It has been a month since Sonny approached Will on this boat. He has still been going for his walks, but he doesn't go to the bridge anymore. He is avoiding Will because he doesn't want to be force to disclose things to him that he would rather keep private. When they did have their conversation Will made it nonverbally clear that he understood Sonny's boundaries, and would drop any issue if it appeared to be private to Sonny. But his comment when Sonny was leaving changed all of that, when Will said he, Sonny, had to open up more if he wanted to have a true friendship.
That one hit him. It was true that he was very guarded about his life, but as time went on and he became more lonely he truly started to wonder why he was the way he was. He kept telling himself that it was his name or his money, that people would treat him differently. But he was questioning if he was hiding behind that excuse.
Then he was back in school where the guys that wanted to hang with him or the girls that wanted to date him, wanted to because of who he was. That was when he started to build his wall. He only let a very few, over that wall, but he then built it so high that no could get over. His own wife didn't even know who he was, Gail his only friend, well that was actually a lie, she wasn't his friend. She wasn't his friend, not because of the way she treated him or what she wanted from him, it was because he never let her in either. So how can you truly be a friend if you won't let anyone know you. Maybe this Horton guy was right, but how do you to change years of a destructive behavior.
It was a Saturday morning, and Will had promise to take Erick fishing. He really didn't feel like going but he had promise so he couldn't back out now. Beside Erick would probably already at the dock waiting for him at 6 even those Will told him 7.
Will readied himself and headed to the marina. His ride to the marina changed. As he had been doing since he got to sit down and talk to Sonny, he would look around for him as he got closer to the docks. Will knew he lived around area, that much Sonny did share with him. But not the name or location of the place. Will thought that they could be friends, he enjoyed talking to him, he was funny, intelligent, could take a joke at his own expense. Will wonders what he did wrong that turned him off to the point that he no longer even went to the bridge anymore. Or at least Will never saw him there again.
Will pulled into the parking lot and parked. He saw the usual grouping of cars for a Saturday morning. He grabbed the beer he had bought, but it was Erick's turn to bring the food. Now that was a hit or miss proposition, but Will was optimistic.
As Will was approaching his boat he saw Erick sitting on the dock playing with his lures. He looked to his right and saw Paul sitting on the deck of his boat with a bag of fast food breakfast and a huge coffee. "Erick, Paul, how you all doing this morning?" Will says. Erick starts first. "Waiting for your sorry ass" "Well hello to you too partner, what, didn't get laid last night." Will says and Paul smiles. "Cock tease that was all she was, oh she pretended she wanted to, but when the engine shifted from idle to drive, she had those detour cones up so fast I damn near drove off the road." Will laughs. "Yeah laugh all you want but I'll have blue balls soon." "Okay thanks for that" Will says. "Did you bring the food this time?" Will asked. "Yeah I picked up some sandwiches at that deli you like, and some chips and some cookies." "Well I am impressed" Will says. "Hey listen why don't you go ahead on board and put the beer in the fridge, along with your sandwiches, I want to talk to Paul for a moment." Will says as he passes the beer to Erick. Erick takes the beer and climbs aboard Will's boat.
"Hey Paul, now, how are you doing, now that we have the lowdown on Erick's pathetic sex life." "I heard that you bastard" Erick yelled from from the galley of Will's boat. "I doing good, wifes away for the weekend, some girls weekend, who the hell knows, I don't and I don't even ask, I find things go smoother when I don't know." "But you didn't want talk to me about my shit, what's going on Will?"
"Okay I know it will sound weird, completely fucking weird, but have you seen our friend from the bridge at all?' Will asked. "Funny you should asked, I was thinking to myself this morning that he must have moved on" "I haven't seen him since shortly after you told me his story." "Why do you ask." "Well about a month ago he came to the boat with a peace offering." "Some very top shelf beer" "I invited him aboard and we sat and talked for over an hour." "He seem like a nice guy, and I could tell he was lonely, and I sort of felt bad for him, so I told him he could stop by anytime I was here, but I haven't seen him since that day." Will tells Paul. "Don't suppose he was casing the boat do you?" "No, no, not at all, in fact from the clothes he was wearing he seem like he wasn't short on or tight with money." Will says. "Could you do me a favor, if you see him could you just tell him to stop by sometime." "I'll do that Will, but like I said I haven't seen him in a while." Paul says. "Well if you do it would be great, thanks Paul, enjoy the solitude." Will says as he climbs on board his own boat.
