(OLIVER POV)
Me and my friend Lucas (who lived next door to me for most my life) are just texting as usual.
ME: So what are you doing right now (you usually multitask when we text)
LUCAS: I am enjoying jello
ME: That’s nice, what flavor is it?
LUCAS: Blue
That’s it? No deep dive into the contents of a food? It’s nutritional value? Just a color?
ME: … What?
LUCAS: It’s blue jello
I laugh (this is probably just him being silly)
ME: That’s not a flavor
LUCAS: So?
ME: The Lucas I know would be very specific about ingredients and look to see what the actual flavor is
LUCAS: That Lucas is dead
Wait what? Why? When did this happen? Or is he joking? Good grief- texting makes it hard to tell if people are kidding!
Uhh! Just answer light-heartedly and hope it works out!
ME: That’s a shame. He helped me try coca-cola for the first time and learn that it doesn’t have cocaine in it, and he explained why chocolate milk containers are smaller
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
That’s one of my favorite memories ever.
LUCAS: What did old-Lucas tell you? Because one is cheaper than the other?”
He doesn’t remember? Uh, that’s fine … it was a while ago, too.
ME: Actually he told me it was because of a difference in density
LUCAS: That sounds like something I’d say
(is that a good thing or a bad thing?)
ME: He also said it’s because children drink less and usually the children are the ones asking for chocolate milk
LUCAS: Makes sense
ME: Why is “old” Lucas dead? I liked him a lot and he was a nice human
LUCAS: Are you saying I’m not nice anymore?”
Is he mad?
Crap! I didn’t mean it like that!
I meant it in the way people in passing are like “oh I knew that person! He was nice!”
I try to avoid the urge to cry right now on the spot as I type as fast as I can without making an error because I know he’d correct me on it (or maybe he won’t now that he’s “new” Lucas)
ME: No! You are nice! All versions of you are nice! I’ve known you since you were learning to walk! We’re still friends aren’t we?
LUCAS: “All versions” of me? How many other Lucas-es do you know?
… what?
Uh- that doesn’t matter - I need to assure him I still think he’s nice, even if he’s trying to tell me he’s changing!
ME: We wouldn’t be talking like this if we didn’t get along really well, yeah? That takes a kind person to manage almost two decades of friendship, right?
LUCAS: (sends a cat meme)
… DON’T GLOSS OVER WHAT I JUST SAID! I poured out my heart for a minute and you’re just brushing it off with cute cat photos?
ME: Aww, it’s a cat
LUCAS, I’M SORRY!! CAN’T YOU SEE MY RAMBLINGS ARE JUST A REALLY INDIRECT APOLOGY FOR SAYING SOMETHING THAT YOU TOOK AS AN INSULT???
> > > >
In the end, we just ended up ending the conversation.
Lucas kept sending cat images and I kept saying nice things about each to show I was paying attention, but he stopped sending them and I didn’t ask him to keep texting.
Ugh… I hope this isn’t a sign he was mad.
I rarely text Lucas (or anyone) because I usually prefer to facetime people so I can get a guess at how they’re feeling…
That was a nightmare.
I really hope tomorrow he’ll wake up and forget this happened so we can go back to our usual way of talking.
Or if he does bring it up, I’ll just apologize right away and directly clear up what I meant.
Even if Lucas doesn’t care about specific facts and logical connections anymore, or if he stops correcting everyone’s grammar, or even if he stops having his perfect-student complex and stops caring about following rules,
that doesn’t change that he’s basically my big brother
and a person who grew up by my side, stood up to bullies for me, was always there for me, and influenced a lot of who I am as a person now.
I just hope that me making a careless comment doesn’t make him forget that.
~ ~ ~
(Let’s all agree Oliver needs a hug for the anxiety he goes through every time he’s unsure how something he said came across)
(Also Lucas does talk to Oliver again in the near future and it seems things are okay)