After

After she steps off the plane, the Girl runs up to me and starts crying because she thought we would miss each other because of our conflicting schedules. She doesn't let go of me, and her mom takes a picture of us. We drive back to their house on an acreage, and the Girl puts on a movie, Iron Man, to entertain her Brothers during the long trip. I enjoy, thrilled to be watching a Marvel movie. 

When we arrive, the Girl has to unpack from her trip to New York so I collapse on her comfy bed while she spews the contents of her suitcase across the carpet of her bedroom floor. She blasts some music, and I close my eyes. Before I know it, I've managed to fall asleep despite the lights and the music and the excitement of being able to see my childhood friend again. 

Once she wakes me up, we run outside into the rain to search for her newest batch of kittens. She always seems to have new kittens when I'm over, but I'm hardly complaining. Their mother has hidden them outside in one of the sheds, and we catch one and bring him back inside into the safety of the house. I can hold him comfortably in my hands, and he's tame and quiet unlike her other feral cats. She calls him Tony (and his brother Stark) after I point out her somewhat creepy tendency to name her cats after food, such as Marshmallow or Skittles. 

We leave Tony to slink around the house and eat supper while the Dads swap war stories and remember whens. The Girl has a volleyball meeting, so I take Tony to the living room and we fall asleep on the couch together, me careful to not squish his tiny figure. 

When I wake up, I find the Brothers are outside, jumping from hay bale to hay bale and I run out to join them. When the Girl returns, we play hay bale tag, even though it's a bit difficult because there are only three hay bales lined up in a row and there are five of us. The Brothers don't seem to mind, even though the Girl and I discuss their confusing ways in whispered tones. 

One of the Brothers is spitting everywhere as if trying to get rid of a bad taste in his mouth, and he accidentally spits in my hair. We both look at each other for a long moment, then I put him in a brief headlock. The Girl and I jump on the trampoline with wet knees and souls while the youngest Brother trains to go on American Ninja Warrior, and I have to admit that he's good despite being twelve years old. 

That night, when the Girl and I crawl into bed, we chat about life and school and whatever else we could possibly think of and even though it's almost five years later, even though so much has changed, in that moment I don't think anything has changed and I've never been more grateful.