John was sitting in the cafe a full 30 minutes before Bob arrived. Bob never failed to be late; he always projected the image of the no nonsense, nose to the grindstone type who never had a spare second and would leave you in the lurch for a more important appointment that ended late. He was always doing that, and driving John crazy, and yet he would always come early anyway. He hated the idea of being late and always took pains to be on time, feeling it would be inconsiderate to leave someone waiting, even though Bob always did.
John already finished one coffee and was halfway through the second when Bob sailed in smoothly and confidently, looking every bit the successful executive he was. Though not clad in his usual hand tailored Italian suit (it was Saturday), he was draped in an expensive looking v-neck sweater with a collared checker shirt and khakis that screamed business casual. John frowned slightly, looking down at his own slightly ratty jeans and threadbare Ramones t-shirt and feeling more uncomfortable. John was way in the back and in the corner, and decided to pretend he hadn't seen Bob yet. Let him find me himself, he thought.
John always hated their meetings. They seemed like nothing so much as an excuse for Bob to brag about how well he was doing and how much he made off each deal (he was a stockbroker) than a genuine attempt to catch up. Bob never asked John a direct question about how he was doing without referencing himself soon afterward.
John and Bob were high school friends. They were both big English nerds who read comic books in the back of math class and watched sci-fi til sunrise. They were inseparable. Then suddenly high school was over and University hit. Before he could blink, John was enrolled as a liberal arts major and Bob had gone to Business school. They kept in touch at first, but once John had dropped out to focus on his writing, they quickly lost touch.
When they got in touch a couple of years later, they had definitely drifted apart. Bob had become a young and fierce stockbroker, a real shark in a pinstripe suit. John, through hard work and perseverance, had managed to get a novel published to middling success by one of the smaller publishing houses and felt on top of the world as well. They arranged to meet on a weekly basis.
That was five years ago. Since then, John had been working on and off (mostly off) on his second novel with no end in sight and worked selling dreary ties to bland older men who somehow still shopped at department stores. Bob, meanwhile, had steadily grown more and more wealthy and successful. John felt like a failure, and their meetings did nothing so much as reinforce that. It just fed his insecurities, the way Bob would always ask how the novel was going week to week and would feign sadness when (inevitably) he had nothing new to report. He always seemed so smug about the whole thing, as if he knew what the answer would be before he asked. They both had the same dreams of getting published when they were kids, but Bob had been condescending even then. He didn't believe for a second that it could really happen. When Bob found out about his book deal, the shock was evident on his face. He couldn't believe even then that I had any success.
John stopped short then. Maybe it wasn't all about how much better Bob was doing than John. Maybe it was also how much better John was doing than Bob. John, though he didn't have financial success, had followed his dream and succeeded. Bob had never done that, and in a way he supposed it bothered him as much as John's lack of financial success bothered him. They both hated to meet up with the other and see how the other half lived. He smiled as he realized, maybe for the first time, that he was content with his lot in life. It was then that Bob finally found him.
"There you are! I couldn't find you! This place is a zoo!"
"Sorry, I was lost in thought there for a minute."
"Well, don't you look like the cat that ate the canary!"
"I know, I can't help it. I just thought up the next chapter in my book. Sit down and I'll tell you about it."
Bob sat down, latte in hand.
"It starts with two old friends in a cafe.."
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