Having completed our part in Tish's plan in such a short time, we had nothing to do for two days but wonder just what she had planned for us. I was betting it was just a simple reunion, not to minimize what it would've meant for us. I really thought it would be great to catch up, even though I was nervous about talking to Carver again. I just couldn't get over it. He stopped talking to us for a reason. What if he still felt that way, even after all this time? I decided the best thing to do was not think about it.

Lor was guessing it was something more than a mere meet-up. She still couldn't get Tish's words out of her head: "I'm going to make it up to you." Lor couldn't think of anything Tish could do to make it up to her, unless she somehow found a way to go back in time, before she left Bahia Bay. Lor had something else on her mind after that phone call. If Tish knew what her leaving was bad for Lor and just plain wrong why didn't she come back as soon as she'd realized it? Did an alarm just suddenly go off in her mind the week before, telling her she had made a mistake? Lor had no idea how close she actually was.

So there we were. Two confused people trying to understand Tish. All of that effort was truly in vain, since we would have had to be in Tish's frame of reference to really understand her decisions. I mean, she comes home from work one day and finds a seven-foot tall* serpent from the underworld sitting up in the corner of her apartment.

Her initial reaction was one of paralyzing shock. After that peaceful terror wore off, she ran down the hall screaming until she ran into one of the other tenants. Her fellow tenant tried to calm her down by reasoning with her. His presence made her feel a little more at ease, being that he was anything besides a scaly monster. When he walked her to her apartment, she followed far behind, afraid of even seeing such a beast again. Her temporary guardian went in first and assured her it was safe, no sign of any demons anywhere. She went in reluctantly and saw it was empty. As soon as the man was satisfied that Tish simply had a temporary hallucination of some kind, he left and went on his way after being thanked profusely.

Tish found it odd that if there really had been a huge worm in the apartment, it certainly was able to keep from jostling her various decorations. She told me the place was sparsely decorated, and when I looked at some of the pictures she sent, it was clear why it seemed that way to her. It was because it would cost a mint to fully furnish the place. I'm surprised she had such a big apartment, with the housing rates being so high in New York City. The place was vast with large windows and bright white walls. It was very modern, but was accented with nice hardwood floors. It was a far cry from her parent's house here in Bahia Bay. After living in that house for 18 years, I would want to live in its polar opposite too. Every time I looked at those pictures I just wanted to be there with her, it seemed so exciting. She attained the success she was so determined to get, just like I always thought she would.

After checking the place the place thoroughly, she calmed down and made some tea to relax herself further. She filled her pot with water and set it on the stove. As she went to start the flames she was stopped. Something suddenly gave her a strange feeling and urged her to turn around, even though she was terrified of doing so. She turned around slowly, letting everything in her sight seep into her mind as she rotated. Her stove, then her refrigerator, then a window with a view overlooking a construction site. It was a comfortable, balmy day and a crew was hard at work raising a new building where an old one had been standing just a few months earlier. She took in the view with a deep breath before turning around suddenly, to face what she had feared was there.

The worm had indeed returned, sitting in the corner once more. This time Tish had her reaction planned out in advance and wasted no time in executing it. She took a deep breath and let out a deafening shout. At least she would have, if any part of that day had made any sense. Something stopped her scream from becoming audible somewhere between her mouth and the air, since her throat certainly did feel the effect. Tish placed her hand to her throat to make sure she hadn't lost any essential parts.

"Tish, stop for a second." the worm spoke.

"Wha, what the hell are you?! What are you doing here?! What did you just do to me?! How do you know my name?!" Tish fired in rapid succession.

"Tish, I am here for a very important reason. The details of which will not be explained to you at this point in time. When the time comes, all will be explained. You are the only person that will be able to view my form, so don't bother calling anybody. In the meantime, I will make myself scarce."

"Get the hell out of here!" Tish shouted as she through a perfectly good coffee mug at the beast.

