It had been two weeks since the funeral. And in that time, Alex
hadn't seen even a glimspe of Brandon. He remebered the events of
that night. The trip had been cancelled. Monica and he went with
Brandon in Greg's car and the others went home in Jason's car.
Now he was at Brandon's house ringing the doorbell. After a few
minutes, the door opened. It was Brandon.
"Hey, bud. Long time no see. I just to see how you were doing."
"I'm doing alright. Um, come in." Alex followed Brandon inside.
He could see Brandons grandparents sitting in the living room.
Brandon lead him to his room. On the bed was a half packed suitcase.
"Hey, what's up, bud?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.
Brandon was silent for a moment.
"I've decided to go to an out of state college." Alex was shocked and saddened
at the same time.
"When?"
"I'm leaving tonight." Brandon said softly. He was all too aware of what Alex
must be thinking.
"I was going to tell you this afternoon. It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment
decision." Alex nodded. ,br>
"I know." There was a minute of silence.
"What about the house?" Alex asked
"My grandparents are going to move in. They going to start an at-home nursery."
Brandon smiled weakly.
"They love kids." Alex sat down on the bed.
"Well, bud, I wish you the best."
"Thanks." Brandon went back to packing. Alex looked around the room. There were
open and empty drawers, clothes scatterred about on the bed and used dishes.
On the dresser was a pile of pennies and nickels, pencils, unopened letters
and an expensive watch that Brandon's grandfather gave on his fourteenth birthday.
He laughed softly. Brandon stopped and looked at him. He got up, picked up the watch
and handed to Brandon.
"I thought you lost this." He said. Brandon smiled a bit.
"Yeah, I found it while I was looking for my yearbook."
"Which one?" Alex asked.
"All of them." ,br>
"Did you find them? Any of them?"
"Um, No." They both laughed. Alex looked around again. Looks like I'll have to
find another roommate, he thought bitterly. Then an idea hit him.
"Hey, Brandon, come with me." He said while grabbing his arm.
"What?"
"Come with me." Alex repeated. He dragged Brandon out to his car.
"If you're leaving," He began, "Then we have to have a goodbye party. We'll call
Jason and Monica-" Brandon interrupped him.
"Hold it, Alex. I'm sure they're both really busy and-" Alex snorted.
"Jason's never busy and I doubt Monica would mind." He smirked.
"In fact, I think she'd like it. A lot." He unlocked to door.
"Now get in and don't give me any more excuses." Brandon sighed and got in.
********************************************
"Thanks for the party, bud" Brandon said. They were back at Brandon's house,
standing near his car. The car was loaded and he was just about ready to leave.
"Hey, no problem. It was the least we could do." Alex replied. Monica come over and
hugged him.
"I want you to have a good time there," she said, "And don't you dare forget to write."
"I won't. I'll write very often." Brandon replied.
"Knowing you, that means once a month," Jason laughed, "Perhaps a year." Brandon turned
to Alex.
"I guess this is goodbye."
"For now. I'm sure we'll see each other again." Brandon nodded. They shook hands and
Brandon got into the car. He started it up and got out of the driveway.
Alex, Jason, and Monica moved down to the sidewalk. The three of them watched as Brandon's
car got smaller and smaller, then dissappeared.