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Jack was in a particularly goofy mood and had been entertaining the three of us all day with his shenanigans. Perry motioned us to stand together for a spontaneous picture while Jack and I were in mid-laugh over a rude comment I’d made about a dick-shaped gourd. His mouth was open, and he was laughing while I grinned like a madman, leaning my cheek against his. The image was a perfect metaphor for our relationship. Laughing together. Loving together.
My eyes filled at the memory. I stared at Jack and how handsome he was. My dearest friend in the world. Through thick and thin, he always liked to say. Jack had given me the picture as a birthday gift, framed and ready to display. The frame with the picture inside had never been opened until Marla had reframed all of my personal pictures to match my bedroom wall. She had done this when she designed my new home.
I flipped the photo over and was not so surprised to see a handwritten note on the back.
C,
Look at us in this image. Time was frozen, and we were caught in an everlasting moment of joy. You and me. So young. So handsome. Forever together. Through thick and thin.
Let’s make a promise to one another to be forever young and forever looking for the humor in life even when we aren’t young any longer. Let’s always look forward, never backward, as we endeavor to truly live our best lives each and every day.
Nothing stops us. No matter what. We will always be reaching for the stars.
J.
I’d stopped reaching lately, but I still had a promise to keep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Chad
The detachable hardtop was off of my Jeep, and I was hauling ass down the beach access road, heading toward the highway. The ocean was to my left as the sun beat down on my half-naked body. Mom asked me to make a grocery store run because she forgot the main ingredient for her dinner of shrimp scampi: the shrimp.
The weather was perfect, and the tunes were at full blast in the Jeep. I liked old-school rock because my father listened to all the classics, especially Bowie, when I was a kid and I grew to like the sound as well. Today’s ride had David Lee Roth screaming Panama as I kept time with the pounding drums by drubbing on the steering wheel.
My hair was flying in my face from the wind, so I reached for the glove box for my favorite baseball cap. The word COCKS was written across the face in bold block letters and in very small letters below it that read, The University of South Carolina Gamecocks. Mom had been horrified the first time I wore it. Dad had smirked, but wisely kept his opinion to himself.
After a quick second, reaching for the hat, I didn’t notice a car that was parked on the side of the road before I whizzed by, narrowly missing it. Checking my rearview mirror, I recognized the bright red BMW roadster and the man leaning against it. I slowed down before whipping a U-turn and heading back to the car.
Executing another U-turn, I pulled up behind Cole and his car and hopped out. “You okay, Mr. Hicks?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’d be better if you called me Cole, though.”
He pointed to the front passenger side of the car, so I headed around the back bumper to check out the issue. “Well, Cole, it looks like you blew out a tire,” I stated, nodding my head while I mirrored him and crossed my arms.
He joined me on the edge of the road. “Yeah, I saw that,” he began. “But I can’t seem to find the spare or a jack. Plus, I’m not sure I even know how to change a tire, to be honest with you.”
“You didn’t get a spare with this car,” I stated. “These are run-flat tires, but the one you totally shredded is beyond what I’d call flat.” I motioned to the shredded sidewalls of the tire. “That’s a complete loss on that one.”
“Well fuck me,” he muttered. “Who buys a car with no spare tire?”
“Anyone who buys a newer model BMW,” I replied. “Have you called roadside assistance at BMW yet?”
He looked off in the distance. I imagined he hadn’t and waited for an answer. He turned around. “I have roadside assistance?”
I wanted to burst out laughing, but he looked so lost and entirely out of his element. “Grab your stuff,” I said, using my cell phone and taking a quick picture of the undamaged rear tire on my side of the car. I needed the size specs for a replacement. “Hop in the Jeep. I’ll take you to town and you can buy a new tire. I’ll even use my jack when we get back and change it for you.”
“You’d do that?” he asked, shading his eyes from the strong sun. “But where were you headed? Am I interrupting?”
“Mom needs shrimp from the store. We’ll grab you a new tire and the shrimp too,” I said. “Sorta kill two shrimps at one time.”
“And you’re sure? Because I can call that assistance number you were talking about,” he said.
“You could wait out here for hours for them,” I said. “It’ll take me ten minutes tops to do the swap after you buy the new one.”
Cole grabbed his wallet and keys, put the ragtop up on the roadster, and we headed for town. “I owe you big time, Chad,” he said, trying to find his seatbelt. “I mean it. I’ll pay you as well,” he added.
“The belt is hanging loosely between the seat and the door,” I advised. “Hard to find when I have the top off the Jeep.”
He dug around some more as he struggled to find the belt, sliding forward and checking behind him. “I can’t seem to find the damn thing.”
