Johnny stepped off the Greyhound bus, smelling the familiar odors of beer, sweat, and hot asphalt. It had been a long time since he'd been here. He had almost forgotten the way the sky seemed to reflect back the monochromatic sidewalk; almost enough to think that there wasn't a horizon. Well, there wasn't a horizon, for him at least. What could he do now with her gone? How could he ever go back to this shithole of a town and start anew? Oh well. These were things to ponder in the future. Right now he had some lies to tell. He started walking, leaving his suitcase at the bus stop. It was empty anyway, just for show. The Sev wasn't that far away, and he didn't want anyone to think that he was coming home here for good. As the winding road stretched on, he saw the almost heavenly glow of the neon lights promoting $4.50 taquitos. This was it. The parking lot, still littered with newspapers and empty cans of PBR, looked just as he had left it. As desolate and depressing as this place was, you could always count on it to never change. Johnny looked around once more, actually appreciating the mediocrity of the suburbs. That's when he saw Will. Still in the same blue sweatshirt, Will walked up the parking lot, weaving his way through the various station wagons. Johnny hesitated to call out to him, fearful that he would hold some sort of grudge for leaving him behind, but he did it anyway. After all, it's not like Will would never find out he was back.
"Hey!" Johnny nervously shouted, looking up from his shoes.
"What the fuck do you-" Will stopped, studying the face of the near stranger that stood in front of him. Then he realized. Without saying a word, Will ran over and embraced Johnny, almost knocking him over. Johnny hugged back, feeling the familiar bro-ness settle in.
"I missed you so much, man. I'm just so fucked up. Heather left and took the baby. She's dating some British rock and roll douche bag. All I do is sit and smoke pot and drink beer. My life is a mess." Will said. "I couldn't keep it together. Y'know, that was a really shitty thing to do, just leaving me like that. It just sucked."
Johnny hadn't ever seen his friend so close to crying. He hugged him tighter, starting to realize that if anyone else walked by, they would find this a bit, well, homoerotic. When he saw Tunny's face, his arms went limp. Tunny, walking, well, hobbling up to the Sev looked almost nothing like Johnny had remembered him. Covered in scars, wearing a camo uniform, and, oh yeah, missing a leg. Will turned around too and froze, taking it all in. Tunny's girlfriend tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up to see them staring at him like idiots. Johnny ran over to him and started hitting him violently, like a child having a tantrum.
"Whoa, whoa. Dude, what are you doing?" Tunny exclaimed.
"Why did you leave me? You were the only person that I knew in the entire city, and you left me!" Now Johnny was about to cry. Not a pretty sight. Tunny grabbed his hands to make him stop and pulled Johnny into a tight embrace.
"Hug it out, bitch." Tunny said quietly.
"Oh my god we are such bros" cried Johnny, now trying to hold back choking sobs.
Will got in on the group hug too. But then it felt really weird so they stopped and acted sew cool.
THE END.