In a way, it is. It’s something we share.
My protector, my lover, and my very best friend.
“Sleep now, angel. I’m here.”
December
Thailand
We sit around the outdoor table under the trees on the water’s edge.
The view over the beach is picture perfect.
It’s Christmas Day, and to splurge we rented a house in Ko Samui for two weeks.
The boys are cooking on the outdoor grill, and we’re all wearing our colorful hats from our Christmas cracker bonbons.
These are the best five people I could ever have hoped to have met.
The best of friends, we’ve been through so much together as we’ve traveled the world.
Christopher pops a cork on a bottle of champagne and fills all our glasses and then holds his glass in the air. “A toast.”
We all smile and hold our glasses up as we wait for his wise words.
“May all our Christmases be as happy as this one.” He lifts his glass up higher. “To happiness.”
His eyes find mine across the table, and they twinkle with a certain something. I feel it to my toes.
“To happiness.”
We all sip our champagne, and our faces screw up as we wince in silence.
“What is this? Tastes like fucking shit,” Christopher cries in disgust. “I paid twenty-two dollars for this fucking horse piss.”
Everyone bursts out laughing as they choke on what is possibly the worst champagne in the world.
“To dying in Thailand from poison,” Basil says as he holds his glass up for another toast.
We all laugh hysterically as we toast again. “To poison.”
March
Germany
We stand on the curb outside the hostel. The bus is coming to collect the others for the airport.
Our trip of a lifetime is over.
It’s time to go home.
Christopher and I are flying out of a different airport. Our cab is coming in half an hour to collect us.
We are going to see his parents, then mine, and then we are going to visit Elliot in London . . . and then I guess we will see where we end up.
Christopher’s been quiet all week, and I know it’s because our trip is over.
He’s dreading going back to cleaning.
But I know it will be okay. Maybe he can do a course or go back to school or something. I don’t want him to do a job that he’s ashamed of. It hurts my heart.
I stand back and watch Christopher hug everyone goodbye. We’re all in tears.
Because no matter how much we say we’re going to keep in touch, we won’t.
We live in completely different parts of the world, and soon these people will be nothing more than memories. They’ll be nothing more than people in photos, ones I went on a trip with once.
Their car is waiting.
It’s my turn to hug everyone, and with tears running down my face, I say my goodbyes.
Christopher helps load their bags into the bus, and they sadly climb on.
I can hardly see the bus as it drives away.
The end of an era.
Christopher puts his arm around me as we watch it disappear into the distance.
“That’s it,” he says softly.