"I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff."
― Jon Katz

bade

I stared at the computer screen.

How would I be able to tell Solaris I'd come through with the bet?

I didn't have her number, and I never found out where she lived. I know she told me the house she lived in was near Gallagher Street, but I didn't ever have the energy or guts to question the neighbors door to door where Solaris Monroe lived.

Solaris Monroe's whereabouts would forever be unknown to me.

After enough waiting, I got on Instagram and found a lot of pics on my feed.

I didn't get any hearts or likes because it seemed as if I hadn't been on for a century.

Grant Hardwick, a track and field player, blew up my feed of pics from a fishing trip with his brother.

Isaac Stints, a Warner High football player, had uploaded a gazillion pics of him and his girlfriend at some concert.

As lame as it was following Bridgette on Instagram she even had a lot of uploads.

Some were of her and her boyfriend Eli, and others were of "zodiac sign problems".

Eventually I went to my profile page and looked through all of my photos. Some I deleted because they didn't mean much anymore.

None of it did, really.

) 

It was mid-November.

I couldn't stop watching the moon. It was beautiful, and despite the fact that in any other case I would have been inside chilling; I couldn't help but stay outside and take it all in. The moon was closer than I'd ever seen in it in my eighteen years of life.

And I felt like I should've been out there, like I was meant to be on that moon. Maybe me and her weren't made for this world. Maybe, that night with just me and her, it meant that we were in our own world. We should have never parted.

Maybe me and her should've stayed in our own world, because we weren't meant for the one we live in now. Besides, I couldn't stop thinking about her.

I hope she was watching the supermoon just like me.

)

I hadn't seen Solaris in almost five months. I hadn't really missed her, but at times I'd find myself thinking about her.

I'd think about her laugh, and the way she smiled. I'd think about that one night at Lars' place, where we smoked weed, and had a couple good laughs. I'd also think about the kiss we shared, including the secrets we told each other.

Maybe, Solaris never meant to leave.

Maybe, something happened, and she didn't have time to call or something.

Yes, it still hurt me a little that she left without saying goodbye, even after all the things we shared with each other and how I let myself open up like that. But I did distract myself all summer by working overtime at Cy's, and believe it or not, after a week, Bree broke up with me because I couldn't stop thinking about Solaris, and I think I'd even called her "Solaris" once, when we were laughing and joking with each other, or when I needed to ask her something.

Funny, Bree and I broke up the first time because I couldn't keep my eyes away from Solaris.

Then, we broke up for a second time because I couldn't stop thinking about Solaris, and I wanted her to come back.

"She'll come back, dude," Lars told me one time back in the summer. "If she loves you. Y'know, really loves you. She'll come back."

)

I was in the back washing dishes, when Jacob, one of the waiters, told me, "There's someone here lookin' for you."

I stopped scrubbing one of the porcelain plates, and looked over my shoulder. "Who is it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know man, but she just asked if a Bade worked here."

I took the rubber gloves off, and took off my apron.

It was around 5 pm, and the dinner rush was about to happen. As I walked to the entrance, I wondered who could've possibly wanted to see me. My mom left me when I was younger; she was now happily living with her second husband of ten years, with 3 kids. I wasn't sure if I'd ever told Solaris about my mom leaving me, Bridgette, and my dad.

And right when that thought occurred to me.

I saw her standing there.

She was wearing a royal blue colored pea coat, a purple scarf was wrapped around her neck, and her hair was down.

I stopped in my tracks and she looked at me, and I saw her tear up. I wasn't trying to do that. But, I hadn't seen her in such a long time. Five months.

Five months was how long it took for her to come back to me.

—

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