An Ex-Best Friend

“This is Charles.”

“Hi-” I turned and there he was.  Standing in front of me again.  How he managed the courage to stand there like that I didn't know.  Heck, I didn't even know how I hadn't face planted on the sidewalk and started screaming.  I knew I was staring.  And I was definitely starting to sweat.

"Jenn?"

"Yeah?" I responded, snapping out of my daze.

"Do you want to go in?" Caroline inquired, concern adamant on her face.

"Of course!" I said as I plastered a smile on my face.  "After you” I gestured to Charles.

The three of us entered the coffee shop.  As I took in the aroma I couldn't help but wonder how Caroline knew Charles.  Couldn't help but wonder how Charles had made his way back into my life.  Couldn't help but wonder if he remembered the last time we were in a coffee shop together. 

It was a chilling February afternoon, and our group had walked off campus to the local coffee shop to escape the chaos of the lunchroom.  It had started just like any other day, exchanging conversation, talking about the latest movie we had seen, smelling the scent of brewing coffee, and eyeing the cheap Valentine's decorations.  Paul had his arm around me, but was paying more attention to his phone than me or the conversation that I was having with Sara. 

“Seriously! Greg throws himself around like a baby and walks the halls as if he owns the place.  He’s all like ‘I’m the superior being - I’m a god therefore I know what’s best,’” narrating the last part in a gruff voice.

I giggled, “You sound like you have a cold.”

Sara grinned and faked a sneeze, “Ach-OOO!”

Paul jumped and his phone clattered to the ground, making Sara and I burst out laughing.  

Charles walked over as Paul frowned and picked up his phone, dusting it off and examining it to make sure that the military-grade drop case he had bought off amazon had done its job.  

“Jenn, what are you eating?” he questioned in an attempt to make conversation, gesturing at my grocery bag.

“Oh, well today I’ve got a croissant, some raisins, and a bag of carrots,” I said, holding up the sandwich bag I had packed and giving him a cheesy grin. I opened the bag and crunched into one to make my point.

“Rabbit,” Sara coughed under her breath.

I chucked one at her head and she yelped and dove out of the way.

We both began to giggle again when Charles interrupted.  “You know carrots actually have a lot of carbs.  That’s why I don’t eat them anymore.”

Sara and I froze.  I looked at him as the silence quickly overwhelmed us.  Charles had always been the one to eat very little or not at all for fear that he was overweight.  Even when everyone including his doctor had told him so.  

“Come on Charles,” Paul drawled, finally taking his eyes off his phone, “You know you can eat carrots.”

Sara coughed and looked away.

“Carrots are really good for you Charles,” I tried to continue.

Charles looked at me, then to Paul, then back to me again.

“You know, good eyesight, vegetables, that whole thing?”

“Yeah,” Paul continued, “It’s not like carrots make you look like Tony Staffford,” he said starting to laugh as he showed him the picture of a obese movie character. 

Charles turned red. “How dare you,” he uttered, punching out each word.  He turned on his heel and pushed the door open, tucking his hands into his coat as he began the trek up the hill back into school.

I ran out after him calling, “Charles! Please come back.  What’s wrong? Charles!”

He stopped turned around and marched up to me blurting, “Your stupid boyfriend thinks I’m obese! That’s what’s wrong! He’s a JERK and I HATE him!”  He turned around.

“Charles, he didn’t say you were obese!” I yelled at his back.  “He was literally telling you that carrots are not something that you should worry about because you shouldn’t be so concerned with your weight.”

“You just don’t get it do you?” Charles shook his head, backing up.  He started to run up the hill.

“Charles!” I called up after him.

All I heard was the “Leave me alone!” that the wind carried back to me.  

Two weeks later Charles was ignoring my existence.  He went with us everywhere Paul didn’t and interrupted my conversations with my friends as if they weren’t talking to me at all.  

Six weeks later I started to avoid him too.

Four months later, I reached out.  Our infrequent text conversations only made the distance greater.  

A year later I started to forget him all together.  

And that brought me back to this moment, in a coffee shop, with the person I used to be closest to.  Here I was, thinking about the last thing he texted me: "You were supposed to be my friend.  But maybe someday we can try and start over."

Paul had since exited my life when I figured out that I wasn't much of a priority to him, only someone who kept up his “image”.  I had started to then focus on my future, figure out my path, and move on from high school.  Which had somehow led us back together.  

“So,” Caroline started breaking our awkward silence as we scoured the menu, “I met Charles while I was working on my marketing degree at U Penn and his work in this field has been quite remarkable, if I do say so myself.”

“Why, thank you Caroline,” Charles said.  

He had definitely changed.  He sounded refined, as if during all those years he had pieced himself into a foreign businessman.  Quiet and reserved, yet I knew the force behind his poised face.

“Well then,” I stood up straight and looked him in the face, “I’m sure that when the rest of my team gets here they’d be interested in what you have to say.”