Once You Were My Friend

September 2022 (Three Months Later)

Em was hosting a dinner party at their house on a Friday night. She had invited a lot of her work colleagues and most of the band members with their respective partners were there too. It all started with Em reminiscing about college parties. Tamo was also in the room when they were discussing this, wine on their tongues and systems. Truthfully, Nami wasn't really up for parties or being in crowded rooms, much less in her own home. But somehow Em managed to convince Nami, she had that kind of charisma on anyone.

          Sebastian had come in early to help out, bringing most of the drinks and the extra cups Nami asked him to get on his way. They were arranging the cheese platter and putting chips in bowls. Earlier in the day when they were doing the groceries for the party, Em actually had no plan. Nami suppressed her irritation from that as they stood in the dairy aisle. Nami liked to be prepared and Em was spontaneous.

          "Fuck, I actually have no idea what to serve besides the drinks the boys are getting. Ha," Em said.

          Nami said nothing, but was quite annoyed. Em moved freely through the world and had a healthy response to stress and pressure. All they had in their basket were a variety of cheese, crackers and chips. Then at the last minute, as they were walking out of the store, Em had an idea to buy a lot of deli sandwiches and to slice them into quarters, or smaller even. "That's actually a good idea," Nami commended.

          In the deli shop which was always something very overwhelming for Nami, they were waiting for their turn while a woman was getting served before them. The owner was making small talk with the woman. They seemed very familiar with each other. Nami watched as the older man wrapped up the sandwich in paper and placed it on top of the counter. The woman with thick long hair was getting her card ready until the man said, "don't worry about it, Jude. It's on the house."

          They argued for a bit as Nami watched on, thinking if it were her, she wouldn't know what to do with that kind of kindness. It seemed foreign to her. Nami felt she didn't radiate any kind of warmth to others. She didn't know why those thoughts came to mind. Then they finally settled on something Nami couldn't make out on, ending in laughter and smiles. Em was called next. Em had been at Marino's Delicatessen a few times before so she knew what to order. Nami just stood behind her and pretended to look busy, covering the fact she was feeling awkward and tired. She then waited outside.

          Em was in the kitchen doing exactly what she said she would do. She stuck in toothpicks across the length of the sandwich and repeated another row below then she cut them into bite size squares. Tamo was making some sort of punch.

          The music seemed to catch Nami's attention and then fade out into the back. It would do that every so often. Sebastian was helping her opening chip packets and then threw away the packages in a loose plastic bag that was under the table. He'd watch her roll the salami after halving them into a rose kind of shape. He admired it, then thought what a shame it would be for it to be eaten anyway. Nami had her phone on the table as a tutorial played on how to arrange a cheese board, how to cut and serve each specific cheese or what kind of fruit to serve with cheese. She wasn't even sure why she cared so much; aware it was kind of pointless. She was cutting the gruyere into triangles and then arranged them like arrows flowing across the board.

          "Can you open up the gouda for me please," she said. They actually haven't spoken much this entire time. It was the first thing she said to him since he arrived, besides a thank you when he came in, holding up red plastic cups for her to see.

          He started to peel at the plastic and ripped it down the middle and placed it on the chopping board.

         "Thanks," she said. "I'm good here now."