whats a genius title for this short story?
Before it was jokes, but this time it was real.
Bobby is my best friend, we’d been through middle school and high school together. We’d always make jokes about this and about that, but sometimes I didn’t know whether to believe him. My name’s Stefani, I saw and I believed.
Bobby is always home. I call him when I have bad dreams in the middle of the night, and he always answers on the first ring. He’s never late, he never forgets, and sometimes he makes me wonder if I really know him completely. At one point I was sure I knew everything about him. How he likes his coffee, what time he gets up on the weekends, the music he carries in his ipod and even how many times he brushes his teeth in a day- five, once after every meal and twice at night. He was born in Brooklyn, NY at 4:11 in the morning. He is a single child and because he’s now 23 and still single, he lives alone. He moved here- Oregon- when he was only 9 years old. Ever since he entered the youngest and tallest in my fifth grade class, we’d been like two peas in a pod. But it was never meant to be between us. All we’d ever been was best friends. We’d seen each other as siblings. That was our nature.
That was at one point, now I’ve been doubting everything he says. I’m curious to know the truth now. The real truth.
I invited Bobby to join me and my husband, Jay, for a picnic at the park. Of course he came along, he’s never busy, he never declines, but something happened that day that changed the way I thought of him forever.
Bobby and I had been sitting on a picnic table talking about what was new with each of us. The conversation was slow, we didn’t need to have the “what’s new?” talk since we knew everything that was current about one another. So there we sat admiring the scenery and giggling at the ridiculous things Jay and my son, Billy, were doing. Bobby looked up then and was immediately overtaken on something in back of me. I couldn’t see then because I had my back towards it, but I made an effort to take a peek. She was a young, beautiful women.
“She’s pretty.” I commented to break the silence, but he didn’t respond or move a muscle. He was so absorbed to this women that he was ignoring me.
“Bobby, what is it?” I asked a bit annoyed. He reacted as if I’d just scared him. He flinched.
“Oh what?” He asked completely clueless.
“What’s the matter with you?” Again, no answer. He got up then and started walking towards her. But before he reaches her, he stops, shields his eyes with his hands so that they are completely hidden, turns around and stomps back. He grabs hold of my arm and his grip is so intense I yelp. My husband comes running and loosens the grip Bobby has on me.
“We have to go now.” He hisses harshly under his breath. His hands are still cupped over his eyes.
As soon as we reach the car and get settled in, he rests his head on the back of Jay’s head restraint. He doesn’t look up at all the whole 10 miles home. I reached out to touch him once and felt that he was shaking terribly. He immediately pushed my hand away then. We finally got home and Bobby gets out and starts walking home.
“Bye?” I say dazed and confused.
“Bye.” Short, cold, harsh. Very unlike him.
Later that night I called him. I was determined to find out what was going on with him.
“How are you? Are you okay? What happened back there?” I threw questions at him.
“Nothing I’m okay, why?” He replied. It was as if he had no idea what I was talking about. He wasn’t fooling me.
“What do you mean ‘why’? You freaked out. You had your hands over your eyes. Don’t lie to me Bobby. I’m really worried about you”
“Stefani I’m fine. It was nothing. I just, I got something in my eye.” Was he serious? Did he really think I was going to believe that? I played it cool.
“Okay well, I’ll talk to you later then.” I said it very normal, very cheery.
“Bye.” And he hung up. That was the end of that.
Ever since then, its been different. He comes around less and calls less. I’m honestly worried about him.
Today is Sunday, superbowl night. Bobby was supposed to be here 3 hours ago, but he never showed. I took a drive through the street in front of his house and stopped. Their was only one light on inside. I got off and knocked on the door.
“Bobby! Are you there?” I heard something crash inside and then it was silent. I waited, thinking Bobby was in there and was going to open the door, but he never did. I tried the door. It was locked. I knocked again. This time I waited only a few seconds before I decided to try the back door. I went around back and seen that the back door flung open. I stepped through the mess carefully, watching for danger. On the floor lay a brown paper bag, a champagne glass and eye drops.
“Bobby, are you in here?” I turned to leave when something grabbed me. Its arms where around my neck, I could barely breathe.
“Let go, please, let go,” I breathed.
“Shut up!” It was Bobby. I started choking.
“Bobby, why are you doing this? Oh my god, let go.”