"So what was that all about? Erick asked. "What was what about?" Will responded. "Guy on a bridge thing, what was that about?" Erick asked. Will feeling a bit uncomfortable talking to Erick about it because he himself can really explain it. So he tries to act like nothing is up by starting his rundown on things to do before getting underway. "Oh it's nothing, forget about it." Will says as he checks the tanks for fuel. "It didn't sound like nothing, what's the story." Erick pushes. "He is just some guy I met." "Hangs out up there on the bridge." "So some guy you met on a bridge and you chatted with once is no longer around, what's the big deal?" Erick asked. "Well he seemed kind of lonely so I thought maybe he could use a friend." "We seem to hit off but then he just disappeared." Will explained. "So from one isolated conversation you determined that he was lonely, and wanted a friend and you decided you were going to be his friend?" Erick says, almost incredulously. "Okay, Erick says, so maybe he wasn't as lonely as you thought and he found someone he could have some fun with." Erick says. "I don't think so, I think I said something wrong and I offended him." "So what you'll probably never see him again anyway." Erick says dismissively.
"That's not the point, Jesus, Erick could you show some empathy for someone else once in a while." "He seem to need some help and I wanted to help him but I may have made things worse for him." Will says with a hint of anger. "God, I feel bad, I liked this guy." Will says feeling disappointed. "Okay, Okay I get it you feel guilty or something, but dude it is a guy your talking about here." Erick says. "What the fuck's that suppose to mean, huh? Will says in anger as he stands up to look Erick in the face. "Well it's not like it was a chick that you had a potential of getting laid, it was a dude." Erick explains. Will frustrated by the conversation says. "You know what never mind let's just drop it okay, let's go fishing." Will says disgustedly.
Will let go of his anger at Erick before they reached their fishing spot, but he couldn't seem to get Sonny out of his head. He wanted to apologize to him if he said something wrong.
Sonny decided he couldn't go on like this. He was getting more miserable by the day. He knew he had to do something to get him moving again, in a positive direction. He has this business degree why not put it to use. So he set about doing just that. Being the loner he was, whether intentional or not, he knew he couldn't work for anyone, or at the very least with someone else. He needed to be in control. He considered a start up business but he didn't have any particular avenue to go down. Then he thought of buying a business. Someplace established, where he could just walk in, and depending on the place itself, either just pick up where the previous owner left off or maybe make some changes. But he knew that he would have to put his own touch on whatever he bought, if he bought anything at all. So he started hunting around, but where to start.
He spoke with his lawyers to get a feel for where he actually was financially. He never really even looks at what he had, he leaves that up to the lawyers, but if he is to do this he is going to need to know where he stands.
It turned out that he was far better off than even he thought he was. This didn't make him happy when he thinks about the fact that he parents amassed this wealth, and never got a chance to have any fun with it. But he felt he might as well use it to maybe make himself happy, since it has been a long time since he felt that. The last time he actually felt pretty good was the time he spent talking to Will, who for all intents and purposes was a stranger. But it didn't feel like he was a stranger when they talked that day. Though they came from two entirely different backgrounds they seem to share something, but Sonny couldn't figure out what that was and he never gave himself a chance to find out. A decision he is regretting now. He needed to find out what that thing was. Because maybe it could bring some happiness into his life. To have a friend to hang out with.
"Well that sucked ass big time." Erick said as they pulled into Will's slip. "Hey your line snapped these things happen." Will told him. "Yeah but on the biggest thing I've caught all year, this blows chunks. Will is checking his positioning as he is pulling into the slip as Erick continues his bitching and moaning about the one that got away.
Once in dock and the lines tied, Will hears Paul call his name. "Hey Will." Will walks to the side of his boat to look over at Paul, who is sitting the exact same place he was in when they left this morning. "What's up Paul? Will asked. Paul simply points. Will turns and sees Sonny on the bridge. Will actually feels excited. Now he wants Erick off the boat as fast as he can get him to leave. "Hey, you know what Erick, you can go, I can handle this clean up, it won't take me long." Will says. "You sure dude, I don't mine, I like to earn my keeps." "No I'm good, you head home, maybe you can pick up some tail on the way home, help you out with those blue balls of yours." Will says trying to get him off the boat as fast as he can. "Thanks for reminding me, asshole." "Always here to help" Will says. So I will see you on Monday." Will says. "Okay, okay, I get the hint you want me off the boat, just remember, bros before ho's, hope she is worth it." "Yeah whatever you say" Will says just as a response to get Erick off the boat before Sonny bails. Ten minutes later Erick has finally left the boat and is heading to his car.
Will feels nervous. He doesn't know why, but he as a whole rabble of butterflies in his stomach. When he notices that Erick is no longer in view he looks over at the bridge, and Sonny is still sitting there. Will raises his hand to signals for Sonny to come over. Sonny jumps at the opportunity.
Three or four minutes later Sonny is standing next to Will's boat. Will looks up with a smile he is unable to turn off. "Hey thought I lost you" Will says. "I thought you did too." Sonny says.