I had two cups of coffee, got the kids off to school with my mom, and I peruse through my closet with my high school friend, Dan, sitting on the chest at the foot of my bed. My boyfriend, Eric, is at work for the next half hour. "I caught wind from Sara that we have five new people coming in on our shift for Monday, but I got a glimpse of the names and only one sounds familiar." 

"Sam, chill. What name?" 

"Joshua Chasez." 

I turn to look at his expression. "Sounds like something we should both know, considering I had to listen to your music off and on since you were a freshman in high school." 

I scoff, scrunching up my face. "Fuck off. I also took your ass in, gave you ass, had a falling out with you, forgave you, and you make it sound like I chained you to a wall and forced you to listen to it. Sir Douche," I ramble, falsely saluting him at the end, the eye roll being complimentary. 

He lightly scoffs, something he does when I take something out of context. "You know what I meant." 

I chuckle lightly. "Yeah. I just can't remember why I

should know that name." His eyes and mine match perfectly, like we should have been cousins or something.  

He laughs, breaking our staring contest. His laugh is almost like an evil child's, infectious and contemplating. I giggle for a moment. "I know it's going to eat at you until you figure it out, but it's almost 1:10 and we both know Ewic will be home soon," he teases me, purposely mispronouncing my boyfriend's name.  

Alright, I know I should catch you up to date on why he does that thing where he teases me about Eric and I being together. So, uhm, here's a quick flashback of the first, oh, 8½ or 9 years I'd known him and then I'll jump to the week of Halloween 2015. 

~January 2001~  

Ugh. Gym. I loathe the special. Hope the others in this class are tolerable, at the bear minimum. I open the doors to the new FHS gym and spot two old friends of mine-Eric Muniz and Wayne Dwyer. "Wayne! Eric! You gotta take this joke for the next few months with me?" 

Wayne laughs and Eric shrugs. My eyes fall to a fairly good-looking Irish guy who was sitting on the bench. (Keep in mind he was a sophomore and I was dating my ex-scuzzband, I mean ex-husband, at the time and Dan went by the nickname "Hawk" back then, but Dan had muscles, braces and had been very sociable. We were teenagers and now we're in our 30s. I don't see him in that way anymore. What's done is done and years since been forgiven.) I step between two of my childhood friends, one arm slung over each of their shoulders.

"Who is this?" I demand, subtly nodding to the muscular Irish boy. 

The mystery kid stands up without missing a beat, offering up his hand and a huge grin. "I'm Dan, but everyone calls me "Hawk"." 

His eyes are as beautiful now as they had been then. "I'm Sam." I take hold of his hand and we shake hands for a couple seconds. 

"How long have you known Wayne and Eric?" he inquires, still smiling and having released my hand. 

"Since about second grade." 

"Almost forever," he suggests, the two of us chuckling for a moment. 

"I guess so." I smile, my eyes darting from his head to his sneakers as I search for a physical reason as to why I shouldn't be attracted to him and come up empty. He was like looking at the type of guy I wanted... for a couple things. I had a very dirty mind, but it had only one track for him then. 

We got to know each other very well and he knew exactly how well I knew Eric then. I'd hang out with Dan at his parents' and his little sister was in my grade. His parents loved me from day one and I think his sister didn't mind me, but she didn't hate me. I was stupid and got married in my sophomore year, pregnancy coming at the end of the same school year. Dan and Eric were the two friends from high school that I would talk to here and there, but my ex would get so jealous and delete them from my Facebook and Myspace accounts on me.

Dan and I were roommates for a few months, having a wrench thrown between the gears for the majority of the time. I will neither confirm nor deny what I meant by that or what I meant by 'gave him ass' cuz the only people that need to know exactly what happened already know about the exact meaning. I forgave him just over two years later, but didn't contact him for 4, almost 5, years after. Life is fickle, tricky, and complicated. 

When I called his parents' house two days after the first time (in 6 long years), it was nice to hear his voice and that he was just as willing as I was (and still am) to let bygones be bygones, to let the past troubles be forgiven. He was in a rough patch of life and I gave him a job lead he took a few weeks later, knowing he'd be working with me and that he'd have to put up with my shit at least five days a week and hang out with Eric and I just as often. I literally laughed my ass off when he turned down the job he'd originally wanted before he got comfortable at TRW four years ago.  

Back to today. It's October 27, 2020. "Tomorrow marks five years since we started hanging out and talking after, like, six years of silence." 

I freeze, my hand still on my Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers t-shirt, and look at him over my shoulder slowly. 

"Y'know, you're right. Five years and now we're like the best of friends. The same way we had been until stupidity dragged us into its ocean and tried to drown us." 

"It was a relief to hear your voice on the other end of the line; like I knew you'd be stronger than me and admit forgiveness first," he confesses again for the who-knows-how-manyth time since we really started to chill like the 3 amigos.