by Wiley, John
“What’s wrong?” concern in his voice.
“Sat in something wet! I have a feeling it was piss, it smells like piss!” she slams the apartment door behind her.
Rhys smiles and walks back to the dumpster to see if he can find anymore boxes. Five minutes later, however, he decides to stop digging in the trash and to just buy some boxes. He drives the moving truck to an office supply store; while wandering the aisles his phone rings. He pulls it out of his pocket and sees his mom’s face on the screen.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hey sweetie, how are you?”
“Well, if you’re calling this early and asking I’m guessing you’ve talked to Marion.”
“She told me about what’s her name.”
“Sinead,” Rhys rolls his eyes.
“I can’t believe she’d cancel on you.”
“She got a roll in the new Richard Curtis movie! There’s no way she could turn that down.”
“Who? The guy from Some Like it Hot?”
“No mom,” Rhys laughs. “That’s Tony Curtis. And he’s dead. Richard Curtis; he did Love Actually and Notting Hill.”
“Oh I love those movies! Well except for the boobs in Love Actually. I mean really, there’s no need for porn actors in a sweet Christmas movie – “
“They weren’t porn actors, mom,” he sighs. “They’re…oh never mind. So yeah, she got a role in his new movie.”
“So what are you going to do?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I have no clue. But I’m freaking out; I’m walking up and down the aisles of this store looking for boxes but I’m so nervous, I’m shaking like a leaf in November.”
“That’s poetic,” she says with pride. “I really do wish you’d write poetry again, you know?”
“Mom!” he yells while simultaneously laughing.
“Well it’s just that you have such a way with words –”
“I won’t if I drop dead from a heart attack!”
“It’s probably just a panic attack. Go outside and get some fresh air.”
He quickly walks outside and sits on a bench in front of the store. He starts taking deep breaths in effort to calm down.
“Feeling better?” she asks.
“A little,” he sighs. “I just don’t know how this move turned out so disastrous.”
“It wasn’t a disaster…”
“I got fired, sexually assaulted, evicted, and lost my best friend. Absolutely nothing good has happened to me since I’ve moved out here.”
“I’m sure there’s a reason why all of this happened, though.”
“Like what? To knock me down a few pegs? It’s not like my life was that great before!”
“I don’t know,” she sighs. “But you know it’ll all work out in the end.”
“I’m a firm believer in happy endings, but only for everyone else. I’ve never pictured myself getting a happy ending. That’s sad, isn’t it?”
“Your life is waiting out there for you somewhere and you just need to find it. That’s it! That’s the reason!”
“What?” he laughs.
“The reason it hasn’t worked out like you wanted! You tried moving to LA and now you won’t regret it when you’re old, but it didn’t work out for you because it was the universe’s way of telling you that you’re in the wrong place!”
Rhys sits on the bench, deep in thought.
“Are you there?” his mom asks after a long pause.
“Yeah, I’m just taking in what you said. Maybe you’re right…maybe it’s the universe trying to force me to leave so that I can find what is meant for me.”
“What’s meant for you won’t pass you by.”
“But I went to school for acting; what am I going to do if I don’t stay out here and try to act?”
“Oh Rhys, I’m sure I can’t solve all of your problems in one phone call,” she says with a laugh.
“Gee, thanks!” he laughs, but it turns into a sigh. “I feel bad though, you and dad were going to visit me and now you won’t get a chance.”
“You think I’m passing up a trip to LA? We’ll be there Thursday and then we’ll come home with you Sunday.”
“So that’s it then, isn’t it? I really did fail at this, and now I’m moving back with my parents?”
“Thanks,” she says sarcastically. “But you could talk to Joey about getting your old room back.”
“Yeah, and I could talk to my manager at my old Coffee Cafe store about getting my job back. Speaking of which, I need to call corporate today about Jared.”
“Yes, you do!”
“It’s just…I hate to give up on this place.”
“I understand,” his mom says. “But I think this is for the best. I mean, you can try to get a job in a couple days but…I worry about you; going through all of this alone.”
Rhys gets up and goes back in the store for his boxes. “This place never felt like home anyway,” he says. “I can act anywhere; I don’t need LA to be happy.”
“There you go! So what are you going to do today?”
“I don’t know…pack…maybe take Marion to do some touristy things?”
“No!” she sighs. “You’re going to call Coffee Cafe human resources, Joey, and your old store.”
“Oh right, those too, obviously.”
“OK,” she laughs. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“OK. Love you.”
“I love you too – wait, what?” she covers the receiver with her hand. “Oh, you’re dad wanted me to ask you why we got a check from the insurance company for your car.”
“Oh yeah…bring that with you, would you? I’ll explain it then! Love you, bye!” He hangs up his phone and looks around guiltily before sliding it back in his pocket.
***
Rhys’ last week in LA went by pretty quickly. Monday he spent the day half-heartedly looking for jobs, but only applied for two that he knew he wouldn’t get. He did talk to the human resources of Coffee Cafe and they said they would look into the allegations Rhys brought against Jared, but it would be hard for them to do anything without proof. Afterwards he called Joey and asked for his old room back. Joey said yes without pause, and told him that he would move all of Cheryl’s clothes out of it for him. He also called his old job, but his old position had been filled. However, they invited him to interview for another position once he got back in town.
