Writing Prompt

"Rory." He stopped in his tracks, turning around to see the girl who'd called his name. She stood just beside the school entrance, arms crossed, staring him down. "Tiffany," he responded apprehensively. "You've been avoiding me." She twirled her long, blond hair around a manecured finger. Her voice was that sort of fake sweet that sets off alarm bells and tells you to get away. "Really? I, uh, hadn't noticed." Tiffany shoved off of her perch by the doorway and approached Rory. "What gives?" "Nothing gives. I just... didn't have a reason to talk to you." "Aren't I a reason?" She fake pouted. "Tiff, do you want something from me?" She sighed. "I want to talk. You know, talk." Her voice took on the sickly sweet quality again. "Like we-" "I need to go." He turned his back on her and started to walk. "Wait!" He didn't wait. "Rory, wait!" He ran a hand through his hair as he neared the school gates, inhaling tensely. "I love you, Rory Moore!" He stopped. He heard her panting behind him in the cool air as he turned back to her, slowly. Her normally cool and collected demeanor was gone, and she looked desperate. Almost vulnerable. "There. Will you talk to me now?" The question hung in the air for several moments. "Tiff..." She looked at him with big eyes. "I know that's not true." "God damn it, Rory. Why are you like this? Why can't we just act like we're supposed to?" "We're not 'supposed' to do anything!" "You promised!" She pointed a finger at him accusatorily. "We're supposed to be together!" "Tiff, you don't love me any more than I love that pebble over there. We both just wanted to please our parents!" "You know," she switched into a biting, vicious tone, one of the many she kept on hand. "Anybody else in this school would kill for a chance like this. So what is it that's wrong with you?" "Not anybody else's father is the mayor, I guess," he bit back. "Who said anything about that? What's that got to do with it? Maybe I just like you for you." He looked at her, and a hint of shame crept into her face. "You never visited. When I was in the hospital." She looked down. "I was busy," she muttered. "But I heard. I cared." "Right." "I'm serious, I'm working on it. You wait and see if there's a girl in this school who'll touch one of the guys that did that to you, after the stories I'm spreading." "I don't need you to spread rumors for me," Rory shifted uncomfortably on his feet, glancing unhappily at his cast. "Well, I can't just beat everyone up like your buddy Nick." She threw her hands up in the air. "You're really gonna break our promise over a hospital visit?" "It's not that." "Then what? As far as I remember, we were all good last year. What happened?" "We were never 'good.' You don't want this and neither do I." "It's been good as guaranteed since the day we were born. Everyone's expecting it. We're as inevitable as Nick and Sam. I've been keeping up my end of our promise, but you- It's like you want to ruin everything." "Keeping up your end by spreading lies and gossip?" "Because you're so perfect, right? And you don't think I can do anything about Vik and his crew? Well just you wait and see what my petty gossip can do, Rory. I'm gonna set this school straight, and you'd better be paying attention when I do."

No one ever tells you how hard it is to dig a hole. It’s not like in the movies, six feet deep with sharp corners. I tried to explain to Wilf but he’s hardheaded. I gave up explaining. Grandma has to go.

The first few inches are sandy. Once you are hand deep, the dirt gets hard. We had to switch from shovels to pointy trowels to cut the hard packed ground. Wilf and I went through Grandma’s tools again till we found what we could. Again and again, the trowel bounced off the ground. My palms ached. All of me started hurting.

Grumbling Wilf returned to shoveling. I stabbed; he shoveled. Then it began to rain and of course Wilf wanted to stop. I had to yell and Wilf started to cry of course. Softening the soil like Grandma explained, the rain will make it easier to dig. Grandma knew so much, practically everything. She was Wilf’s blood but grandma took me in when I was a little. She was always one to pick up strays that’s why she had a house full of relations and near relationship and of course me.

In silence we dug besides the new potatoes. Grandma said there would be less roots in this corner. Wilf is a year older than me but grandma always told me I had more common sense. Even with my job, Wilf’s SSI check, and the girls’ benefits, I understood that we needed grandma’s pension check to keep the house. Grandma knew she was sick. She explained to each of us what we had to do to keep going. But she didn’t have to tell me to look out for Wilf.

