Between Friends Read Online Free PDF Page A

Elly: shes a 1947 Harley-Davidson EL 1000 Knucklehead. A beauty, aint she?” I said.
     
“A little rusty,” Jules said, but he smiled as he knelt down by the bike for a closer look.
    I yammered on about the engine, the restoration stuff Id learned in Uncle Joes garage, the paint job I planned for Elly. Jules asked little questions here and there. I babbled on about wanting to start up my own business, restoring bikes. I had some money saved up. It was like the old days, before everything, when we could talk to each other without the awkward shit. When we were friends. I wanted more, though. I talked too much, working up the nerve.
“Are you seeing anyone?” I asked at last.
     
Jules stood and stepped back, like the bike had turned into a rattlesnake.
    “Luke….” His voice sounded almost begging. There was hurt in it, I could hear.
“There was that guy when I left, but I dont know anything since, and youre here alone.” I tried so very hard to do this the right way, but I was never very good at this stuff.
“Jason and I split up, but that doesnt matter.” His defenses were going up, and I didnt know what to do to stop them.
He kept inching towards the open garage door, and I kept following.
“It matters to me,” I said, taking one step toward him. He took two steps back.
“Luke, lets not do this. It wont work.”
“Is it because Im just a grease monkey?” I had to ask, because there was always that possibility. Two years is a long time, and he had a proper degree and fancy job by now.
“Dont be stupid!”
That familiar anger flashed in his eyes. I knew we were skidding the wrong way, but I couldnt stop either. I got another step closer, and this time Jules stood his ground. That stubborn bastard I knew so well was back.
“Then why?”
“You know why.”
“People can change.”
     
“Oh cmon, Luke, get real. People change. Sometimes. In slow increments. Maybe. But I wouldnt bet my life on it.”
    I realized then how angry and hurt he still felt. As stupid as it sounds, it made my heart beat with crazy hope, cause it meant I still mattered to him.
    “Jules, give me another chance. Ill prove it to you.” “No. Fucking. Way,” he said. Stubborn fucking bastard.
    He spun on his heels and marched straight down the driveway, leaving me with my anger and frustration. I took it out on the nearest object I could find: I kicked the toolbox as hard as I could. The heavy metal box skittered loudly over the concrete floor, spilling its guts across the garage. All it got me was a sore foot, a mess to clean up, and my mother coming out of the house.
“What was that noise?” she asked, appearing in the doorway. Then, “Wheres Julian?”
     
“Gone.”
    I really didnt want to explain, but of course, like a typical mother, she wouldnt leave things alone.
“Well, go after him,” she chided me.
“You wouldnt understand.” I swear I must have sounded like a whiny twelve-year-old. I dont know how she does it to me.
    She rolled her eyes. “You boys are real dense sometimes. Have I ever told you how your father proposed to me?”
“What?” Okay, I havent told you: my mothers great, but shes a little kooky at times.
    “He didnt. He couldnt make up his mind. So I proposed to him, in front of his whole family. You shoulda seen him. He was so embarrassed, but I sure got his attention.”
“Ma, why are you telling me this now?”
    You see, I was mighty confused. I hadnt really thought everything through. Id thought a lot about what Id say to Jules, and it still went to shit. I couldnt even start figuring out how Id break it to my mother, but she clearly was ahead of me. I mustve given her a dazed look, because she stepped up to me, put her hands on either side of my face, and looked into my eyes like she used to when I was a kid.
    “Lucas Francis Burke, Im your mother. I love you, and I want you to be happy, but its only you who knows wholl make you happy. Ill not hold that against you. Julians a nice