Alexander Compton moved out of our small town a week and two days after my seventh birthday.
We weren't close knit, close enough that we would give each other our bag of potato chips that came with the school lunch if the other lacked money, far enough from 'best friends' that we wouldn't seek each other out for group projects or share inside jokes. But when it carried on the wind that he was moving to the city, almost five hours from where he had been for seven years, I asked him about it and he instantly wanted to write his phone number on my small palm. Amazingly enough, the two of us stayed friends and have grown closer over the years, meeting up just once at age ten and spending the two days talking of video games and tree climbing.
When yelling provided by his parents started leaking into our video calls, I watched as his shoulders slumped further and further down, and the bags under his eyes grew every time i saw his face through the computer screen. After spending hours convincing my brother, I came up with an offer: he come and stay with me, and his parents work out their relationship without affecting their sons sleep cycle and stress levels.
Of course, travelling halfway across the state to a town he hasn't been to in eight years just from the suggestion of someone he hadn't been close with before moving seemed preposterous, but taking a break from the poor environment his parents had created sounded like a good idea to him. With negotiation from the both of our parents, Alex was on his way to staying as my roommate for the second half of the school year.
And now at 10 in the morning, I'm waiting at the train station, an hour from my hometown in my uncle's car that breathes cigarette smoke and McDonald's at any sign of pressure on the seats stained with sweat from one night stands in concert parking lots. I hear him shift, looking for his nicotine gum hidden deep within his pocket. My head hangs out the car window, and I watch as business men get into cabs and families get into cars driven by more family members. My fingers thrum on the outside of the car, but eventually even that becomes borning. Just as I'm about to pull my cellphone out and check the time, a shadow presents itself in front of my door.
I look up. "Hey, it's been a while."
Alex smiles down at me, shifiting his over packed bag into a more comfortable nook on his shoulder. "Yeah, it has."
