Good Old Days (Rhink)

9: A Place We Were Before

Life felt like it droned on forever. Everyday Rhett felt like he was going to throw up. Every time he saw Link his stomach knotted. He hate it. His face would get all red and his hands sweaty. The further he buried it down the worse he felt. But he couldn't help it. What was he going to do? Announce his love for his best friend and be revoked by the entirety of the town? His parents? His friends? He'd have to drive away. Very far away. To a place where no one knew his name. He couldn't deal with that, and he hated himself for it. He wish he could just crawl up into a ball on his bed and simply not exist anymore. Days kept getting longer and longer. It came to a point where he almost just wanted to do it and see what'll happen. He was so tired of feeling anxious and scared. He rubbed his eyes. Why me? Why? Why? Why? He let the water trail down his body. He wish he could just wash away the feelings like they were dirt. He knew that no amount of showers would help him though. What kind of sick game is this? God? He looked up.

Why me?

Sadness quickly turned to anger. Rhett slammed his hand on the shower wall.

"Rhett are you alright?" His mother called from downstairs, the bang being quite loud.

"Yeah, I just..slightly slipped on a shampoo bottle."

His mother hesitated.

"Alright."

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You can do this. You can totally do this.

Rhett hyped himself up all day. He was going to do it. Today was the day.

"Yeah I'll see you later man. You know I'm not doing anything."

"Alright. Papa's right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you there." Rhett smiled. Link had no idea what was coming to him.

Rhett pulled up on his bike, the gravel shifting under his tire as he pulled up onto the sidewalk in front of Papa's Pizzeria. It was one of the most basic names for a pizza place, but hey it was suffice-able for this tiny town. The sun hung low in the warm air. Rhett's sneaker hit the pavement and that's when it hit him.

Wow. I'm really doing this. This is happening. Okay, okay breathe.

He saw the black hair encroaching from around the corner. It was Link. His dopey smile hitting Rhett like a truck. He had to look down just to process himself.

"Hey Rhett!" Link said all happy. I mean it was Friday, so what was there not to be happy about?

"Hey Link. Ready to go in?" He flicked his kickstand in response.

"You know I am. I'm starving."

They sat down in an old ratty green booth. It was the one they always sat in. Rhett breathed slow. It offered a sense of security and comfort. Everything seemed to be changing around him, but the booths at Papa's always stayed the same. The low yellow light was familiar. And if Rhett was being honest with himself, he loved the way the light made Link's blue eyes look. The thought itself shot adrenaline through his veins. They chowed down on the greasy pizza like there was no tomorrow. As they sat there Rhett proposed his idea.

"Link, you've got nowhere to go right?"

"Yeah..?"

"We're gonna go to the lake. The one we haven't been to since you ate shit on a curb."

"Oh dude! I haven't been there in forever! I miss that place. Why'd we ever stop going?"

"Parents yelled at us remember? They didn't want us to swim unattended 'cause 'we could still drown'." Rhett did the two finger scrunches as he laughed at the memory.

"Oh yeah! And I didn't want to go because I was too embarrassed to hit the curb again! Man I was stupid."

"Who says you still aren't?" Link laughed and rolled his eyes.

"C'mon man" He mumbled with a smile.

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Rhett got back on his bike and quickly got a head start.

"Beat you there!" Rhett called back to Link.

"You know it's not fair! You've got longer legs man!" Rhett just laughed. Link peddled strong trying to catch up.

The dirt road brought back so many memories. The trees stayed the same. The dirt. The bushes. The pink sky was casting such a pretty glow on everything. Rhett just felt like he could get lost and not even care.

He skidded in the dirt.

"Beat 'cha!"

"What else is new?" Link called while finally pulling up to Rhett. He hopped off his bike.

"Woah." The feeling filled Rhett's chest like it had once before. The dark, rich water. The pink sunlight bouncing off of it. The green trees gently swaying to the odd occasional breeze. He remembered why he started going to this place.

"Why did we ever stop coming here?" Link asked almost reading Rhett's mind.

"I don't know man. We were dumb." He looked over to his friend. They had the same giddy smile.

"Last one to the lake is tomorrow's barbecue!" Link shouted as he threw off everything but his boxers and dove in. Rhett followed suit.

For hours they played stupid games in the water. Splashing and shoving, Link constantly felt like some creature was brushing up against his ankle, while Rhett just laughed at him. Just like they once were. Rhett looked around. No one else was there. This whole time it felt like nothing else in the world even existed other than the two of them. The sun had slipped under the horizon hours ago, and Link decided it was finally time to head out of the water at least.
The stars and moon shine brightly above them. Rhett knew he had picked the perfect night. They walked back to the shore. Rhett grabbed a blanket he packed and lied it down.

"Well aren't I special?" Link said mockingly. Rhett rolled his eyes. Duh.

Rhett plopped down on the blanket, being dry was somewhat of a relief. He wrapped himself in a towel vigorously, feeling like everything was perfect in his life. Link followed suit. They lied there for a moment. Neither speaking to one another. They didn't need to. Then Rhett remembered.

"I brought snacks!" He got himself up and surveyed his backpack. He pulled out a carton of Sour Patch Kids, and Clearly Canadians.

"Why so fruity dude?" Link asked with a big dumb grin on his face. Rhett smiled and didn't respond.
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Hours they talked. They talked about everything. What grades they got, school gossip, Tommy's Party, and so many other things. Why the movie they wanted to make would reach state level at a festival. What they would do after high school. After a while it slowed down to a trickle. Just the two of them. Lying there. Barely talking. Just looking up at the stars. The once humid air cooling down just enough to still be able to go out in a T-shirt and shorts. Rhett turned his head towards Link. Link looked back.

"You good?" Rhett nodded. He breathed in and prepared himself to possibly ruin this night.