James
I couldn’t believe that I’d wasted practically two years of my life, when I could have apologized right away. I was such an idiot! When we started talking again it was like no time had passed, not a second. I still couldn’t get over how fast Mickey had agreed to come over, I thought happily as I set up the badminton net in my backyard. Something jumped on my back and I let out a scream, I could hear Mickey’s soft laugh vibrate against my back, the prettiest sound I’d ever heard.
“Got you,” she laughed, still hanging on my back. I held her arms around my neck. We used to always try to get the jump on each other, something I had forgotten but she had obviously remembered.
“Holy shit,” I said, my heart still racing, now from her touch. “You scared the shit out of me!” I laughed.
“I know; you still scream like a girl!” she giggled.
“No, I don’t!” I said defensively, that was not what you wanted to hear from the girl you liked.
“You do and I’ll prove it to you,” she said, up to the challenge. She pulled her arms out of my grip and released her hold on me.
“How?” I asked smiling, excited at the thought of more time with her.
“You’ll see, or rather hear,” she joked as she took a racket out of my hand. “So, you ready to lose?” she asked cockily, grinning at me.
“Baby, I was born ready,” I told her. She burst into laughter and I soon joined her, realizing my mistake. “To win!” I added quickly, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment.
We played for a long time, both of us trying our hardest to win. Mickey ran to hit the birdy I shot, I shot it far, too far, if we had established boundaries it would have definitely been out.
“That’s so out of bounds,” she said, coming back with the birdy in hand. Her face sparkled with a light sheen of sweat and still she looked absolutely beautiful, like she glowed.
“Good thing we never made boundaries.” I smiled. She stuck her tongue out at me. “So, I win,” I continued, gloating. Mickey made a face at me but didn’t protest.
“Yeah, yeah, today; but tomorrow is a new day.” She grinned.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked after we’d been sitting and talking on the lawn chairs. Come in? Yeah, I did. I felt nervous all of a sudden.
“Sure.” I smiled, trying to act casual. She opened the door and led me in; so far nothing was different. I wondered if she was allowed back in the house but I didn’t dare ask, then she’d know I’d been eavesdropping. We got to her door, it looked the same on the outside. I held my breath as she turned the knob. I wondered how different it would look, but the walls were the same calming blue we’d picked out together, the Coldplay poster I had given her still hung on her wall in the same place. Her bed was still the same, but the comforter was no longer fuchsia and was now a shiny grey, it was nice and fit in with her room but I missed the old one. Seeing me stare at it she finally spoke,
“I spilt cough medicine on it and the stain wouldn’t come out, so Alyssa threw it out,” she explained. I wondered when that happened, when she was sick?
I continued to look around, really the rest of her room had remained the same besides the addition of an elliptical machine and a stationary bike that were both placed in the corner of her room. One major difference was that all the pictures of us were gone. They used to be all over: on her mirror, her night table, her walls. Now there were only a few pictures left in her room. Some of her parents, Gran, her dad and some of her friends, even one with Derek. It made me jealous. I looked at her stack of CDs, they were all the same, even the ones I had made her. There were a few new ones but I was pleased to see mine still remained. I hit play on her CD player and a windy calming melody played, I knew it well, I had burned it for her. I smiled at her and went to track five, putting on Snow Patrol, Crack the Shutters.
I smiled at her as I had wanted to smile at her since the fight. All the days, hours, minutes, seconds of wanting to be with her like before, I smiled at her. She came over and gave me a big hug, her eyes glassy again just like mine were. We just hugged one another, not saying anything for a long time, lost in our embrace. I rested my lips on her hair, it still smelt of citrus and vanilla, the most delicious scent, that was entirely Mickey.
Everything felt to surreal, like a dream. I’d often dreamt this would happen but never had I thought it could be a reality. I would dream about Mickey all the time, she haunted me in my sleep, they were often wonderful dreams but whenever I’d wake up, I’d feel awful and have a burning hunger for her, but this wasn’t a dream, it was finally real.
“I love you,” I whispered into her hair. Her hair was soft like always. She took one of my hands and pulled me to her bed. She lay down and I followed suit. We had slept together in the same bed many times, countless times, so it wasn’t awkward laying down next to her, just more intense now. We held hands and stared up at her ceiling, there were hundreds of glow in the dark stars, we had put them there over the years. They were only just beginning
