True Friends

Potatoes. Potatoes, as far as the eye could see!

 His heart sang with joy as waterfalls of gravy poured down from a giant cup into a mountain of mashed potatoes. He squealed in delight as the clouds stitched themselves together and rained hash browns from the skies. French fries lounged around pools of ketchup, wearing tiny sunglasses as the sun baked them to a delicious golden brown. Croquette castles dotted the landscape, baked potato barons watching over their subjects with glee.

 He had found potato paradise. And boy, was he eager to devour everything here, like the monstrous giant he was. Now all he needed was a fork and knife and-

 Rrrrring, rriiiiiing.

The paradise began to fade from view, even as he reached out to grab a hash brown. It slipped through his fingers like a ghost, his heart breaking as the sun’s rays penetrated and unraveled the illusion before his very eyes.

Brandon grumbled as he opened his eyes to the same damn thing he always woke to: a blur. And, of course, the sun shining in his eyes. And the sound of his phone going off. He reached out and answered it, unsure of what to expect.

“Hello…?”

If he wasn’t awake yet, he certainly was now as “Gasolina” blared in the call background.

“Oyyyy, Brandon! How’s it going, man?” a man said over the music, all too cheery for someone talking to him at… what time was it again? Seven, eight?

Brandon took a moment to reach out towards his nightstand and grab his glasses, putting them on with as much grace as he could after waking up so abruptly. He was not so happy that he nearly poked his eye out in the process. He squinted at his phone and saw the name ‘Jacob’ on the caller ID, then groaned.

“Hi, Jacob. Please go back to sleep,” Brandon grumbled.

“Oh, shit, did I wake you up?” The music stopped abruptly, much to Brandon’s relief. “Fuck, I thought you were a morning person!”

“Only when I wake up on my own terms.”

“Shit, I’ll make this quick, then. Wanna go out for lunch later?”

 He should really stop thinking of a 5 lb. plate of poutine. And a 4 lb. baked potato. And oh god there is drool everywhere. The offer was so tempting, but no! He had a budget to handle, a life to live, some restraint to-

“Sure! Did you have any place in mind?”

“You’ve been talking a big game about Pho, so why don’t you take us to your favorite pho shop, bro? You think Emily would come with?”

“If she’s not swarmed with pop quizzes in class today, sure!”

“Then it’s settled! Call me when you’re ready. Now get back to sleep, homie!”

Beep.

Brandon was pleased now, but he was sure the pain train of guilt was going to hit him right after lunch. He shouldn’t even be thinking about eating out today. There was plenty of food to make here! Like chicken noodle soup! And steak and potatoes! And a gross amount of poutine!

…But none of those sounded as nice as lunch with his best friends.

Sleep evaded him as he tried to snooze through the guilt. He couldn’t even think too much about the Potato Paradise without chiding himself about being such a pig. After a solid hour of struggling with sleep and bad thoughts, Brandon forced himself out of bed and onto the couch with a sketchpad and pencil in hand, passing the time by drawing whatever came to his head first.

By the time lunch came around, Brandon was not surprised that he drew a magical girl conjuring food with glee.

It wasn’t that long ago that Brandon sat at this very restaurant, Josh telling him off about paying him back after saving his ass from the wrath of a pyrokinetic. The memory lingered on like a vengeful ghost, his heart twisting as it clawed its way to the surface of his mind.

But even the foulest of thoughts fade away at the smell of freshly made beef and chicken stock, the relaxing ambiance, and the adorable smile of the granny running the register.

Brandon waved at her and smiled back as he took a seat at a booth close to the window, soaking up the sun’s rays with a glee only matched by a dog lounging on top of their owner. He pulled his laptop out of his messenger bag and casually scrolled through blogs as he waited for his friends to arrive. He DID send out that text, didn’t he? One quick glance at his phone and- yep, he definitely sent the text. So it was all a matter of waiting-

“Yooooooo!”

“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

And before he knew it, Emily threw herself into her seat along with a green-haired man, with piercings and earrings all over his left ear. If he didn’t know any better, Brandon would have thought the anime hair gang had come to take him down. Either way, he couldn’t help but smile as the dynamic duo posed, up until the menus came in.

“Sup, B.C.?” Emily asked as Brandon gently put away his laptop. “You doin’ alright?”

Brandon slouched a little in the booth as he glanced over the menu. “Hanging in there,” he replied with a frown. “Budgets don’t fix themselves overnight, you know.” The thought of the Josh fiasco resurfaced in his mind as the trio put in their orders, but after a while, Brandon forced a smile and asked, “And how are you two doing? Anything exciting happen today?”

Emily rested her head in her hand as she drummed her fingers on the table with a bored look on her face. “Nah. All I had were quizzes about cells and shit. There was this one fuck who wouldn’t stop fucking talking in class, though. I wanted to knock his fucking teeth out and tell him to shut the fuck up.”

“Bit too extreme there, Em, but I know the feeling. All you can do is either sit somewhere else or tell the teacher about it.”

“Or do the third option,” Jacob chimed in with a devious grin strikingly similar to a devil about to make a deal, “and when class is over, push him down a flight of stairs! Make it look like an accident, too, like ‘Ooops, tee hee, I was being such a klutz’ or some shit like that!”

