He's Returned

The knock on the door rouses me from the curled state I am in. There's a bottle on the floor, resting as its last contents drip onto the carpet due for a cleaning. I listen closely as the second, less prominent knock sounds before rising to my feet and making my way to the door.

It isn't hard for me to recognize just who it is disturbing me. I sigh and look to his eyes and he smiles at me a little. "Hey," he says, brushing the over-grown brown curls from the wide brown eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I say, sounding harsher than ever before, and I can see him flinch.

"Listen," he says as he lowers a hand to my shoulder. "I know haven't been here like I should; I'm sorry. I have a way to make it up to you."

"How do you make up for five years lost!" I shout, ready to slam the door but the crumple of paper stops me.

"Four years," he says with his old, familiar charm. "And I wasn't the only thing absent for four years; you and I both know that. I can hear that new CD playing upstairs.

"It's nothing to you, remember?" I say, even though the smile is tearing up my cheeks. "It isn't that ol' country twang you know and love. It isn't what you want."

"But it is what you want; I know that better than anyone." He reaches out and pulls himself in the room. "Listen, I want things to be better between us."

"Things were better when you left me out of your life. You have her back in your life now, remember?"

He bites his lip and reaches into his back pocket. "Things are--tough--right now. I just want my best friend back."

"Your best friend," I say under my breath and walk to the door. "Get out."

"Please don't act like this," he says, sliding two strips of cardstock into my hand, printed with the name of the one show, the one night I thought I was waiting for my entire life. "I mean it."

"I can't be the girl you lean on," I say as he rests a hand on my waist so gently I shudder. "I can't be the in-between again."

"I have her ring in my pocket; I wouldn't make you the in-between again. I need you right now."

"Or you need my company until she comes around."

"Megan, you can't hide that bottle from me. I can see it. I can't let you do that to yourself."

"I only started because of heartbreak."

"I know, I'm sorry. But you'll always be my best friend."

Flashbacks from junior year hit harder every time: his hugs, touches and laughter in his eyes. His wide-eyed stare only reminded me of his stares back then. "I-I can't do this," I say and he rubs my cheek like he never has before.

"Listen, I promise; thing will be different this time."

I look to the bottle on the ground, the one thing I thought would stitch my wounds. "Listen to me. Sell those tickets. Take your fiancée to a show you'll both enjoy. I'll be fine. I've waited for four years, I can wait again."

His eyebrows furrow gently at the corners and he scratches his head like he used too. "Uhm, Megan, please?"

"What could you possible need from me now?" I say as the tears long held back begin to flow. "Why now?"

"I need a best man, and no guy fits the bill." He says quietly as he grabs my hand. "Will you do it for me?"