[charlieglasgow]

I will never come back, that's a promise. I told myself that as I crammed every one of my possessions that I had not managed to sell into my old, beat up piece of shitt of a vehicle. I had promised myself that I would save up enough to get out of this shitty town, and I finally did. So here I was. I had said goodbye to everyone, except him. I was hoping to avoid goodbye, taking the coward's approach. Turns out, he wouldn't let me.

I didn't want to trust him at first, but I didn't have the option; he was going to love me anyhow. We knew our friendship was special - Light My Candle was written for us. He protected me even when he didn't have the right or ability to. He'd try to protect me from myself if he could. I just wouldn't let him.


There's so much of myself that I wouldn't let him know, but with his persistence, I let him in. I don't let people in that often, but when I do it's special. And I never regretted it, but I didn't want to sting him with goodbye. I turned around after packing up the last box into my car, and there he was, 40oz in my hand, just like I remember from the beginning. I just stood there.

I don't think we knew what to say. Leaving sounded so horrible now; after seeing the look in his eyes I briefly considered saying **** it to the whole plan and staying. He walked over to me slowly, and he was looking down but I could see the tears in his eyes. Stop it, I said silently. You're going to make me cry.

And I did cry as he wrapped his arms around me, "Oh, come on. It's not so bad," I reasoned. "Now you and Adie have a nice vacation spot whenever you want." I was trying to convince myself of that, more than him. He pulled away and shrugged. "I'm not even going to miss you the most. It's the guys." I saw the tough wall go up. Yeah, right.

"Greg won't answer his phone," I offered. "Yeah, I don't think he's taking it so well." I kicked myself mentally for bonding with this group. "Stop act like you're never going to see me again, whimpass. You are. Very soon. I'll call you when I get to the hotel tonight."

"You ****ing better." I couldn't take it anymore. "I need to leave. I can't handle this." He understood, so we hugged one more time, tears dropping onto each other's t-shirts, and I was gone, watching my odometer rise as the sun dipped below the mountains. I looked in my rearview mirror and there he was.

He just ewatched, then took a huge swig of his warm beer. I sighed, knowing he'd be whiskey-drunk when I reached the first hotel.