There was a knocking at my door; I didn’t even need to open it to know who it was.
“Hey Matt.”
It was Greg, but he had changed since earlier today. He was wearing gym shorts and a tee shirt, he looked cut up, but happy; I’d never seen him leave the house like this before.
“You're looking at me funny, do I have a booger?”
"No, it's just that..."
"I'm bored, let's go to your room and talk."
He was looking…I don’t know, I hadn’t seen him this way, if I were gay, I’d almost say he was cute, but only almost.
“’Bout what?” I said.
“Your mom knew I was coming by, we have time."
So many things I could have said, but I wanted to talk to him, and I couldn’t kick him out he had already made himself at home, right there on my bed.
“I guess I want to talk about life.”
He got all excited, then again this was his specialty. Greg had done so much in the fifteen years he’d been alive, and even though I was older he always seemed to be years ahead of me.
“Okay, I guess I can do that.”
By this time he was bouncing on my bed with excitement.
“I’ve been wanting to talk about my memories…and deja-vu.”
He clapped his hands like a little kid and said, “My specialty.”
See I told you.
“It seems, that everywhere I go, either I get deja-vu, or it reminds me of my old, super fun days.”
"That happens to me alot too, I see something new and at the same time it feels like I already knew about it. Movies...places...people...stuff...more stuff.”
I shot him a glance.
“I'm sorry, you can talk now,” he said.
Then he bit his finger and smiled. Greg sure was in a good mood today.
“I was in the new gym and I haven’t been there for a long time. I was with my friend Steven—running, climbing, and all that jazz.”
Watching Chicago was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.
I continued, “Monkey business basically, and it reminds me of things…just things.”
Greg got serious all of a sudden. His smile was gone and he took off his glasses.
“So are you reminiscing or is it a rush of thoughts at once, more a medley of thoughts than a single one, or a single thought, you have to help me out man."
“Like ‘gooooooooooooooollly, I remember doing that!’ and then I get a rush of other things.”
Greg looked different. He shot me a cold stare and muttered something under his breath.
"Could you be a bit more serious?"
"You ask the questions and I'll answer however I feel."
"I will stick my foot so far up your ass."
"You know what, shut up."
We gestured immaturely at each other for about two minutes and then we stopped and it was understood that the hostility was over. We continued as if nothing happened, but his eyes stared at me more intensely than when we began.
“Do these ‘memories’ affect how you react to things? Is it a distraction? A stimulant? Nothing?”
I decided to answer his questions, not just because I didn't want a foot in my ass, but because he was my friend.
“Yeah wherever I go, it’s awesome, like little trickles of thought,” I said.
I stayed silent waiting for him to say something, to ask another question. And I waited and waited and then he threw a pillow with his cellphone in it at me.
"I was looking for my cellphone"
"What the hell Greg, you don't make sense."
“You're the one who took off the leash, if you stop again, I'll sic you like there's no tomorrow, but thank you for helping me find my phone.”
“Sorry and your welcome?”
“It’s fine really, continue.”
Greg's threat made me a little uncomfortable, but he's right I did ask him to talk with me. Next time he came over I might be asleep though...or sick...or dead, but then I'd have to deal with him the next day. I just can't win. I'd have to answer him and be glad that he made up for his shortcomings.
“It’s like torrents of remembrance, first though, it’s like a bubbling brook and then it’s…”
“It’s what Matt?”
He had calmed down and was looking at me with a gentle look in his eyes, kind of like a mother. I was thankful too because I was expecting apeshit Greg.
“Matt are you okay?”
He looked concerned. For a second there I didn’t know what he was talking about, and then it hit me. And so did he.
“Okay I deserved that, but just like that. I was looking at something that reminded me of a thing I used to do, and I just stopped talking and started to stare.”
I wanted him to ask me what I was thinking about, but he just kept interrogating me.
“So you lose yourself?” he said.
“Sometimes, yeah.”
The serious Greg was back.
“You said sometimes, what about the other times.”
“Other times, I just get the one thought, and I forget what caused the tide of thought, and it stops at the one,” I said.
“Is it a side-effect of your ADD or completely different feeling?”
Oww, low blow, but if I stopped he'd hit me.
“Completely different,” I said quickly and tried to keep the insulted tone out of my voice.
“So you more or less zone out, have you ever continued activities while this "deja vu" occurs.”
Just what was he getting at?
“Yeah, and it makes the memories stronger, which I totally like.”
“Uh-huh, I see, you’re gonna have to go deeper than that.”
“I remember once, going to a public pool, because I was in daycare, and we didn’t live in a safe neighborhood back then. But then again when I smelled the pool in the new gym, it brought me back.”
“It keeps you young, so it's good, only when it interferes with your life is it not-okay Matty.”
“I know. it hasn’t yet.”
After I said that, he laid down on my bed and seemed to be doing some remembering of his own.
“I miss talking like this Matt.”
At least I knew he still cared.
“Yeah, I do too Greg, sorry I keep thinking about the pool stuff and ignoring you.”
He was that happy little boy again.
“Matt you know I love when you confide in me.”
“And I can most of the time, unless it’s really embarrassing, but I’m getting over it.”
“I know.”
He was beaming. It was like he was a totally different person.
“Hey Matt, how come we're closest at night, and during the day we're weird toward each other.”
“Because I’m tired during the day from spending all night talking to you.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Greg didn’t buy my answer any more than I did.
“It kind of does, but it is late now, I s'pose I should go to bed, I hope we talk like this tomorrow night, heck, I know we will.”
“Sure, bye Matt.”
He gave me a hug, something was really off. To keep things going I kicked him in the shin and told him to get out. To anybody else it'd be mean, but that's just how we work.
“Bye Greg,” I said.
I waited until he was out of the house, then I changed and grabbed my gun. Just then the cellphone rang.
I answered, “Agent Possibility here.”
Gender:
Points: 890
Reviews: 26