Drift

In town today, in search of Twister lollies and the perfect spot in the local park for an impromptu picnic, I saw a boy.
A boy I recognised but didn't know.
I knew him- that is, used to know he was- what made him laugh- the little intricacies of his personality the made him tick.
I fell asleep next to him, 3 other people in the bed. I fell asleep on his bare chest, his arms around me. How we managed to sleep so well in a tutu (me) and nothing but a pair of Topman boxers and a pair of orange aviators (him) is anyone's guess.
When we got our GCSE's, we hid in the bathroom at the celebratory piss-up we attended. We talked about the future. We sat for hours, in the silence and the yellow light from the bare bulb, his head cradled to my chest. He was pissed, and probably can't remember.
He bought me a McMuffin, after a night on the town. We sat in the corner, listened to Sara Bareilles- he never was much of a talker.
He was never one for emotion either, but I remember curling up on the sofa in my room, amongst the piles of pillows, and talking to him online when he was in France. I can quite clearly remember idly twirling a spinning top on my dresser as he told me he missed me- he never says that to anyone. I guess I took it for granted at the time.

Now, I walk up to him, say 'Hi'. Say it's good to see him he says it's good to see me; it is good. It's been too long.
I almost consider saying that I don't like not having around him anymore, to have random conversations with and collapse on after a night out.
We used to tumble together, too naturally, liking the fact that we remained friends despite how different we were. Now, we've drifted apart. We've cut our hair- seen boys, seen girls. Bought new Converse- I wonder what he did with the old ones- I still have mine. They got so muddy during our random escapades- getting caught in a freak storm at a theme park, going walking around his village at 3am. He used to laugh at me at how muddy they got- I never was the tidiest person.

I look at my new Converse- shiny, purple, new, excruciatingly clean- and wondered how we could drift so far apart.