Auntie Carmen is taking care of Grandma. Elena even wrapped her in one of her favorite shawls. Sniffling Wilf sat by the makeshift grave. I tossed out shovelfuls of earth. Dirt rained down on me. Roots pulled at my shovel. I worked until I couldn’t see. Wilf patted my shoulder.

“My turn. I got you,” Wilf said taking the shovel from my hand.

Out of breath, I was going to argue. Wilf just climbed in and dug.

One day my online boy friend and I made a promise that when we grew up we’d meet in person and get married if we ever found each other still single as adults. However, as we grew up our lives took different paths and we dated other people. I wonder if he still thinks about our promise from time to time; I said it as a joke honestly, because I thought he was cute, but in reality I was afraid of growing up alone and I’d rather marry my friend someone who I at least knew and grew up with. But as time changed so did he. He grew up and became a United States Marine, while I was engaged to someone else. He found me online again and asked me if I remembered my promise.

To which I did, but my feelings had changed for him and I didn’t like him like that. In fact I was astonished that he even remembered it when it was just an agreement. Something I did not take seriously. I got his hopes up and he held onto that promise for so many years willing it to come true. He kept contacting me on various social medias and by other means, so I had to block him as it became overwhelming and creepy. He took it too far or maybe I did by suggesting it, but I was a young and naive 13 year old girl seeking attention from a boy. We never met in person, but we got along well enough. Now I am engaged to my fiancé whom I wholeheartedly love and it is not my online childhood friend. We didn’t really know each other, but as I grew up I knew to not make promises that I cannot and do not intend to keep. I probably did hurt his feelings, but there should always be that boundary between online and real life as it should be.

———

This story is based on fact. Never give out your personal information online. Some people will remember what you said to them for years to come. Keep your heart guarded and don’t give it away so easily!

We promised to be friends forever. That’s what we always promised first and foremost. Through high school and now, through college too.

But sometimes it’s difficult to keep your promises How do just friends keep that promise after a kiss after many nights shared trading secrets under the covers Most friends don’t know what other friends look like sleeping Don’t know what side of the bed they may prefer Most friends haven’t studied the color flecks of each other’s eyes intently Couldn’t tell you everything that makes the other person tremble with fear Haven’t seen each other’s bodies rack with sobs at the end of it all with the promise of taking it all back to where it began but how could we go back How could we stay friends again after what has transpired There’s too much hurt there now Too much love We were so much more than all of that and friends just hurts too much right now it all just hurts too much

Charlie Woodlands is my best friend. We do anything and everything together. We share everything with each other. Telling one of us a secret is like telling both of us. But when I was 13, I had to relay on Charlie more than I ever had. The memory is etched into my brain. It was a cloudy day and my small town was quiet. I was walking along a trail that curved around the woods next to my town. As I was half through the woods, I hear shouting. I could makeout that there was two voices, a man and a woman’s. My nosy being couldn’t resist listening in on what they were saying. Threats were being thrown down. Their shouting was echoing off of the trees. It got to the point where the guy took a gun out of his pocket. As I see him it holding up to the woman, she was begging him to not shoot her. She was crying and sobbing and fell to her knees. In a raspy voice, she was pleading and apologizing to him. I will never forget the look in the man’s eyes. Hatred and anger were boiling in his peircing brown eyes. My brain was screaming at my legs to run but I didn’t. My body wasn’t moving. I was frozen with fear, shock, and nausea. The gun went off, right into the heart of the woman. Her body hit the ground with a thump. I finally decided to run. I sprinted silently out of the woods, crying and sobbing. Thoughts were going a million miles a minute through my head. I finally get into town. I was shaking as I reached for my phone to call charlie. I needed to tell someone, anyone. He answered in a wink and when he heard my crying and sobbing, he biked over to my location. As soon as he got there, he threw his bike down and rapped his arms around me. I melt into his arms, screaming and crying. He rubs my back and holds me tightly. He doesn’t ask me what’s wrong. All he cared about was making sure that I was alright. 10 min later, we get on his bike and we ride over to his house. I’m silently crying as we make our way to his room. “Bri, it’s ok. What happened?” Charlie asked with his deep green eyes looking worried. “Oh Char…”I say shaking my head over and over again. I take a deep breath and tell him everything. He was shocked. He rapped me in a hug again and said “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but we need to take this to the police.” “No, charlie, no” I say twisting out of his arms. “Bri, we have to. Someone was killed!” Charlie said getting up. “We can’t just sit around and do nothing” he says. “Char, I can’t tell anyone else. It’s to much. I had a hard enough time telling you. I just don’t get why I have to be the one to see that” “Oh bri, i’m sorry. If you want to keep it a secret we can, ok?” he says, with a hint of doubt in his voice. “Pinky-swear?” I sniffle. “Pinky-swear” Charlie says. The next morning, the woman was reported missing, then dead.