The mug stopped in mid-air and feel to the floor, shattering. Tish stood dumbfounded, unable to think of anything to say or do anymore. She could nothing else but stare at the worm until he spoke up again.

"Tish, go ahead and finish making that tea." the worm said before falling perfectly silent for a good few days.

Eventually the worm did speak up again and explained to Tish all the reasons for his presence there, but that conversation is best saved for later.

*seven feet would be the worm's height when sitting up in a coil. The overall length would be about 15 feet.

************************

The Friday that we had been waiting for so adamantly had finally arrived. It felt like we were school kids all over again, having something to look forward to on the weekend. Something besides the same old crap. For me however, those feelings were mixed with feelings of anxiety, resulting in a feeling I don't care to remember.

I went to work that day, so it was my responsibility to pick up Carver from the airport afterwards. Tish was taking an earlier flight, so it was up to Lor to pick her up. Thompson gave her the clearance to hang out with Tish for the weekend as much as she wanted, along with Nell, of course. He was extremely demanding with Lor, but he wasn't totally heartless. He knew Lor and Tish were old friends and he wasn't about to put a damper on their reunion. This arrangement was very convenient for everyone, but I dreaded the car ride home. I had no idea what I would talk to him about.

Lor had her turn first and was totally ready. According to her, they had quite an interesting conversation. Lor took her little Hyundai and arrived to find a waiting Tish. Tish jumped in with a greeting that sounded a little forced. Lor thought it was indifference, but it wasn't. She had a lot of things on her mind. But of course, she couldn't let Lor know what she had in mind.

"Hi Tish." returned Lor. "You sound really excited to be here."

"Sorry, I was just... thinking about something."

"Well, you can put all your work aside. This weekend is gonna be all about fun, just like when we were in school."

"Well, I hope so. You seem pretty happy. How are things going with you and Thompson?"

"Could we not talk about that right now?"

"I see... sorry about that." said Tish, muttering most of the sentence.

"Take a look in the back seat."

"Nell! I can't believe I didn't notice you earlier! Did your mom tell you about me?"

Nell nodded.

"How are you doing?"

Nell shrugged.

"She'll get used to you being here." said Lor.

"What about you Lor? Are you okay with all this? I really haven't told you anything..."

"So how's your job?" Lor said, cutting off Tish. "Must be nice living large up in New York huh?"

"Well, it's alright. It's what I worked for all my life."

"And I suppose I didn't work at all, right? I'm the one that makes stupid choices and has to live with them right?"

"That's not true, Lor. We both know none of it was your fault. Even though it was exactly what I was trying to prevent, it still happened."

"God forbid the great Tish should let anything go wrong."

"Lor, what are you babbling about?"

"...sorry Tish. I think it's depression setting in."

"Is it really getting to that point?"

"It's probably all in my head. The truth is my life is more monotonous than bad."

"Try not to think about it. But even with all that's gone wrong, something good came out of it all didn't it?" Tish motioned behind her.

Lor cracked a smile.

"Yeah, you're right." said Lor. "You said you were gonna make it up to me anyway, right?"

"Yes. I am."

"Are you going to tell me what you have planned?"

"No. I'm not."

"Same old Tish. You're as stubborn as ever."

**********************

I'm a bit embarrassed at the way I acted when I went to pick up Carver. I thought I had gotten over my nervousness about seeing him again, but I was wrong. We tried to have a normal conversation, but when I couldn't think of anything to say, I just, well, it's better if I just tell the whole story.

I pulled up at the airport entrance right on time, just as Carver was exiting the building. He noticed me immediately and climbed in.

"Hey T! How's it going?" he said.

"Huh." I said. "Haven't heard that in a while."

"Don't your friends call you T?"

"You're the only one that ever did. How have you been?"

"Good."

"How's the shoe industry?"

"Not quite what I expected. I thought it would be glamorous, you know, like Tommy Hugo. It turns out there's only a few shoe designers who get really famous in the world of fashion. I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than getting to that level. It's just so rare. Most of us design your everyday shoe that doesn't make a big difference in the world of fashion. Most of the work that goes into selling the shoe is done by ad executives."

