Daniel opened his eyes. He was very early that morning. But he got up anyway. He went to the kitchen, took a cup of coffee and watched through the window the misty weather. He thought he never got used to the view of the sea yet, and maybe he would never get totally used to it. He grew in the shadow of the mountains; how could he get used to the sea?

“Life can be quite strange” he thought while drinking his coffee “who could imagine I would live so close to the sea?”

He came back into the bed, lay down under the covers and turned on his right side. He looked at Richard, while he was still sleeping. Richard had never snored when he was younger, but he began doing it quite often. Daniel wasn’t annoyed by his snoring, he heard almost no sound while sleeping. This was their rest day and Daniel decided to enjoy staying in the bed until Richard had woken up. This would take a while, they had a funny night hanging out, and Richard would sleep until late. They should spend some more nights at home, but Richard couldn’t be stopped easily. And, after all, Daniel liked this lifestyle too. He only lacked all the strength he had more than ten years before.

“Who could imagine I would live with such a wonderful guy” thought Daniel again “after all that happened in these last two years”, and his mind started travelling back in time.

…

“Long time no see, Dan.” said Richard, with that smile Daniel had never forgotten. He smiled that way only when he was feeling a little shy.

“Long time no see, Rich” replied Daniel, in a cold way, with his arms folded.

They stayed silent for some minutes then Richard said:

“Don’t you have anything to say to an old friend?”

“Old friends usually don’t disappear for eight years” replied Daniel with a not so false angry tone and highlighted: “let alone the “old friends””.

“We’re angry today” sarcastically said Richard “let’s have a sit!”

They sat down under their tree.

“This place hasn’t changed at all, has it?” said Richard.

“You should know well that here nothing ever changes” answered Daniel “and you haven’t changed that much, Rich. You still look so young.”

“Thank you very much, Dan” said Richard smiling.

“But I see you’ve changed inside. When did you become so sarcastic?” asked Daniel.

“Life and time teach you many things, Dan” replied Richard.

They then started to talk about their life in the last years. Richard had travelled much, never stopping in any place more than two months. New York, Canada, Florida, the New England, Phoenix, California. Countless places and countless experiences. He already knew a lot about Daniel. As he thought, Richard’s parents told him many things about what happened. He began to regret having avoided them.

“I came back home twice” said Richard. Daniel was shocked:

“So why didn’t you tell me anything?”