“Jacob, please don’t give Em any more ideas on how to get away with murder.”

Jacob scratched at his goatee for a bit before shrugging. “What? Let he do what she wants, I’m just givin’ her a hand. But anyway, guess what I did today!”

Brandon and Emily exchanged glances, both of them waiting for the other to speak up. With that devious grin still on his face, nothing good could have happened, right?

Emily took a deep breath as she took a shot and said in hushed tones, “Yo, you actually went and beat up the guy who made you a bad batch of pot?!”

“I think he made pot brownies, Em. That’s the only reason he would call me at seven in the morning and ask me if I wanted to go out to lunch.”

“Dude, I wouldn’t have even asked about lunch. I would have asked about breakfast.”

Jacob waggled a finger at both of them as he smugly declared, “You’re both wrong. Good guesses, but not this time! Got somethin’ veeeery special for somebody today!”

Emily’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out from shock as she blurted out, “Dude, really?!? What’d you get, bro? And for who!”

“I ain’t tellin you yet!” Jacob said with a grin, just as their bowls of pho arrived. “We eat first, THEN I show you!”

Emily shot him a nasty glare, but Jacob would not relent. Brandon knew at least that much. But maybe if he clasped his hands and gave Jacob the puppy dog look…

“Awww, can’t you just break the rules just a teeeeeny bit and tell us?” he said, his voice sweeter than honey. “I promise I won’t tell them~!”

“Nope, not even you, B.C.!”

As Jacob happily ate his meal, Emily and Brandon exchanged glances again. The next few minutes were awkward, as Emily tried staring Jacob down long enough to get him to relent his secrets. Not a word was spoken between them, so quiet that Brandon could swear he could hear a pin drop. He wished they’d say something, anything, as once again the cursed thought of Josh rose from the depths like an angry sea monster.

When the bill finally came, Brandon felt a lump in his throat. Forty dollars. Forty. That was four tens. And when it comes to his budget, that was three tens too many. He opened his mouth to ask his friends if they could help out, but…

“Then why you can’t just let me live, man?! You know I don’t got the cash, so just fuck off about that!”

For a brief moment, his heart seized as if he was just stabbed. He slowly closed his mouth and dug for his wallet. It was just forty dollars and then some. It wasn’t hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Why was he getting so worked up about something so small?

Before he could pull out his debit card, Jacob grabbed his hand. Brandon forced himself to look up, and saw the concern written all over his friend’s face. He also saw the frost forming on the window, on the table, around his hands…

“Dude,” Jacob said as he grabbed the tab and pulled out his own debit card, “I got this. I was the one who invited you guys, so it’s all on me. Besides,” he added with a gentle smile, “I already know you got big problems, so I gotta help out when I can, eh?”

As Jacob paid the bill, Brandon concentrated on cleaning up the melting frost before the owners made a fuss. It was all he could do to stop himself from becoming a blubbery mess in public. Emily was more than happy to pitch in, grinning ear to ear when they finally finished.

As the trio left the restaurant, Emily stretched out her arms, then shot Jacob an eager look as she asked, “Yo, so what’s the surprise, huh? You can’t just leave us hangin’ like that!”

“Man, I was gonna get to that!” Jacob groaned as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his apps. “Give me like two seconds to breathe, man!”

“Not til you tell us what the fuck is up, bro!”

“I will, if you let me!”

Brandon patiently waited, smiling timidly as his two friends bickered amongst each other. It was nice to hang out with them again, after he spent so much time focused on others that were like toxic waste. Sure, they had their quirks and their fights, but they cared. They really, really cared.

They were the only two that seemed to care about him as a person. Without them… he’d… he’d-

“Yo, Brandon! Guess who I got?!”

Before any darker thoughts could consume him whole, Jacob shoved his phone in Brandon’s face. On there was a picture of a gray poodle, with loads of fuzzy, curly fur.

“Um?” was the only thing Brandon could say. It was just a picture of a cute poodle. Nothing particularly special, right? Okay, maybe it reminded him of a big ol’ poodle from the animal shelter he volunteered at for a week. She was fluffy, just like that, and super excitable. She even gave him lots of kisses after he walked her for a good while!

Wait. Why did this poodle remind him of…?

For a moment, time seemed to stop as the realization dawned on him.

“No. No, you didn’t.”

Jacob’s grin said enough.

“Merry late Christmas! Told your landlady about it, and she’s all good with your new buddy! And I got everything you need to treat her right!”

It was a dream. It was all a dream, wasn’t it? Nobody could be that nice. Not to him. Just like this morning, he’d wake up any moment now, the whole world a blur as the sun shined in his eyes. It couldn’t be real.

But when Emily slapped him on the back and cheered loudly in his ear, when the world didn't dissolve and reveal him back in his room, he realized it was real, so very, very real.

Hugging Jacob was all he could actually do from breaking down crying in the middle of the sidewalk from sheer joy. Jacob gladly returned the hug and patted him on the back, while Emily basically tackled him to try to join in on the group hug. Brandon wished it could last a little longer for a few seconds, but none of them wanted to keep the new friend waiting for too long!

That night, Brandon gladly welcomed Pookums the Poodle back into his life, singing to himself with glee and watching yet another episode of Nightmare Fighter Kogasa as Pookums watched with him, her tail thumping against the couch in excitement.