I was hoping this wouldn't come up, but I guess it inevitable. He asked me what I did for a living. It's not that I'm ashamed or anything, it's just not the kind of job I dreamed of as a kid. It pays well, but leaves me wanting.

"So what do you do Tino?"

"Ad executive."

"Are you kidding me? what company?"

"A kitchenware company. We sell mostly baking supplies."

"And you're their ad executive huh? Weird."

"Yeah. I started working for them selling muffin tins door-to-door while I worked on my degree in marketing. After I graduated I was on the fast track to success."

"Sounds like you're pretty happy with the way things turned out."

"I guess so." I lied.

"But it wasn't what you wanted as a kid either right?"

"Of course not. But childhood dreams never work out in the adult world."

"No part of childhood lasts forever. That's probably why we drifted apart."

"Are you sure it wasn't your new friends' influence?"

"What? I became their because we drifted, not the other way around."

"It didn't seem that way to me. You always wanted to be with the cool kids. Once you saw your opportunity you took it and never looked back."

"Face it Tino, we were just different. It was a miracle we stayed friends as long as we did. We really had very little in common."

"Even so, you didn't have to leave us completely. Lor is having a tough time you know."

"With what?"

"Nevermind. I'll let her talk to you about it."

"You seem annoyed. Did you really think about everything thoroughly?"

"What do you mean?"

"We were four kids with totally different interests. Our friendship was very unlikely. Junior high is when kids start forming cliques that stay with them through high school. But we weren't that way at all. Didn't it seem weird to you? Didn't it seem like it didn't make sense?"

"All I know is I was happy with our group. I didn't have time to think about how much sense it made."

"Tino, people become friends with each other. Sometimes they stop being friends. Would you really like it if life never changed? You may think it's a good thing, but it's not. You would just stagnate and ultimately feel unfulfilled. You have step out of your comfort zone and face the prospect of a new day. I think if you tried it you would find something that'll make a difference in your life and make you feel complete."

"You really don't believe in lifelong friendships?"

"It doesn't really matter what I believe in, what happened between us was unavoidable. We just have to accept it and move on. Obsessing over concepts like those is pointless."

"So I should just accept it right?"

"I've accepted that I can't be what I wanted to be as a kid, sometimes we just have to give up those dreams."

"One thing hasn't changed. You still talk too much."

Carver let out a familiar laugh and I felt peaceful again. All the nervousness was and I realized something. I wasn't nervous about seeing Carver after such a long time. I was nervous about learning the truth. I thought we had done something to make Carver stop wanting to hang around with us or that he thought he was too cool for us. Knowing the truth made me comfortable. We simply weren't friends anymore, but that shouldn't have stopped us from being cool with each other. The rest of the ride home was pleasant.

When we got home the first thing Carver did was go see his parents. He gave me a call afterwards and we went to the local Starbucks to meet with Lor and Tish. As soon as we got there I got a call for Lor, saying that Tish stopped by to say hello to her parents and they would be a few minutes late.

"Hey Tino isn't this place..." said Carver.

"Yeah. This is right where Funville used to be." I said.

"I can't believe it's gone..."

"Arcades just aren't profitable anymore. They're dying out all over the country."

"That reminds me, is the pizza place still doing their different-theme-a-week thing?"

"They stopped doing that years ago. It's just a normal pizza place now."

"Jeez. I guess it was just a matter of time. Everything seems so different around here."

"The guy that owned the snack shack, he died too."

"Oh my god. I guess it's closed then."

"Yeah. He didn't have anybody to take over for him. Since then, there have been fewer and fewer kids going to the beach area. It seems like most of them are skaters and party animals these days."

"Everything really changes doesn't it?"

"I guess it does."

We chatted amongst ourselves for a while more while we waited. Nothing worth mentioning. We knew the real focus of this weekend wouldn't begin until we were all there. Together again.