Princes and Pinball

I left my hometown the day after I graduated from high school, and I really didn’t want to go back again, other than for the occasional visit every now and then. Every time I did come back to visit, it was disconcerting. I felt like a completely different person, and none of my old friends could possibly know me or understand me anymore.

Still, during those brief visits home, I would always make an attempt to connect with those old friends. I’d go out to this pizza place and watch everyone play pool. I would always get bored and end up playing pinball by myself and playing songs on the jukebox.

One guy who was always a member of these parties wasn't a friend from high school.  He was this big, badass punk with a shaved head and tattoos, and I'd decided that we were best friends ever since he'd unwillingly rescued me at a certain New Year's Eve party that's another story, for another post. 

At some point, I started dragging him away from the pool tables and cajoling him into joining me at the jukebox, and we’d play “Two Princes” over and over again, and he’d kick my butt at Star Wars pinball. Those moments of comfortable silliness are the kind of moments that have always spawned my best friendships.