It’s been 8 years since Lisa Morgan was declared missing, then dead. I tried so hard to forget that day, tried to forget what I saw. Tried to forget that feeling. Charlie and me don’t talk about anymore. We pinky-sweared not to tell anyone. “Hey bri!” Charlie says as he walks into my backyard. “Hey char!” I say, sitting up in my pool chair. Charlie takes of his his shirt and runs to the pool. “Bellyflop!!” He shouts as he lands stomach first into the water. “Charlie, that got all over me!” I say laughing and shaking the water off. “Sorry” He says shrugging as he goes to the pool wall and reaches for his phone. “Shit” he says scrolling through his phone super quick. “What?” I say absentmindedly. “Bri, I need you to take a deep breath” Charlie says, pulling himself out of the pool. “Char, your scaring me” I say, taking quick short breaths. “Bri, they reopened the Lisa Morgan case” At first, I had to process it. I grab his phone and look at the post on instagram. “No, no, no, no ,no” I say, refusing to belive it. I start to shake. I felt like I couldn’t breath, like there wasn’t any air left in the world. I couldn’t see. White blind spots filled my vision, then I blackout. “Bri? Bri??” Charlie says. I flutter my eyes open and see charlie hovering over me, cupping my face with his hands. “Are you ok? You wouldn’t wake up for 2 minute and I got worried” He says, fairly close to my face. “They reopened the case?” I croaked, putting my hand on my head. “Yeah because they found some recent evidence” Charlie says as he hands me a glass of water and tylenol. “Thanks” I say, taking it. “Let’s dry you off and go to your room” he says, helping me up.

Charlie comes over the next day to talk. “How are you feeling bri?” he says as he plops on to my bed. “What was the evidence?” I say, dodging the welfare question. As soon as I ask him that, he looks extremely uncomfortable. “Bri, they think that there was someone that was watching Lisa Morgan get shot because someone testified that they saw a girl sprint past them the day that lisa was shot.” “That was me. I was the one who was sprinting” I say, breathing short, choppy breaths. “Bri, we might need to tell someone. We can’t keep this a secret forever. You are a eyewitness. You can put this man in jail. The man that killed and took the life of a innocent woman” Charlie says staring deeply in my eyes. “You made a promise, you said that we wouldn’t tell anyone” I say, grabbing his hands. “We were in the 7th grade briana, this is getting serious.” Charlie says. He never says my full name. “Look Bri, if you aren’t going to the police, then I am.” Charlie says getting up. “It’s not fair that a innocent woman died and still hasn’t been sereved justice.” “Charlie, wait!” I say, as I reach for him. But he was already out the door.

Part 2??

Kaya lights the candle at the basement door and waits the three seconds till it flickers red. Always, on time, Jana meows from behind the door, scratching down it with her paw.

Behind, Gale descends the stairs halfway, holding her bowl of chips. She’s never mustered the nerve to complete those stairs, unlike Kaya, who finds comfort in the screech, in confirming Jana’s life.

