Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for being such REAL friends!
Thank you Esther, for being an incredible friend!
Thank you, readers and REAL McRollers, for your amazing support and enthusiasm!
Hope you enjoy!
Friends (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"You said you eat here a lot?" Cody asked as he and Steve walked toward Kamekona's shrimp truck.
"All the time," Steve said. "The owner's a friend."
They stood in line briefly, and when they approached the window, they were greeted by the smiling proprietor.
"Hey, McGarrett," Kamekona said. "You're just in time for the lunch special."
"Lunch special?" Steve asked. "Now that's a surprise. What do you got going? Half off shrimp plates? Buy one get one free?"
Kamekona gave him an incredulous look. "Are you crazy, brah? Look around." He motioned to the full tables. "I can't give away food on my busiest day of the week."
Steve's brow furrowed. "Then what's the special?" he asked.
"The special is having the best shrimp on the island for lunch."
Steve waved a hand. "Then call it a special lunch. 'Lunch special' implies some kind of deal."
Kamekona folded his arms with a knowing expression. "Best shrimp on the island for these prices is more than a deal, brah. It's a steal."
Steve rolled his eyes. "That's very clever."
Kamekona smiled and nodded as he said, "It's going on the next t-shirt."
Steve chuckled, and Kamekona turned his attention to Cody.
"Who do we have here?" he asked. "New customer?"
"Yeah," Steve said, looking at Cody. "This is a new friend of mine."
He put a hand on the teen's shoulder causing Cody to look at him in surprise.
"Kamekona, this is Cody," Steve said with a smile. "Cody, meet Kamekona. The one and only."
Kamekona reached out the window and offered his fist. Cody looked at him and smiled slowly before bringing his own fist up for a bump.
"Any friend of McGarrett's . . ." Kamekona began with a sly smile and a glance at Steve.
Steve quirked an eyebrow, and Kamekona's smile grew as he looked back at Cody.
". . . is a friend of mine," he finished. He straightened and rubbed his hands together. "So . . . what can I get my friends today?"
After Steve paid for their food, he and Cody collected their shrimp plates and claimed a recently vacated table.
"So I know you shoot hoops," Steve began, looking across the table. "What else do you do for fun?'
Cody swallowed a bite and said, "For fun?"
"Yeah. What do you do with your friends?" he asked and ate a forkful of his meal.
Cody shrugged, pushing the rice around on his plate. "I don't know. I don't really have time . . . between homework and looking after everyone." He speared a shrimp with his fork.
"What about at school? Who do you hang out with at lunch?"
"My friend Jadon. Will. This other guy Martez."
"Yeah?" Steve reached for his water bottle. "What are they like?" He took a drink.
Cody shrugged again. "They're cool."
" 'They're cool.' Okay. That why you hang out with them? Because they're cool?"
"I don't know, we're just . . . friends, I guess."
Steve raised his eyebrows and kept his expression open.
Cody smiled slightly. "I mean, okay, Will is . . . Will is kinda crazy. You know? Like, he'll do crazy stuff." His eyes darted quickly to Steve's, and he shook his head. "I mean, nothing illegal or anything. Just . . . like, funny pranks or whatever." He shrugged. "And Martez is his friend. I've got some classes with him. He's pretty cool." He took a bite.
"And what about Jadon? You mentioned him once before."
Cody's eyes widened slightly in surprise at that. He swallowed his food and said, "He's . . . I guess he's like my best friend."
"Yeah?"
"I've known him since middle school. His dad is . . ." He paused before continuing. "He doesn't see his dad either. And he's got two little brothers he watches a lot." He took a bite of shrimp and rice.
"Sounds like you've got some things in common."
Cody nodded.
"So he's your best friend?" Steve asked.
"Yeah."
"What else do you like about him?"
Cody smiled. "He's real funny. He can even make the teachers laugh. And he's . . . he's a good guy," he continued in a quieter voice, his gaze falling to his plate.
Steve put his fork down and waited.
Cody poked at his food as he continued, "He uh . . . after the fire, he . . . he brought this plastic bag of clothes to school and just handed it to me." He glanced up at Steve and then back down. "Like some of his t-shirts and stuff. He let me borrow 'em until I got some new clothes," he finished with a little shrug.
Steve paused, watching the teen.
He leaned forward and said, "Sounds like he's got your back. I'd like to meet him sometime."
Cody looked up at him. "You would?"
"He's important to you," Steve said sincerely. "So, yeah."