Tuesday and Wednesday were spent packing and hanging out with the girls. Wednesday night Janie invited him and Marion over for homemade lasagna. Janie gave him a going away gift of a basket of homemade muffins and an address book with her address, phone and email, as well as Chloe’s and Cindy’s information.
On Thursday his parents arrived in the late afternoon; they took their kids out for what was lunch time in LA, dinner in Ohio, and then did a few tourist things before the parents went back to their hotel and had an early night. Friday was spent with more tourist activities and Rhys introducing his parents to Janie and the girls. His mom even brought Janie a tin of homemade cookies as thanks for looking after her son.
Saturday Rhys and his family finished packing up his things and loaded them in a moving truck (not the Mover and Groover truck). The entire week Rhys didn’t see any sign of Erick or Gene. Saturday afternoon he texted Erick to see if he wanted to hang out that night, one last time for old time sake; he said he would and he’d be at the apartment by 8.
At 9:15, Erick still hasn’t shown up or responded to any of Rhys’ texts. He pulls out his phone and dials Joey.
“Hello?” Joey answers.
“Hey.”
“What’s up? I thought this was yours and Erick’s big last night?”
“He didn’t show up, and now he won’t answer my calls or texts.”
“Well, at least you have your family there to hang out with.”
“My parents are already in bed – they act like the time difference is 12 hours, not three! And Marion went to the movies with Chloe and Cindy tonight to give Erick a
nd me some roommate time.”
“So what are you doing?”
“Playing on my phone,” Rhys sighs. “Practically everything in here was mine and it’s all been packed up. There’s not even a TV in here anymore. Well, there’s one in his room but I’m not going to go sit in his room to watch TV.”
“Yeah…well, your room is all ready for you here. Cheryl wasn’t thrilled to give up her closet room, but whatever.”
“Tell her how much I appreciate it.”
“I will. I need to do something really nice for her, though, to thank her for giving up the room and show my appreciation for summer school. You can help me come up with something as my thank you.”
“OK,” Rhys says with a laugh. “Well…I guess I’ll see you in a couple days.”
“Have a good night.”
Rhys hangs up and decides to go for a walk to kill time until he’s tired enough to sleep. After wandering the streets for a while he ends up at Espresso Self and goes in to look at the art. After ordering a decaf vanilla latte he walks over to the gallery side. He’s looking at a painting of a young blonde boy with pale skin and plump red lips holding a dandelion when someone comes up behind him.
“Hey.”
Rhys turns around and sees Erick standing there. “Hi.” He takes a sip of his latte. “What are you doing here? Thought we were hanging out tonight.”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Erick says with a smile.
“I got tired of waiting for you.”
“Oh, right.”
“Do you really hate me so much that you can’t even spend one more night with me to say bye? We were best friends for four years. Do you know how much it hurts me that you’ve just decided you’ve grown tired of me?”
“You know that’s not true,” Erick retorts.
“I really don’t. I understand that you feel like we’ve grown apart, I can appreciate that fact. I don’t understand how you can ask me to leave instead of working on our friendship.”
“I’m ready for a new chapter of my life with new people.”
“Fine.” Rhys walks past Erick toward the door, but Erick grabs his shoulder to stop him.
“Do you think this is easy for me?”
“Yeah, it apparently is, or else you wouldn’t be doing it.”
“I’m doing it because I can’t bear to have you in my life and watch our friendship slowly die; it hurts too much. That’s why I’m trying to just move on, so we can both heal and get on with life. And there’s no saving this; you know that. We’ve tried and we keep drifting further apart. Being best friends shouldn’t be this hard.”
For the first time since Erick asked him to leave, Rhys realizes how hard this is for him also. “I just wish it didn’t have to be all or nothing for you.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, necessarily. One day maybe we can get back what we had, but for now…we just need to figure out who we are out of school and if it’s meant to be, we’ll come back together.”
“I hope that happens,” Rhys says, looking down at the ground.
“Me too.” They look at each other in silence for a few beats. Erick steps toward Rhys and hugs him. “I’m sorry. I really, really am. I wish nothing but the best for you in life. And I hope we do manage to reconnect one day.”
Rhys slowly puts his arms around Erick and hugs him back. “Thanks,” he holds back tears. “I honestly have no hard feelings over this; it’s just going to take me a little bit to get over it completely.”
They step away from each other, not sure what to say next.
“So,” Rhys eventually says. “How about we go get those drinks we were planning on.”
“OK,” Erick says. “Let’s go.” They leave the café and go to the bar two doors down where they stay until last call, reminiscing all of the good times that they shared together over the past four years.
***
At 9:00 the next morning Rhys is woken up by his phone ringing in his ear.
“This is your wake up call,” his mom says in a perky voice.
“Ugh,” he moans.
“Come on,” she says. “We’re out here waiting for you.”
“Why don’t you come inside?”
“Because no one will answer the door.”
