Worth it

See you Again

"Hey Ronaldo, do you ever talk to that one boy you used to hang around with? Lawrence?", his father tried to remember the name.

"Lars?", he corrected, "No, not really," he shrugged, not wanting to delve into their history, "Haven't seen him since we were kids. Why ask?"

"Just curious," Mr. Fryman shrugged as he checked the fryers again, then saw his son about ready to stroll out the door, "Mind handling the prep counter for an hour or two while I'm out?"

"Aw," Ronaldo whined, then sighed, "Yeah okay," and grabbed an apron. Even with every talk he gave his father about how he had no intent to continue in the family business, he would find himself getting roped into volunteering time in the back of the kitchen, or behind the restaurant peeling potatoes.

Thinking back to his father's curious question, Ronaldo had realized he really hadn't seen Lars whatsoever since they were kids. Their friendship crumbled after that stupid fight at the lighthouse in fifth grade, Lars ended up transferring middle schools halfway through sixth, and since then, Ronaldo hadn't seen hide nor hair of him, and he was left to assume that the boy had either moved, or he'd not noticed him in town at all.

After thirty minutes of peeling potatoes, Ronaldo was about to sneak away when he heard Peedee give a noise of surprise, and another voice give a yelp then a scolding noise, and then Peedee insisting it was alright.

Heading into the kitchen area to see what the trouble was, Ronaldo saw Peedee efficiently cleaning up a tipped carton of fries on the counter, laughing it off to the customer, who Ronaldo immediately took notice in, finding their red hair and facial features more than a little familiar.

"Tilly!", the customer had scolded a large chocolate brown and white malamute service dog pacing excitedly in their spot, and was whisking napkins out of the dispenser to try and clean, "Yeesh, sorry, she knows better than that."

"Don't worry about it, Lars," Peedee assured, "Guess she was just excited for fries."

"Lars?", Ronaldo spoke up aloud, walking over, "Is that you?"

"Who's that?", the customer spoke up, cocking his head in the direction of Ronaldo's voice, and when their eyes met, he didn't even react, "Who're you?"

"Uh, don't you recognize me at all?", Ronaldo huffed, offended, "The friend you dumped years ago? Did you really forget?"

"Ronaldo?", Lars' face twisted in annoyance, and he folded his arms, "No, I can't recognize you because I can't see you, dummy."

Glancing at the folded cane under one of Lars' arms, and then the service harness on the dog, Ronaldo gulped, feeling his stomach twist at this revelation, "...oh...uh...I didn't know-"

"Course you wouldn't, I haven't run into you in ages," Lars snorted, "So where have you been hiding? Under a rock?"

"I should ask you the same", Ronaldo leered back, "I haven't seen you since middle school!"

"I've been around," Lars shrugged, giving a smug look, "What's your excuse?"

"I've been busy," Ronaldo sniffed, pushing his glasses up on his face, "Busy keeping the world updated about everything in Beach City, on my blog, Keep Beach City Weird. Perhaps you've heard of it, or read it?"

"I'm not much for visual media," Lars spoke with light sarcasm.

Ronaldo was about to retort when Peedee cut in, "Heyyyy, since you two are reacquainted, why don't you go and catch up, eh Ronaldo?", he smiled tightly, not wanting other customers to see their bickering.