I watch Mina walk toward us her interest peaked. Her eyes are focused on Golden; she walks next to me and looks at me for a long time. As if she’s asking me what the hell bro? She sits down next to me and looks at Golden for even longer. I can see her little mind working over time.
I open my mouth to say something but she beats me to it.
“Who are you?” she asks Golden still looking at her intently.
“I’m Golden.” Golden says extending her hand to Mina. My little sister looks at her hand and then she looks at me. I smile and she looks back at Golden’s offered hand. She looks Golden in the eyes and then finally decides to accept her hand shake.
“I’m Mina.” She says.
“Nice to meet you.” Golden says looking unfazed.
“How do you know my brother?” Mina asks still curious.
“We go to the same school.” Golden says looking intently at Mina. I guess she’s not backing down.
“Okay” Mina says and then turns to me. “I’m going back to play.” She declares, she waits for me to nod and then she’s off.
I smile glad she has the balls to face Golden because I’m dying on the inside. What do I say? I have thought about this moment so many times. I’ve made up conversations but nothing compares to real thing. This moment right now.
“Wow that was intense.” Golden says and smiles at me.
“You have no idea.” I say feeling her pain. I go through the same inquisition at least twice a day. And I have a feeling I’m going to have another one when we get home about Golden.
“I don’t blame her.” She says looking down at her hands looking shy all of a sudden.
“Oh?” I ask curious.
“’Yeah, if I had a brother I would suss out every girl that comes into his life.” She says and looks back at me.
“You don’t have any brothers?”
“No, I’m an only child.” She says and lies down on the blanket. She looks at me sideways; her eyes look so beautiful in the afternoon light. I swallow hard; I need to get a grip.
“That must be interesting.” I say not really knowing what to say, her being here is throwing me off. And my none existent conversation skills leave me completely.
“More like boring and lonely.” She says her eyes closed.
I take that opportunity to really look at her. I trace my eyes over her perfectly shaped nose, her beautiful lips and her smooth flawless skin.
“That’s why you have so many friends?” I ask staring at her. She opens her eyes and catches me staring at her. I look away quickly and concentrate on Zach and the kids.
“I guess you could say that. Although, lately I’ve had to reevaluate my friendships.” She says and it catches me off guard. I look back at her and find her looking at me.
“Is that why you’re here?” I ask thankful she took the conversation there. I’m dying to know why she’s here. We’re not her usual crowd, what game is she playing?
“I like Zach, he’s so chill. I need that in my life.”She says thoughtful.
“Okay.” I say not really saying what I want to say.
“What?” She asks looking at me intently.
“Nothing.” I say looking away.
“Leo, say what you’re thinking. I can take it.” She says serious.
“I guess I’m just wondering why you’re sitting here with me and not with Zach.” I say regretting the words as soon as they leave my mouth.
But she doesn’t seem to take my words out of turn.
“The truth?” She asks and I nod yes. “I’m curious about who you are.”She says and looks away quickly. She covers her face and makes a sound. “Jeez that sounds so bad, I’m so sorry. Why did I say that? I sound so weird.” She says rolling to her side, hiding from me.
I reach out and roll her back, I peel her hands from her face and she resists.
“No you’re fine. Don’t feel that way.” I say softly pulling her hands away. She opens one eye peaking at me.
“Promise me you won’t ever repeat what I just said to anyone else.” She says holding out her pinky. I interlock her pinky with mine smiling. “Say I promise.” She says giving me a deadly look. She looks so cute right now.
“I promise” I repeat the words.
“Are you two ever going to join the fun?” Zach says behind me and I almost jump out of my skin because I didn’t hear him approach.
“Yes” Golden says standing up so fast and she snatches the water gun out of Zach’s hands and starts spraying us. Zach starts screaming after her, she runs away and I get up running after them.
We run around playing with the kids. We scream our hearts out. Mina and Golden team up against us,
It’s the ladies against the guys. They soak us with the water guns. I surrender when they gang up on me.
“Okay I surrender.” I say to them and they giggle running after Jon and Zach.