Rhys sighs as he ends the call and climbs out of the sleeping bag he slept in last night. He pads to the door to let his family in. When he opens the door, however, instead of his parents and sister waiting for him, the entire rooftop community is standing out there waiting for him.
“What’s going on?” he asks as he tries to fix his bed head.
“It’s your going away party,” his mom says. She steps forward to usher him out; when she does Rhys sees Erick standing near the ledge by the stairs.
“We’re going to miss you, sweetie,” says Janie, giving Rhys a big hug. “And you too,” she says, pulling Marion in on the hug too. “I’m sorry it took such a traumatic experience to bring us closer together,” she says to him.
“Me too.” He looks around and sees streamers hung all around the ledge and on the plants Erick bought for his date with Adele. Above the door to apartment 202 is a banner that reads ‘Good Luck Rhys!’ with colorful balloons hung on either side of it.
“The sausage is ready!” Cindy calls out from in front of her apartment. She’s standing at her grill cooking sausage links and patties, with Newman at her feet willing her to drop something. Next to her is Chloe making pancakes on an electric griddle.
“Hey,” a female voice says behind Rhys. She wraps her arms around him tightly.
He turns around and sees Annie. “Fannie Pack!” he yells, hugging her back. “Oh, I’m going to miss your sexy ass.”
“There’s not as much of it, is there?” she asks, turning around to show off her smaller backside. “I’ve been running every morning.”
“Yeah, you look good; almost good enough to convert me, but not quite.”
“Shucks,” she says, kicking the ground.
After everyone is done eating, Lawrence pulls Rhys aside. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to test you,” he says.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Rhys says. “I’ll get tested once I get back to Ohio.”
“That sounds good,” Lawrence says. “Then make sure you do it again though about three months after the incident; it can take longer for some of them to show up.”
“I will. Thanks for everything your family has done.” Rhys shakes Lawrence’s hand before crossing the roof to help Chloe and Cindy clean up.
“You don’t need to do that,” Chloe says.
“Shh!” Cindy says. “If he wants to help clean, don’t stop him!”
“Cindy hates cleaning,” Chloe says. “She loves to cook, but will never clean up after herself.”
“That’s not true!” Cindy says. “I just make a big stink about it,” she says with a laugh. She gathers up some dirty bowls and takes them inside.
“So, I suppose this is goodbye,” Chloe says to Rhys, walking toward him.
“I suppose it is,” he agrees. “Thanks for being such a good friend to me.”
She pulls him to her in a tight hug and kisses his cheek. “Stay in touch. You have my contact info in that address book from Janie, and then there’s Facebook and Twitter.”
“And MySpace,” he adds. “It’s my goal in life to get a sequel made to Spice World and to make MySpace relevant again.”
Chloe laughs and shakes her head. “Oh, I’m going to miss you.”
“Gross! Break it up you two!” Cindy yells from the door.
Chloe rolls her eyes and goes over to where the twins are playing with Newman.
“So,” Cindy says. “It’s about time you leave.”
“I know. I prayed every night that something would happen so I wouldn’t have to live near you anymore,” Rhys says deadpan. “Oh, and good luck with your stand up, I’m sure you’ll do great,” he says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes.
“And you with your ‘acting’,” she says, with
finger quotes.
They stare at each other with evil looks before they burst out in laughter and hug.
“I never thought I would miss you,” Rhys says.
“Trust me, neither did I!” She holds him tight and whispers in his ear, “Please stay in touch.”
“I will,” he whispers back. He holds her tight for a second more before pushing her back. “Ew! Stop rubbing up on me!”
“I think I felt your penis!” she yells, backing toward her apartment. “You’re so gross!”
“Seriously, Cindy?” Chloe says, walking back from the twins to take some dishes in the apartment. “You can’t get along with him for even five minutes?” She shakes her head and takes another load of dishes inside.
Cindy laughs and sticks her tongue out at Rhys before following Chloe inside.
Rhys turns around and sees Jennifer walking to him. “I got this for you,” she says, handing him a small bag.
“Thanks,” he says as he takes the bag. He reaches in and pulls out a keychain of the Believe-O-Meter. “Aw, thanks,” he says again, hugging her.
“You’re welcome,” she says. “And good luck on your move.”
He smiles at her. “Can you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“Don’t give up on Erick. I didn’t realize how hard this all is on him,” he glances to Erick sitting on the ledge with Annie, “and he’s going to need a friend.”
Jennifer turns and looks at Erick and Annie also. “Yeah, I suppose I can do that for you.”
About ten minutes later, Rhys’ dad comes up to him. “You about ready to go?” he asks him.
Rhys looks around the rooftop and sighs. “Yeah, I guess I am.” After hugging everyone again, and then everyone hugging Marion and Janie hugging his parents, Rhys walks over to Erick for one last goodbye.
“Good luck,” Erick says. “Tell everyone I said ‘hi’.”
“I will. And don’t be a stranger; come visit whenever you want.”
Erick nods, knowing it’s unlikely he’ll go back out there.
“Bye,” Rhys says, giving him a quick hug before backing toward the stairs and waving to everyone. Before going downstairs he pulls out his cell phone and takes a group picture of everyone.