Blatant rip off / inspired by a song I like. I hope you like.
Children, when left to their own devices, don't consider things like race or socio-economic background when making friends. They gravitate towards people that naturally get along well with them.
At 6 years old, I didn't care that Nao and I were as different as night and day. She shared her lunch with me, mostly because she didn't like the American food served in our school cafeteria. Her parents insisted she integrate into American culture, and our friendship was born.
Her family had moved into our small town over the summer because her father's job had transferred him here. A Japanese manufacturing plant that employed half the town. As a manager, he had to do everything to endear his company and family to the locals, and that meant adopting our culture.
When Nao told her parents about the wiry little American boy who sat beside her at lunch on her first day of school, they were thrilled. They encouraged us to be friends.
We really didn't need any encouragement though. We just fit together perfectly. Our differences were fun things for each of us to learn about the other, not roadblocks to overcome. Even though Nao is a couple months older than me, as I grew tall, I became like a big brother to her. She was my best friend from that first meeting onward, and not just because she shared her food with me.
What I liked most about Nao was her laugh. The genuine one she saved only for me, not the polite, nervous laugh she used when she felt awkward. The one where I saw who she really was, and I liked it. It was my special laugh, and I learned to be funny just to hear it. It was my thing.
We did everything together. Swimming lessons, Tee-ball, camping out in the back yard, hours and hours talking. She knew me so well, and I knew her. We were as close as two kids could possibly be.
She would help me with my schoolwork, and I would take care of anyone making fun of her for being different. There just isn't a way to properly express how great our friendship was.
Of course, things change. As we grew into teens, I became aware that she was a girl, and a beautiful one at that. I had developed a strong attraction to her, but I was afraid to tell her because it might ruin our close friendship. I was young and lacked confidence. Nobody coaches dumb young men how to navigate their first love. You learn by trial and error.
Unfortunately, the rug got pulled out from under me before I could gather the courage to tell her how I felt when her father was recalled to Japan. Nao and her mother moved the summer after our sophomore year of high school. In one moment, I lost my best friend and secret crush. Saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. Seeing her cry broke my heart.
Life in Japan is busy, and over the next two years Nao's messages slowed before eventually coming to a halt. She had her own life to live, and I had mine. Finally, we lost touch. I wasn't surprised by that. I may have been too scared to tell her my true feelings, but I wasn't stupid. Being back in Japan meant her parents probably wouldn't tolerate their daughter's small town American friend anymore.
I went on my own path that included college, a mechanical engineering degree and a job in a big city, a state over from where I grew up. The city was both fascinating and lonely to me.
I dated, with much success, but things were never quite right. No matter how good the woman was, she never measured up to Nao. I won't say my life was bad, just off somehow. Like a car with one wheel out of balance, I never was able to smooth out my love life. I grew frustrated.
I tried social media and dating sites, with similar results. I dated some really beautiful and impressive women, but nobody was Nao. Nobody could be. At 24 years old, I had a great job, a bright future and I wasn't exactly ugly. But it all felt so empty. I'd never find another woman who could fit with me as perfectly as Nao had. She was the complimentary puzzle piece to mine. No one else would ever measure up to her.
Out of frustration one day, I posted the first photo of me and Nao together. Our 6-year-old selves, arms around each other. I was smiling my goofy little smile, and Nao was giving me her best laugh. It is my most cherished memory. As in of all time ever. If I could just be that happy again, life would be great. I captioned the photo, "If I could find you Nao things would get better."
Some people with more time on their hands than sense got a hold of my post and it got a lot of attention. Tons of messages asking who the girl was, and thousands of likes and shares. They wished me luck locating my long-lost friend. It only made my heart ache even more. I regretted not telling her how I felt before she left. Maybe things would have been different.
"You found me bear. What happens now?" (her childhood nickname for me) her message was waiting for me in my inbox one morning, months later. Someone who knew someone who knew someone else saw my post and eventually connected the dots telling Nao about it.
Not only had I found her again, but she was back in the US.
"What happens now is up to you." I replied to her. I wanted to say a lot more, but that summed it up perfectly. I waited to see how she reacted.
"You were my best friend. I missed you so much. Can we reconnect?" was her reply.
We did and hit the ground running. Within a couple months we had rekindled a strong friendship. She was happy with that, but I thought it was only a good start. We always fit together perfectly, and I was ready to tell her my true feelings for her this time. Our friendship was back to rock solid, and it was time for the next step.
I flew out to Los Angeles on a holiday weekend to see her. She booked the entire weekend free so we could hang out. Nao had grown up to become an even more beautiful woman than the girl I said goodbye to at 16.
"Oh wow Brad, you're huge!" she declared when we met at the airport.
"Yeah, I had a bit of a growth spurt the summer you left." I was a little embarrassed. I may have changed a little too.
"Not just tall, but you work out a lot." She complimented my fitness.
"A little." I tried to accept graciously. I'm no terminator, but I was most definitely fit.
Nao took me to lunch, and we spent all day just catching up. Nao was a customer quality engineer for the same manufacturing company her father worked for, based in Los Angeles.
I told her my update, and she told me hers. We talked about the old days. She asked about her friends from high school and told me about her life in Japan. She had been back in the US for eight months.
On Sunday, we did a little sightseeing and walked on the beach. I decided it was time to act before I lost my nerve.
"Nao, I need to tell you something." I stopped and looked at her. "I have been kicking myself for the last eight years because I was too scared to tell you then, but I wanted to be more than just friends."
Nao laughed. "Brad, I had the biggest crush on you back then, but it wouldn't have been fair to tell you that because we were leaving."
"Then let's try it now." I made my offer. I would not live with the regret any longer.
"It's been a long time, and you live far away. I don't know bear. It's only fair to tell you that I am dating someone, but we have not made a commitment yet. We've only been going out a couple of months." She blushed.
"What if I didn't live far away?" I asked. "Would you give me a chance?"
"Of course I would." She smiled, trying to let me down gently.
"Give me one month then. Promise me you will give me one month to arrange things and let me see if I can change that I live far away." I hoped beyond hope she would say yes.
"Brad, you can't uproot your whole life for me. Don't be ridiculous." She scolded me.
"I can and will." I countered. "I happen to think you are worth it, and I won't live with the regret any longer. Just give me one month. That's all I'm asking."
"OK." She replied. "I'll make you a deal. I'll be right here, in this spot, on June twenty ninth, at seven pm to watch the sun set. If you are here, I'll have an official date with you, and we can go from there. If not, then it wasn't meant to be."
"Deal." I quickly agreed.
Nao walked out to the beach, to find a crowd gathered around. From the edge, she couldn't see what they were looking at.
"What's going on?" she asked a woman in front of her.
