anyone and I can tell when he's hiding something. Even after all this time. He might be hard to read but for me he left the book open. But now I'm not sure, whatever it is I hope I never lose him.