AncilChapter 7: The Disappearance
Kate didn’t respond to my message but she did respond to my text explaining why she didn’t respond to my message. She wrote that one of her father’s friends came over and was driving her nuts. She told me about how smelly and obnoxious he was but among the words in the text, one thing stood out plainly. She wrote that her father was being released from jail on Monday. That should have been good news but it wasn’t. It wasn’t good news at all. It meant that I wouldn’t get the chance to go over to Kate’s house as much as I wanted lest I be beaten to a pulp. The waffle idea now seemed foiled.
The week flew by but I wasn’t able to visit Kate. Vince’s buddy was still there and I knew how dangerous that was for my wellbeing. Kate and I still kept in contact though. We spoke on the phone and she told me a lot about her book and what she was planning to do with Tom and Ariel, like her plans of having them finally meet each other in person and go out on a date. It was a well-coordinated mission to do so and they planned the whole thing through the letters that they sent through each other’s windows. Tom’s father always dropped him off at school and picked him up afterward, so the only window of opportunity they had to meet each other was during school hours. It was a risky move but in order to meet each other they had to cut classes and sneak out. The first time they did it, they just ambled down the streets and talked to each other about their life goals, and hobbies and just generally got to know each other better. They continued cutting classes to be with each other and each time they did it was a new adventure. From ice cream by the pool to bike riding through the forests. Kate told me that she hadn’t translated her thoughts onto paper as yet but had an idea of what she wanted to write whenever she started writing. She said that her imagination was running wilder than it had ever been before.
Kate’s writing process was vastly different from mine. I didn’t really have to know a character in reality to transfer their attributes onto paper. I usually invented characters from my head without any relation to a person in my life. I guess that was just a trait of a science fiction and fantasy writer. Kate’s writer’s block was understandable, mine wasn’t. I had been writing the same book at the rate of a page a year without much real connection to my characters. I just couldn’t finish my book and I was clueless as to why.
It was Friday and the time of the Tom Hiddens concert was growing near. Kate and I arranged a meeting point where I would pick her up without being seen by Vince’s buddy. When we met up I then had to arrange with Adam and his girlfriend Rebecca. Adam agreed that we should meet at Decoir and grab some dinner before we headed to the concert. It was a good idea but the only problem was that Decoir had a formal dress code and we weren’t very formal. We were all wearing Jeans pants and both Adam and Rebecca wore black T-shirts with Tom Hiddens’ name written all fancy and whatnot. I wore a light green polo shirt and Kate wore her signature green turtleneck sweater with her glasses fixed on her face. I suspected that green was her favorite color, and turtleneck was her favorite style. She looked like the type of girl that you’d find in a library reading a book. All she needed now was a cup of coffee and a copy of the book Eat Pray Love in her hand to complete her sophisticated finish. But despite our casual attire, we were allowed into the restaurant. I think that Adam and Rebecca’s Tom Hiddens’ T-Shirt had a part to play in our admission. The security outside the restaurant told us that Tom Hiddens would be visiting the restaurant to grab a quick meal before his big show.
As we entered the restaurant, we were almost instantly greeted by a waitress who led us to our seats among the hosts of people mingling in the restaurant all dressed in formal attire. She then left us with menus giving us time to decide on what we wanted. There were a lot of choices but in the end, we all chose the baby back ribs special which consisted of baby back ribs, fries, and a special dip for the wings that were meant to be appetizers. We then all put up money and bought a bottle of champagne. Adam could have afforded the champagne all by himself but I guess having all of us contribute was just Adam’s way of making us feel less like freeloaders.
“So what’s the deal with you two?” Adam asked, referring to Kate and me.
I glanced at Kate then, at Adam, and said, “We’re just really good friends.”
“Friends huh,” Adam said.
“I beg to differ,” Kate interjected. “I think we’re more than just friends. Friends don’t invite friends on double dates.”
“Friends also don’t call each other friends when they know very well that they are more than just that,” Adam said, clearly in an attempt to be mischievous.
“I like you,” Kate laughed referring to Adam.
Rebecca laughed a little, sipping her glass of champagne, then said, “Join the line.”
“Don’t be so quick to disown your friend,” Adam said to Kate, referring to me.
“He disowned me first,” Kate teased playfully.
I knew Kate was joking but I still felt the need to have to defend myself. “I said the word friend as opposed to girlfriend. In Germany, they call their boyfriends or girlfriends friends.”
“Freundin,” Rebecca chimed in.
“Exactly, I like you,” I laughed referring to Rebecca.
“Join the line,” Adam laughed.
The joke brought a chuckle in all of us at the table.
“How does adding girl or boy to the suffix friend make it any more friendly? All it does is give that supposed friend a sex.”
“And that’s the point, my friend. It gives the friend sex,” Adam said with a wink and a sip of his champagne. “You see when you have the word friend without the prefix boy or girl you just have a friend. But when you add sex to the equation ohhh you have more than just a friend.”
