Jon Matteson Imagines

An Old Friend (Gary)

Warning; this mentions death of family members and a small panic attack, so if you don't like that kind of thing then try to skim read over the 1st and some later paragraphs. Also sorry for not updating for awhile, I've been writing this for a while, which is why it is really long.

The cold, harsh wind pushes against me as I walk towards the mall. A long line of people stands to the side of the wall so I try to find where the line ends so I can finally get a space. I stumble over to the end of the queue and breathe a sigh of relief as I let my body rest from rushing around like a headless chicken. After about 30 minutes of waiting, someone behind me gets bored and starts to push the line up while shouting at people to move. Before I can move out of the way everyone begins to push one another and I can feel my heart race. My breathing speeds up and I can feel my palms get sweaty. I try to get out but its no use, there are too many people around. Tears slide down my face, I sit on the floor waiting for it all to be over.

Something tugs on my arm and I try to get away before looking up to see a hand. I clutch onto it as much as possible and pull myself towards my saviour. I don't manage to get a look at the as we almost sprint away from the chaos, but from what the hand was like I think it's a man. We come to a stop when we reach what I assume is his car. "T-thank you," I place my hands on my knees, counting in my head to slow my breathing down.

"It's no problem really, I used to have a friend that wouldn't deal well in that situa- Y/n?" I look up to see how they know me. Stood there before me is none other than my childhood best friend, Gary Goldstein. He's changed a lot since the last time I saw him, although he has kept the round glasses and he still has the scarf I gave him before he left to go to collage. He's taller now and from what I can tell he has a bit more muscle too, not that I care or notice. Seeing him stood in front of me brings me back to our last moments together.

Flashback

"Mr Goldstein, what do you think you're doing?"  Tears threatened to fall from my eyes as I look at Gary as he placed some of his things in his suitcase. It was Monday, and he was leaving for collage on Friday. He looked up at me and I could tell he was on the verge of crying too. He gestures me to come over to him, so I move over to sit next to him on his bed. He wrapped an arm around me an we sit there for a while, just enjoying our time together. "I don't want to leave you here,"  I could tell he was crying from the way his shoulders shook next to me. Reaching up, I gently wiped the tears off his face and took his glasses off too. I decided to wear them, just like I always do when he needed to be cheered up.

Skip to the day he left

Neither of us had stopped crying, at this point I can remember the last time I didn't have any kind of tears running down my cheeks. I hugged Gary as tight as possible before letting go, because I knew that if I didn't I would confess how I feel and that would make even more problems with him leaving. "I love you Y/n/n," I take the scarf I was wearing and place it around his neck before pulling him down to kiss his cheek. "I love you too Goldie,"  his dad called over to him to tell him that it was time to leave. We gave each other one last hug before parting ways.

After that day I thought I would never see him again. I wished that I could either go with him as he pursues his dreams or he could stay here with me. It's a selfish thought, but love makes you crazy, right?

Back to present time

"So, uh, how have you been?" He nervously scratches the back of his neck and glances towards me before looking at the ground. Heat rises to my cheeks as I mumble out an 'okay, I guess'. We stand there for a while, awkwardly shuffling around, thinking of what to say to your ex-best friend is hard. Clearly I don't pay attention to what I'm doing because I accidently bump into him. His arms quickly go around me to stop me from face planting on the floor. "Still clumsy as ever then," he chuckles and I let out a snort before covering my face. I look at him to see him smiling at me. I smile back and suddenly it felt like we are back in high school again. "Hey, um do you want to come back to my place? You know, to catch up and stuff?" God I can't be more awkward can I. Surprisingly he nods and offers to buy some take out for us, so I agree.

Time skip so they are at Y/n's house

We walk up to the front door and he takes a breath in. I guess I forgot to mention to him that my parents left the house to me in their will. Oh god he probably doesn't know they died in a car crash a few years ago. I open the door and we both step in. I tried to make sure I didn't change too much from what my parents left, but it does feel more like my home than when it was me on my own at first. We walk into my kitchen and I begin to take off my coat and shoes. I hear Gary walk around behind me, he comes to a stop and I can only assumed he's looking at the picture of my parents and I. It was taken a week before the accident, they were going out for business and a the time I joked about having a picture to make sure they don't forget me. On the glass frame I wrote on it with a marker, 'In life, we loved you dearly, in death we love you still. In our hearts you hold a place, no one else will fill.'

"I miss them every day. I just hope I make them proud." Gary walks over to me and hugs me tightly. He even smells the same from when we were kids. I warp my arms around him and we just stand therefor awhile. Eventually he says he's sorry he wasn't there for me when it happened but I tell him it's fine. My phones goes off, reminding me why we are here in the first place, and I quickly rush around to grab my phone to reply to the text and order our take out. "Same as old times?" He looks up at me with a shocked smile on his face. He asks if I remember what it is and I show him a list of receipts from the pizza place I've kept, all with the same exact order since we were 12. His face lights up and for the first time in a very long time I feel genuinely happy.

Time skip again, sorry

Music blasts through the house, boxes of different types of take out lay around the couch. Gary's tie s ow around his head and I have his scarf around mine. We dance carelessly around the room and we laugh like we are 16 again, and being here with him now just makes me realise how much I've missed him. The smell of grease wafts around the room and it quickly reminds me that I wanted to go out to get ice cream. I grab our coat's of the stand and throw his jacket at him. Gary looks confused before a smile lights up his face as he realises where we are going. Together we run out of the house, forgetting that we look like a pair of crazy people and run towards the beach.

Once we get there I grab his hand to hold myself up and pull him eagerly to the almost empty food stall at the edge of the beach. We order the same as we always did and Gary is persistent on paying for them. "I've missed this," I loop my arm around his as butterflies bubble up in my stomach from being so close to him again. He agrees and without warning he tugs me over to the old swing set we loved. It's where we first met, first became friends and where we spent our last moments together. He sits down first and I then sit on his lap, giggling quietly. Then he places his arms around my waist and mumble something into my neck. I look at him and he blushes as he speaks up, "Would you want to go on a date with me?"