Almost everyone has a best friend, the type of person you'd go to bat for and knows a lot more about you than you probably care to admit. The person who's the first to comfort you when you're said and the one to help you up when you fall, even if they laugh while doing so. Samuel Beckett is that person for me, however, after being woken up by three very loud knocks on my dorm room door at roughly 2:15 AM all of those feelings melted away and were replaced with an intense desire to punch him in his stupid face.
"Glenn, wake up! WAKE UP!" his voice was usually actually kind of soothing, one of those even toned news caster voices, but at this time it felt more like Danny Devito arguing with an alley cat.
"For Christ's sakes, mate. The hell are you on about?" I responded, pulling myself out of the bed. Putting on pants was a waste of time, Sam had seen more of me than some ex-girlfriends, boxers were enough to cover my delicates as it were.
"We gotta go man, things are happening, things are moving, things are things. Let's go!" Swinging open the door as he rambled on I was a bit stunned both by his nonsense words and his current accouterments: 2 dufflebags, one empty one full, a backpack, his guitar, a bag of assorted food, and an incredibly frantic look on his face. "Come on let's get moving, you gotta pack." He said to clear up the silence, tossing the empty bag in my face and barging his way through.
"Hold on," I waved my hands in protest, Sam looked up at me through his greyish eyes and glasses like a small child about to be reprimanded, "I need some back story here. What the hell is going on?"
Sam looked blank for a second before he shrugged and grabbed the bag back from my hands, "Road trip." He quipped and began packing my things for me.
I didn't do much to resist at that point, it took a bit of working to get anything from the kid and by now it was just easier to pack my stuff. Normally, I might actually try to talk him out of something like this but it was Memorial Day weekend meaning we had an extra day off so whatever, might as well go dick around for a few days. So, after 30 minutes of packing "only the bare essentials", even though Wonderwall got to pack his guitar, we were out the door.
The fact that Sam drives a nice luxury sedan, he has very nice parents, made the decision to leave a bit easier. If we were driving my 'barely qualifies as a car' car it might be a different story. We quickly tossed our stuff into the back and I climbed into the passenger seat reclining it as far back as it went.
"Hey Glenn-" Sam started before being cut off.
"Nope," I responded, "You wake me up at 2 AM which means I am entitled to a good, quiet nap. A'right mate? .....fuckin cunt." I muttered the last part.
I usually try to avoid certain colloquialisms in the States, but since I was woken from my slumber I reacted much like an upset toddler - crankily. The term is either one of endearment or an insult, it all depends on context. However in some special cases, like this moment with Sam, it means both. I know I shouldn't be so mean to a best friend, but I am an Aussie so somethings come across as mean when they aren't meant to be.
Off handed insults aside, it was good to do something spontaneous like this. Life had kind of gotten away from me in the past few weeks between school, work, and people in general. It seemed like things were getting rough for Sam too, even if he tried to hide it. It's a gift and a curse that I'm usually able to key in so well when people are off-balance and that might very well be why we're taking this trip right now. As shit as I am as a human being most of the time, I occasionally make a good sounding board....somehow.
The few times I opened my eyes when shifting positions in the seat I caught a glimpse of Sam and those few moments made it clear I was right that he was wrong. He usually had the hints of a smile somewhere on his face, thinking up jokes or stupid stories something along those lines, but when I looked at him it was a blank slate. Sam's face was completely cold and he was intently focused on the road like he was trying to focus on anything, but what was on his mind. It was weird because usually it was hard to get him to really focus on anything, Sam isn't ADD he's just fascinated by a lot of things and can switch topics easily. So, seeing him so focused on one thing is either really good or really bad. And right now I can't tell which it is and I don't like that at all.
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