“Look at me,” David said, and when he had his attention, he opened his mouth and moved his jaw back and forth.
“Like you’re yawning.”
He did it like his dad and smiled.
One down, four to go …
◊◊◊
When they landed, David went back to help with the kids. Once he had the last one free and with their mom, he finally made his way to the exit. Tami and Crystal were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.
“I wanted to let you know I reserved the banquet room at Monical’s,” Tami said.
“Great idea! I planned on going there at least once. I haven’t been since high school.”
“What’s Monical’s?” Crystal asked.
“It was what we thought was the best pizza in the world when we were growing up. It’s where we used to go after games,” David said.
Tami’s phone made a noise. She checked and smiled.
“My mom is here. I’ll see you there,” she said and took off.
“We need to hurry if we’re going to make it by nine,”
Crystal said, looking at her phone.
David had to skip his last two classes to make it to the airport because of the time change and long flight.
Otherwise, they would have been landing close to midnight.
“Let’s grab our rental car and go straight there. We can check in after,” David decided.
◊◊◊
It was late for eating pizza on a school night, so David figured the place would be empty. When they pulled up, the parking lot was full.
“It looks like the gang is all back,” David said as he saw everyone walk in.
“These are all your friends?” Crystal asked.
“Yeah, most of them. It’s hard to believe that I haven’t seen most of these people since graduation,” David said.
A moment later, someone spotted him. His brother Phil walked up and hugged him. It looked like Phil had brought the current football team. David also spotted many of his old teammates who’d graduated. The one person there he didn’t expect to see was Alan Douglas.
David acknowledged him with a nod and held up one finger to communicate that he had to say hello to everyone first. Alan nodded back and went and sat in a booth.
For his life, David couldn’t figure out why his ex-friend was there. The last he’d seen him was at Jeff’s grave when Alan told him that the best of them had left. Tami had brought them together in the hopes that they could reconnect.
Tami, Jeff, Alan, and David had been the Four Musketeers growing up. David had been the social butterfly, Jeff was the glue that held everyone together, Tami told them what to do, and Alan would fly off the handle with crazy ideas. When their glue-guy had passed helping save a classmate, Alan no longer had a filter on his crazy. It had eventually culminated at the graveyard with Alan showing no remorse for all the things he’d done to people … well, mostly David.
Tami had tried to assume Jeff’s role as peacemaker, but she had to admit that David should cut ties with Alan.
David had done so, making him wonder why Alan was here tonight.
It had taken almost an hour to say hello to everyone, and David was famished. He grabbed a plate, filled it up with pizza, and went to find Alan.
“I bet you’re surprised to see me here.”
“I would have never guessed,” David admitted. “Why are you here?”
“Sit down and eat while I catch you up,” Alan said.
David wasn’t surprised when Tami pushed in after him to witness whatever this was.
“You have my full attention,” David said.
“I’m sure it will come as no surprise that I got kicked out of Michigan. I won’t go into details, but my parents wanted to have me committed when all was said and done. They decided I was mentally ill.”
“I probably wouldn’t go that far,” Tami interjected. “But time with a good psychologist or psychiatrist would do you a world of good.”
David kept his mouth shut because Alan never reacted well if he thought they were ganging up on him.
“They saw I wouldn’t go voluntarily, so we reached a compromise. I enrolled in Emotions Anonymous, aka EA, a twelve-step program for people with issues,” Alan said.
“Is that like AA, Alcoholics Anonymous?” David asked.
“It is. EA asked AA if they could use the twelve steps and twelve traditions as the cornerstone of their recovery program. It’s not intended to replace a doctor’s help, but they were the ones that helped me see that I should seek that. With the combination and some good drugs, I’m not as anxious or making snap decisions near as much.
“I got my act together enough to enroll at the University of Western Michigan this last semester,” Alan said.
“Are you here because of the twelve steps?” Tami asked.
“Yes. I just finished step eight. That’s the one where you list all the people you’ve harmed and become willing to make amends. I’m now on step nine, where I talk to each person, apologize, and try to atone for what I’ve done. But I have another purpose, too. I want to be upfront about it so that when I ask for a favor later, you don’t think the only reason I’m apologizing is to get something from you,” Alan said.
David played that scenario out in his head and agreed that it would be precisely what he thought.
“I know that now is not the time or place for what I need to do, but you both blocked me, so I had to find a way to see you in person,” Alan said.
David looked at Tami.
“You blocked him?”
She shrugged.
“That right there shows me how much damage I did.
When Tami is done with you …” Alan trailed off.
“You’re right. I’ve made her so mad that she screamed that she never wanted to see me again. But Tami gave me a second chance,” David said. “Because of all that, I’m not sure I want to hear your BS, if I’m being honest.”
Alan chuckled.
“I get it. Lisa Felton actually nailed me with her phone when I approached her. At least neither of you has punched me.”
“Tami would flick you in the forehead,” David said.
Alan reached for the spot and rubbed it out of habit.
“She did get me there a lot.”
“Let me sleep on it,” David decided.
“I’ll wait and see if you work it out with David before I decide,” Tami said.
“I deserve that. Let me prove I’m sincere.”
“I need more pizza and want to say goodbye to a few people. I’ll call you,” David said.
He and Tami slid out of the booth. When they were out of earshot, he turned to Tami.
“What do you think?” David asked.
“You called it. He’s full of it, but he wants something from you. It would be better to let him think you forgive him because he’s the last person you want mad at you.”
“I thought that was Lexi,” David quipped.
“Let’s call it a tie.”
“Or my mom,” David added.
“That’s a given. Your mom might actually take you out of this world,” Tami said with a smile.
That she might.
◊◊◊
Crystal and David had had a talk about his romantic past. After a number of introductions, she figured out that almost every girlfriend he’d ever had was there at Monical’s. Even those he’d only dated for a minute, including Sun Ling, Sarah Spence, Kara Tasman, and Eve Holiday. Then there were the girls from longer relationships. That group included Brook Davis, Halle James, Zoe Bauer, Pam Bell, Tracy Dole, Suzanne Ball, and Cindy Lewis. It wasn’t that Crystal didn’t know about them, but seeing all of them there together … it was a bit overwhelming.
“I can’t believe that they all still consider you a friend. I bet that if you asked, any or all of them would take you to bed tonight,” Crystal said, letting her jealousy creep out.