I laugh watching the boys run away, they look so happy. I want to stay here forever but I have to get back home so I can get ready for work. I walk back to where our stuff is, I take a moment to commit this scene to memory. I had an amazing day, after a moment I signal Zach and he gathers the kids. He says something to Golden and they join me.
We gather all our stuff and head back to the car.
“Thanks for inviting me.” I hear Golden say to Zach as I load the car.
“Well you told me about this place.” He says as he lets the kids into the car.
“All the same I’m glad you invited me.” She says looking at me. I smile thankful I came. I had an awesome time.
“Well we should get going.” Zach says and gets into the car.
“I can walk you to your car.” I say to Golden.
“Oh thank you. Bye Zach.” She says and he waves from the driver’s seat. She starts walking in the direction of her car. She unlocks her car and opens the door. She hesitates for a moment and then she gets in.
“Well thank you.” she says, I nod and walk away. I don’t know what to do or say.When I get back in Zach’s car and he has this cheesy look on his face. I ignore him.
“Are you going to say the words or am I going to have to peel them out of you?” He says as we leave. I can see Golden’s cars behind us in the side mirror.
“’What words?” I say looking at him finally.
“Oh I don’t know, words like. Zach you were right about Golden and I was wrong.” He says looking smug.
“You were right about nothing. Nothing happened and nothing will happen.” I say loud enough so that I can hear the words too. I don’t want to get my heart broken over nothing.
“Even I know that’s bull” He says looking at the road concentrating. We drive in silence from then on.
Golden I’m sitting with Cole and his friends at a park; we’re just lying around doing nothing really. Everyone is listening to one of Cole’s stories. He’s the center of attention, where he likes to be. Everyone is so engrossed in whatever he’s saying not really contributing anything. I have nothing against him being in the center, it’s just that it’s gotten so old. This is all we do, sit and listen. I tune out thinking about where I really want to be. It’s been about a month since I spent time with Leo and his crew. I wish we could hang out with his siblings and Zach again. Mina and Jon are barely old enough to spell their names but they have more fun than this lot. There really is magic in being a child, maybe that’s why I’m drawn to Zach. He has this fun free spirited, child like quality about him. He doesn’t mind being dumb. Why do I want to spend time with Leo? He seems so mature. I like he doesn’t feel the need to speak just because. He’s comfortable with silence; we live in
I can’t believe Golden is standing in my house, in the same kitchen I make myself food. I see her here but my brain can’t make sense of it. After we had ice cream she walked with us back here. I told her a it’s a long walk hoping she’ll change her mind and go home instead but no. The whole time we were walking I was in my head trying to figure out what’s happening, why does she want to be here with me? I figured maybe she’s curious, a fact that makes me uncomfortable. I wonder if she’s trying to get close to me, find out all she can about me and then expose me to the whole school. I feel like I’m being too trusting, she shouldn’t be here. But there isn’t much I can do now, she’s here. Looking around my house. “We’re going to play.” Mina says already pulling Jon to the door. She doesn’t wait for me to say if they can go or not. “Only for a little while.” I say behind them as they slam the door shut. I move from the kitchen to the bedroom window. From there I can watch the kids play
“So, you hung out with Golden? That’s a development.” Zach says talking too loud for my liking. I look around us to see who’s listening. We’re on the school field to have our lunch, the closest person to us is the school grounds keeper and he’s on the other side. But still, you never know who’s lurking. We’re kicking it alone today because I had to tell someone about spending time with Golden or I’m going to burst. “She didn’t really give me a choice and can you not talk so loud,” I say speaking softly. “What do you mean she didn’t give you a choice?” He asks making a face at me but he lowers his voice. “We had ice cream and she came back home with us. I didn’t invite her, she sort of walked along with us until we got home.” He smiles at my explanation and I already know where this is going. “She was in your house, wow dude. You guys are moving fast.” He says smiling a very sly smile. He wiggles his brows over and over, I cringe inwardly at that. “Not like that. Don’t say that.