Cody's gaze dropped momentarily, then he looked up with a smile.
Steve sat back and said, "Besides, it's only fair." He shrugged with a smile and picked up his fork again. "You've met mine." He took a bite.
"I thought Lieutenant Rollins was your girlfriend."
Steve swallowed his food and smiled. "She is. You don't think someone could be both?"
"I guess."
"But she's not the only one you've met."
Cody's brow furrowed in confusion.
Steve sighed and shrugged. "I know 'best' is supposed to imply one, but . . ." He shook his head and the corner of his lip quirked up in a smile. "I don't like limits."
"Detective Williams?" Cody asked.
"Yep." Steve nodded. "He's got my back. And I know he'd give me the shirt off his if I ever needed it."
Cody looked at him, and Steve held his gaze.
"That's a brother," Steve said seriously.
Cody nodded slowly.
"Yeah," he agreed quietly.
After they finished eating, Cody asked, "Did you have a best friend when you were my age?"
Steve nodded, dropping his empty plate and fork on top of Cody's and sliding the pile to the side.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I did. His name was Michael."
"What was he like?"
Steve thought for a moment.
"Funny. Loyal. Confident. Didn't care what other people thought of him, you know? He'd always be himself. I liked that about him."
"What'd you guys do?"
Steve chuckled. "Everything." He rubbed his forehead. "Not all of it good."
Cody raised his eyebrows in interest.
Steve shook his head. "Ah, played a lot of Nintendo. Rode our bikes around." He smiled as a memory came to him. "Remember I told you I had that paper route?"
"Yeah."
"He had one, too, and we'd get stop watches so we could compete. See who finished first." He smiled again. "And he was my best receiver when I played football in high school."
"What happened to him?"
Steve gave a little shrug. "Lost touch after I had to move. Heard his family moved to the mainland eventually, too," he said, looking out at the water.
"Did you ever try to find him?"
Steve paused.
"No, I didn't."
Cody waited a moment and said, "Maybe you should."
Steve looked at him and nodded thoughtfully.
"Maybe I should."
When Steve arrived home, he found Catherine in the backyard sitting in one of the chairs with her tablet in hand and Cammie lying at her feet.
He leaned over for a quick kiss.
"Good lunch?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah." He knelt to greet Cammie, then looked back at Catherine. "Brought you a sweet and spicy plate."
"Aww, thank you."
She kissed him again before he shifted to sit in the other chair.
"Now that we've got the deck blueprints, I started a spreadsheet," she said, passing him her tablet. "What we'll need in terms of materials, best place to get everything, what we need when . . ."
He smiled as he looked at the screen. "Of course you did."
"We can start ordering right away."
He nodded and his smile grew. "Excellent. Can't wait to get started."
She returned his smile.
He put the tablet on the small table and reached for her hand, holding it loosely between them.
"Hey, did you . . ." he started. "Did you keep in touch with friends from when you were a kid? After you'd move?"
She gave a little shrug. "Sometimes, yeah. For a little while, anyway. Couple postcards or letters. Phone calls. But eventually those would get further and further apart and we'd lose touch."
"You ever think about looking any of 'em up now?"
"Not really. But you know I didn't have anybody I was super close with until the Academy."
He nodded and squeezed her hand lightly.
She brushed her thumb along his and said, "Why do you ask?"
"Something Cody said today. I was telling him about my best friend when I was a kid."
"Michael, right?"
"Yeah, Michael Young. We didn't keep in touch but I know he moved to the mainland after I did."
"Are you thinking about finding him?"
He shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, he was my best friend for about five years. Then I got sent away, and I didn't want . . . I mean, I wasn't . . . close to anyone . . . until Freddie." He caught her eyes and smiled softly. "And you."
She returned his smile and tightened her fingers around his.
"And now Danny," she said.
"Yeah," he agreed quietly.
She paused.
"I think you should find Michael," she said. "Even if it's just to call him and see how his life turned out. He was very important to you once. And I'm willing to bet you were important to him."
He gave her a small smile and nodded.
After a moment, he said, "Thanks, Cath."
"For what?"
"For being one of my best friends. I know it hasn't always been easy."
She shook her head.
"That's where you're wrong. It's always been natural." She squeezed his hand. "And it'll always be true."
Hope you enjoyed!
Note: Thanks to Sammy for the deck help and for the wonderful exchange about Catherine's friendships growing up in WinWin that inspired part of the last scene here (even if I couldn't remember which story it was in!)
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