we were sitting in our place, in the place that we silently claimed as ours. the joint is dim, and we always order the same thing. we go here when one of us is going on a trip, or if it's the weekend and we want to go somewhere familiar but never boring. we go here when we're sad or happy. to celebrate or to console each other. we've been going here for as long as we've know each other, but tonight is different. i'm not very hungry and neither are you. small rain cloud hangs over our booth. the music is playing louder than usual and it's some stupid love song that makes me choked up, but i swallow it. and then when we're leaving, we both sigh, not knowing when we'll return here, to our favorite spot, because i'm going to california and you're going to college in northern minnesota, and by the time i return, you will be in college. and i'll be in this town we grew up in, missing you. and i suppose it's fair. because i left you and went to rehab for three cold long months and you had to wait here, in this ******* town. and now i have to wait, in this town i refer to as home, but it won't feel the least bit like home when you're gone.

and then i ******* cried.