“There he is!” Luke shouted as I walked in the back dairy cooler. It was a typical day of work, and Luke already was making me laugh.

“She’s heart and soul…bum bum bum bum bum duh dum dum…dude, you know who sings this right?!” he inquires, almost over-excitedly.

“Yep, Huey Lewis.” I chuckle; he asks me this every time this song is played.

Luke has been my best buddy and practically my brother for about six years now. He is just as tall as me, about five foot ten inches or so, and has brown hair. He has glasses, a somewhat circular head, and is not a very built guy. He is outgoing all the time, making him a really funny individual, and he is the never-dull moment kind of guy. Not only is he humorous, but he is a reliable and trustworthy friend also.

“Alright bro, we gotta talk.” Luke waves me over as he is stocking aisle 5. We work together at Piggly Wiggly, and although I was supposed to be in the back cooler, I wander over by him for a minute. He is stocking cereal, Cocoa Puffs to be exact. His green shirt is wrinkled beneath his mandatory “Piggly Wiggly” apron, and his tan khakis are developing holes at the knees. This is because he will slide on the ground when no one is around, just to have a little fun. His “sweet kicks” look funny, as they have different colored shoe strings on each shoe.

“What’s up?” I ask, confused as to why he needed to talk to me.

“Well, I am no rocket scientist,” Luke smiles.

The way he stopped mid-sentence like this made me burst into laughter.

“What are you talking about???” I manage to let out between laughs.

“Chris isn’t a rocket scientist either,” Luke’s grin grows bigger.

Chris is a coworker of Luke and I at Piggly Wiggly. He is the shorter of us three workers, around five foot six inches in height. Chris chuckles as Luke goes on and I begin to laugh. I just laugh harder, and I am not sure how to respond to these random statements.

“We know you like Katie. You should ask her out. We aren’t stupid, and we saw you putting your moves on her back there,” he stated, winking at me, the grin still covering his face.

I clenched my gut, and continued laughing. It was the start of a five and a half hour shift at work, and it was already the highlight of my day.

That is one trait about Luke that will never be forgotten; he can brighten anyone’s day. He always has a funny gesture, or he will have something funny to say. Most of the time, it is a movie quote from a movie we watched some earlier time, or sometimes it is just a random saying he came up with. There are other days when he won’t say anything at all and will just make gestures, leaving many people guessing what he means. If he is talking about time, for instance, he will point at his arm as if he were wearing a watch. Other times, he will play charades with you, giving you the number of words in the phrase he is trying to communicate to you. Sometimes I will join in on this with him, and we will have a lot of fun without talking, jokingly insult our coworkers with gestures, and understanding each other’s thoughts. It is a lot of fun, and we do it every now and then.

“Sup Broskey?” Luke answers his phone like usual when I call.

Luke was driving, and I could tell this from the background noise of his open window. I was alone, sitting in my house looking out my window, but as it was dark outside I couldn’t see much of anything.

“Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor and grab my check for me when you get done with work?” I ask him.

“Sure thing bro! I will drop it off later!” Luke exclaimed, shouting into the phone just for the heck of it.

“Alright, thanks man, I will talk to you later,” I replied, laughing as I hang up my phone and continue talking to my dad.

Reliability is another one of Luke’s better traits. If I ever need something, I can usually depend on him to help me out. Getting a check from work, dropping something off, hitching a ride somewhere, getting some help with yard work or a job, Luke is almost always there to lend me a hand. This is a trait of his that I greatly admire, because I don’t remember a time when he has really let me down.

“You can’t tell anyone I told you though, or I will be screwed,” I told Luke, serious expressions covering my face.

I was telling Luke about my ex-girlfriend, and how she planned on committing suicide. I explained how I had driven over there to make sure everything was ok, and how she promised me she wouldn’t do anything like this again. Events after that situation make me wish I had never answered my phone.

“Sure thing, we both know I am the world’s best secret-keeper!” Luke smiled and reassured me of this.

“Thanks man, I knew I could count on you,” I replied, relieved that the information I told him wouldn’t get out to everyone.

Whenever there is something that I need to talk about, but can’t let get out to everyone, I know I can trust Luke. He is a trustworthy friend who will keep a secret if I need him to. If it is a serious thing that can result in death or serious injury, Luke will not hesitate to let someone know, but other than that, he has got my back and will keep his mouth shut. He calls himself the world’s best secret-keeper, and from what I can tell, it is true, he has not ever ratted me out yet, and I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

Besides Luke’s great traits, he also has his downfalls, some being quite comical. For instance, one of Luke’s fears is lizards and frogs. I was able to experience first hand this fear, because when we were in my room one day and I had my leopard geckos out of the cage, Luke started tripping.

“Hey Luke, check out my leopard gecko. These guys are pretty sweet,” I commented, setting one of my leopard geckos on Luke’s leg.

“Get if off me! Seriously don’t let it touch me, it’s gonna bite my d*** off!!!” Luke flung every which way, and his eyes were open wide.

Luckily, I caught the gecko, so it didn’t fall and die or anything. Luke jumped up and ran out of my room.

“I am not coming back until those things are put away!” Luke shouted from outside, I just smiled.
The same goes for frogs and spiders. One time, I picked up a daddy long legs spider and chased Luke around with it, and it was funny because he was squealing while running away from me. That was when we went up north, and I went with his family. The outside of the cabin was loaded with daddy long-legs, so I had no problem finding one.

Another one of Luke’s downfalls is the way he controls his emotions. When he is sad or angry, he doesn’t go punch something or talk to someone about it, but instead he simply locks everyone out, doesn’t talk to anyone, and hops in his car and drives off. One time, I was at a party with some friends, but my time at the party was short-lived. After receiving a phone call from his crying mother, asking if I knew if he was on drugs, I raced over to his house, and I tried talking to him for about a hour, until I went out and sat by my truck, thinking what to do next. All of a sudden Luke came walking out of the door, and as soon as I said his name and walked towards him, he took off running. By this time, it was raining and dark out, and I took off running after him. All the way down his subdivision, in-between traffic, and up a hill, I ran after him until I caught up to him and tackled him to the ground.

“Alright, start talking,” I demanded.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” was his response.

“Don’t give me that sh**. We ain’t leaving this spot until you tell me what the hell is going on,” I shot back.

“I just don’t like people man, besides you, you’re a good guy. Everyone else is stupid,” Luke still had his eyes shut, almost as if he was trying to act like he was sleeping.

“Not good enough, keep talking,” I held him there as he tried to walk away.

“Come on, I’m tired and I’m cold, lets go back up to the house,” Luke complained.

“Nope, I don’t care if your cold, I don’t care if you are tired. Your mom called me crying asking what the hell was wrong with you. Get talking,” I shoved him back in front of me.

It was about twenty minutes later when his dad came down and picked Luke up with the car, and I still didn’t get the truth out of him, and I still don’t know to this day. After that whole incident, we kind of just forgot about it.

Overall, Luke is one of the greatest friends a guy could ask for. He is humorous, reliable, and trustworthy. On top of this, he is practically insane, but that generally falls under his humor. When I need a laugh, he makes me laugh, when I need something done, I can count on him to do it for me, and if I need to keep something on the down low, he won’t tell a soul. This is why Luke is my best buddy, or as I call it, my brother.