“I can’t believe you and Cole broke up.” Amara says sitting across from me, at her favorite restaurant. She wanted to take me out for lunch since I’m going through a tough time. She called me last night telling me to get ready to go out today because she wants to cheer me up. I finally had the courage to tell them that Cole and I are on a break, for two weeks I let them believe that we were working through a small fight. But after 14 whole days of him ignoring me and pretending I didn’t exist at school I had, had enough. I sent Amara and Gina a PSA text and here we are. They are both distraught and concerned for my well-being. “They didn’t break up Amara, they’re on a break,” Gina says a little too loudly. The couple in front of us turns and looks at me with so much pity, I almost feel sorry for myself. I could ask Gina to speak quietly but what’s the point? It’s out there now; the strangers in the restaurant might as well know my business too. “But what does that even mean?” Amara
“I have a favor to ask.” Zach says across from me. I look up at the Ms Swan our English teacher. She doesn’t like talkers in class. She has her back to us but everyone knows she has supernatural hearing. She can tell you who’s talking without even seeing them. It’s like a mutant power, don’t understand what’s so important that Zach can’t wait until lunch. I give him a look to let him know I don’t want to talk right now. He raises his brows at me in question and then he gives me a shoulder shrug. What’s wrong with this dude? Did he forget where we are? Miss Swan doesn’t play. “No,” I say as quietly as possible. I want to tell him we can talk about this at lunch but that’s too many words and Ms Knight will definitely catch me talking if I say anything more than that. “What do you mean no? You don’t even know what the favor is.” He says whispering back at me. Of ‘course he thinks I’m saying no to his request for a favor and not to talk in Ms Swan’s class. I look at him hoping he can
Leo “Are we going out again? This is the second time we’ve gone out this month. I like that.” Mina declares when we get on the bus. We find a seat and get comfortable; we have a two-bus ride ahead of us to get to Zach’s house. This first one is the shortest and the second one will get us a short distance from his house so we’ll have to walk there. And if I remember correctly is a long way, hopefully these two stay excited enough to not notice the distance. I know Mina will be fine; it’s Jon I’m nervous about. He isn’t a great traveler. He gets cranky and wants to go home. “I guess you could say this is an outing. We’re going to Zach’s birthday party.” I say explaining to them where we’re going. I didn’t tell them why we had to wake up early today, because we had to take the bus we had to leave earlier than usual. Mina seems to be game for the unknown. Since the trip we took with Zach and Golden Mina has demanded we go out at least once a month. I know I could have said no to her
“They’re in their element.” I say looking at her. She smiles waving at Mina and Jon; they wave excitedly back at her. “How are you?” She asks looking at me, she’s smiling at me. I wonder if she knows how beautiful her smile is. “I’m alright and you?” I say taken aback by how beautiful she looks. She’s wearing a yellow top and blue jeans. The yellow makes her skin glow in a mesmerizing way. Her long braids framing her face beautifully, they go all the way to her bum giving her a soft look. “I’m good.” She says and starts walking to a table behind us to sit down in a chair. I join her at the table sitting across from her. She looks at me saying nothing. I look away trying to gather my thoughts. What do we talk about now? I never know what to say when she looks at me like that. “Would you like a drink?” I ask her after a long silence. Being next to her always makes my brain switch of. It’s like I can’t think beyond her beauty. Do I sound pathetic? I feel like I sound pathetic. “I
“May we please have some cake? My heart is broken.” Zach says looking up at his mom still lying on the ground. “If you get up from there you’ll get up cake.” She says laughing at him. She knows Zach hates losing and the fact I won; beating the two of them has him pained. “I just want to say that you won by luck.” He says to me, I raise my arms not disputing that fact. If he hadn’t tripped I was going down. There’s no way I would have won against the two of them. Lady luck was on my side. “But a win is a win my friend.” I say and he grunts in disapproval, he gets up and goes into the house. He needs a moment to process his loss and that’s okay. “If everyone would sit down so we can all have some cake.” His mother says and we all find a seat. I welcome the opportunity to sit down because I’m tired. All that running around has me breathing hard. This may be a party game but I think it’s also a sneaky way for parents to get kids to exercise. Golden joins me and my siblings at our tab