A very good friend of mine from high school--really a BEST friend--had been out on a mission. I haven't really seen him or talked to him since our freshman year, three years ago.
A while ago, I thought, "Hmm... I should write Ben"(for the sake of this post, he shall be referred to as Benjamin, Ben, Benny, Benji, or any combination of the four).
I tried to find his address on facebook, but he no longer had one. I would have called his mother to get his address, but I didn't know how to reach his mom, but through his facebook. (I realize how pathetic this would sound to the generation before me... people do exist outside of fb, I just didn't know where).
So then two nights ago, "Benny Boy Bingley" popped up on my "suggested friends" tab.
He's alive!
I tried to call the number I had in my phone from years ago, but it'd been disconnected.
I sent him a message, "HEY! Is this you, Benji?! How was your mission?! Why didn't you call me?!"
No response. Granted, that might have been annoying, and I only waited until the next morning to see if he had responded, But now I was worried. Maybe he really didn't want to talk to me...?
So I did what my generation does best: I creeped.
I would rather deem it daring detective work. He was once my very best friend, I couldn't let him disappear!
His new facebook had him attending a small school in some random state, but it had a link. I asked a classmate if there was a time difference in Nevada from Utah, no one knew. In the 4 minutes I had before my class started, I called the school. The front dest receptionist knew Benjamin Bingley personally, and assured me that he would know of my trying to get in touch with him in the next couple of minutes. The receptionist asked for my name and number.
What if he Ben really didn't want to talk to me? Maybe he wanted a completely fresh start or something. If he knew it was me calling, maybe he wouldn't call me back...
"Here's the number. Just tell him it's an old friend, trying to reach him."
"Can I give him your name?"
"...um...nope..."
"Ok...?"
Fifteen minutes later, I get a call from an unknown number. Whoever called left a voicemail, so I was squirming in my classroom until the bell rang and I could check the message. It was 4-seconds of silence, then he hung up. I'm thinking, he must have heard me saying, "you've reached Averill's cell" then realized who was trying to get in contact with him, and hung up!
"To return the message sender's call, press 8"
8.
It was a 303 number. As in colorado... (which is where we are both from you see). I was getting close on the trail! But the recorded voice message system I had reached was NOT my Benny's voice. He must have used someone else's phone to call back. wow. he really doesn't want to be found... I left a message saying I'm just trying to get ahold of Ben Bingley, and if he could tell him that I just really care about him, and want to find out how he is doing.
I might have googled the phone number...that didn't get me anywhere.
I got a text from that number saying: "I'm sorry I called the wrong number by mistake. I do not know a person with the name you described. Take care." Man, he really doesn't want me to keep this up...
Now a normal person at this point may have given up. But here's proof I'm not normal. I went back to his facebook and found a link to a website, which turned out to be a small business he's now running. There was a "contact" tab, and finally: a PHONE NUMBER! huzzah! He was going to have to talk to me, I would find a way. No best friend of mine is going to drop off the face of the earth without telling me!
I called him 2x, and left a long voice mail about how if he didn't want to be found, he shouldn't put his personal phone number on his public business website... etc. etc. :)
I got a text saying, "Hey! I'm in class. Can I call you back in 13 minutes?"
HOORAY! We were very happy to hear from each other, though Benji was really confused why I didn't give the school my name...
Turns out he got back and just started living life. All is well. Also, turns out that other 303 number really did just misdial.
I hope he felt loved and not stalked.
The moral of the story: you can rest easily my dear friends. Because if you are missing, I will find you!
