Two Cycles Later

Charles, who was dressed overly formally in a stiff, dark navy suit, checked his watch for the third time since he had sat down in the café. It was a small café, sparsely furnished, with some odious music playing a little too loudly, a fact that bothered him more than it should have.

Although he had agreed to meet William Stevens at 2 pm, he had secretly begun to wonder whether he should just leave. After all, they hadn’t seen each other for so long, and he was under no obligation to reconnect with old chums from university, especially now that he was a ‘success’. Will had messaged him unexpectedly, via an email address that Charles rarely monitored and one that he thought few people knew about, but Will was always clever, and maybe he had somehow found this ostensibly private email address through some sort of arcane trickery.

They had been buddies in high school before studying software engineering at Melbourne University. They had once hoped to become the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but after a few tentative attempts at launching their own products, nothing had really materialised. Will had then seemed more intent on creating software to evade government surveillance, supporting cryptocurrency networks and privacy software, while Charles had focused on products that would make them money. He remembered Will railing against ‘the increase in control the government has over us’ and laughed as he recalled his former friend’s naivety.

Naturally, they had drifted apart, and both got caught up in life’s unpleasant realities. Having ‘made it’, Charles had rarely thought of seeking Will out, although he considered it might be nice to get the recognition from his once best friend and former colleague that he had turned out okay. So, when this chance email came to him out of the blue, he was glad of the opportunity to finally show Will that his way was the right one after all, and that Will’s idealistic fantasies would only lead to a dead end.

As he sipped his coffee, he scrolled through several apps on his phone. He wondered again how Will had found his email address and felt somewhat disconcerted. He had meant to update the privacy settings on his phone and laptop but had never seemed to find the time. He checked his watch again, looking around him anxiously. It was a bulky, gaudy watch, and he adjusted its position on his wrist frequently, as though he were not used to wearing it.

Just when he was beginning to tire of this activity, he looked up at the entrance and saw a slim, blonde-haired man with a neatly trimmed beard walk through the door. Even though it had been years since he had last seen Will, it was unmistakably him.

Casually dressed in a T-shirt and jeans but with an overall clean-cut appearance, Will sat down immediately at the table without so much as a smile or a handshake, but with an air of familiarity.

“Hello, Will. Two o’clock on the dot,” said Charles, struggling to maintain his equanimity. “Punctual as ever.”

“Punctuality is the courtesy of kings,” said Will, who now smiled reassuringly, though without the kind of exuberance that might be anticipated from seeing a long-lost acquaintance.

“You were always known as the good boy at school,” said Charles, trying to elevate the mood to one of unrestrained cordiality. “Always on time, even when it seemed you might be late; always doing the right thing, even when it meant raising the ire of other people.”

“Yes, you could say that,” replied Will, placing an iPad on the café table and gazing intently at Charles with a relaxed smile, though his eyes were focused and betrayed no hint of emotion.

“Did you want to order something?” asked Charles, who experienced a frisson of nervousness at his friend’s unexpected sangfroid.

“I’m good for now,” said Will, who once again seemed perfectly at ease, yet hardly brimming with joy at this encounter.

“Never mind, then,” rejoined Charles, smiling broadly to compensate for the lack of emotion on the part of his old friend. “We have heaps of time to order. I’m something of a man of leisure these days anyway. How long has it been? It feels like ages since we last caught up.”

“It’s been seven years,” said Will, his eyes not moving from the face of the other gentleman.

“Seven years already. I remember all those times we used to hang out. Hard to believe so much time has gone by. Now that we’re here, we must commit to seeing each other more often.”

Will continued to look at Charles calmly, pointedly failing to reply to this suggestion.