The Best Man novel Chapter 78

"Since you want a detailed version, I now understand that everything happens for a reason, and I've learned to accept things the way they are....so I'm okay. Great actually"

"When was the last time you heard from Mellisa?"

"The last time I saw Mellisa was after the wedding, I bumped into Sarah the other day, and she told me that Mellisa moved to another city about a month ago when she got a new job offer there. I don't know why, but then I'm happy for her, that she's actually moving on with her life"

"That's growth right there", I gave him a shoulder squeeze. "You've come so far Stan, you really should be proud of yourself"

"Well I am", he flashed a smile at me. "And I'm thankful for where I am right now". I smiled as I popped a piece of chocolate into my mouth.

"Oh wait", I got from the bed to search into my closet, suddenly remembering what I wanted to show him

"Remember this?", I showed him our memory box, and he fell back on the bed, cracking up from laughter. When we were kids, we came up with this idea of storing all our memories together in a box every year until we were like 16 years old. We kept our pictures, souvenirs and gifts we made each other in art classes and all that.

"I didn't think you'd still have this", he pulled the box closer to him as I sat back on the bed

"I found it the other day while I was still cleaning up my room. I have so much time on my hands recently, I thought why not?"

He opened the box and pulled out the last picture we ever put in there.

"I remember this", he smiled when he held out the picture for me to see it, a picture of us together at a waterfront. It was my 16th birthday, and he had rented a bike for that day at the dealership so that he could take me on a road trip around the city. That was one of the best days of my life, when it was just me and him against the world and that day he had pulled out all the stops to make my day special and memorable.

"Yeah I do too", I took it into my hands. "This is still by far my most favorite birthday"

My phone chimed with a message from Nathan and I picked it up to read it, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion a little as I finished reading the text

"I have to go", I stood to my feet. "We'll have to this reminiscing some other time"

"Can I take it home with me?", he placed the picture back in and close it. "I just want to make my own copies of all the pictures then I'll bring it back to you"

"It belongs to you as much as it belongs to me Tristan, you don't even have to ask", I smiled as I started packing some clothes into a small bag

"Nathaniel?", he looked surprised as he scratched his chin. "Since when do you call me Nathaniel?"

"Since you're going to be so stubborn to not let me take care of you. This is one thing I'm not even supposed to ask you in order to do, so let's forget about me for a second and focus on you, okay?"

He heaved a defeated sigh. "Okay"

"Good", I took the fleece blanket he kept on the couch and covered him with it, forcing him to lie on his back

"Have you taken any aspirin yet?"

"Uh...", his eyes started lurking around, avoiding eye contact with me. I knew he didn't like taking pills to cure a headache because he believed that drinking loads of water and sleep will make it go away on its own eventually.

"Okay, so you haven't", there was no point in lying to me because he'll end cracking up under pressure when I start interrogating him with the questions that contradict that lie. Coming back from the kitchen with a glass of water, I sat next to him and searched inside my bag, popping two aspirin pills out for him and watched as he drank them.