‘It’s almost time.’ Kaya hunkers to the door. She treats the screeching wood and yowling cat like promise. ‘We’re getting you out tonight, Jana.’

It happened ten years ago, precisely on Kaya’s eleventh birthday. Now here they were, full circle, back again.

‘Have you ever heard of a twenty-two year old Persian?’

‘I still think this basement freezes time. She’ll be the same when she leaves.’ Kaya slides a fish treat beneath the door. The darkness snatches it up and devours it before she’s finished pushing. ‘Good girl. You must’ve been extra hungry.’

‘And you think we’re strong enough?’

‘Mmm.’ She stands and looks at Gale. Below, the light from upstairs dies down to a hush, killing Kaya’s radiance. ‘And if we’re not, we’ll find out.’

‘What do you think we’ll find out, though?’

Gale pictures Jana, bones and ratchet skin, laid across the ground, ripped in different places from the force that stole her that evening. Her tail dilapitated and frayed. A zombie cat, so old it should be put out of its misery.

Kaya twists a curl of blonde hair with her index finger. ‘Just Jana.’

‘And how will she look?’

‘The same.’ Kaya’s face darkens. ‘What’s with these questions? Are you having second thoughts?’

Gale the only other person who saw the basement door gape, its hinges squeal, and the blackness inside snatch Jana up when she got too close. When that awful boy at scared her down here.

‘No. I would never. But are you having second thoughts?’

‘No.’ Kaya smiles, brilliantly, pink lips spreading. She’s always been gorgeous, in a Barbie way, that incites the belief that Gale can do anything. But not this.

Kaya sprints up the stairs, touches Gale’s shoulder, and says, ‘Get the gun.’

‘Will a gun work against a shadow?’

Kaya shrugs again, adjusts her pink tube top, and flounces back into the living room. Gale knows she promised. But she’s shaking. Kaya couldn’t love a Persian cat this much, to wait ten years lying low to fight a light-murdering, basement shadow.

‘What if we saw it wrong? What if we’ve been holding that cat captive for no good reason?’

‘At least we’ll unseal the door tonight, if all goes well.’

Construction men couldn’t after the incident. The hinges wouldn’t come off. It broke their tools. Yet Kaya is convinced that she could do it. Gale adores her for believing two twenty-one year olds could do what a gaggle of contstruction men failed at. That the reason her house became a spectacle online for years—this indestructible basement—can be remedied.

Kaya pours them glasses of coconut rum, and spills in apple soda. Gale forces herself to walk to the other staircase leading up, and press the safe keys. She drops the bowl of chips on the safe as it sighs opens. Bends, grabs the gun, and tucks it in her short pockets.

‘Gale!’

‘Coming!’

Gale enters the living room to find Kaya sat on the couch, one leg crossed over the other elegantly. Kaya grins at her, hands her a glass, and clinks them together.

‘Liquid courage. We’ll need it.’

‘You barely do.’

‘Well, because I trust this will work. If it doesn’t, oh well. At least we tried.’ This is the same Kaya who trusted she could fly at ten and broke her leg.

‘You know what I said about not having second thoughts?’

Kara downs her glass, blue eyes sparkling when they meet Gale’s. ‘Yes. And I get that. You’re scared.’ She sets aside her glass and twines their left hands together, fingers tight. ‘I am too. But I also want you to know that no one else would go down some hungry basement for me. I couldn’t do it alone either. You’re the one making me strong.’

Gale wants to turn away, to not draw herself into this. A ten year investment and she wants to break it, now. Kara leans closer, her breath kissing Gale’s cheek, scented with alcohol and apple and the strawberry lip gloss she smears religiously.

‘Can’t you let me make you strong, too, Gale?’

‘You do,’ she breathes the words.

‘Then trust me. I know this sounds like a goodbye speech, but I’m not scared it is. I’m happy it’s not. Because it’s my birthday. And you’ve chosen to give me the best gift anyone can give. You’ve kept your promise. And you will for every other birthday I’ll have from now.’

‘Yeah,’ Gale whispers, ‘Always.’

‘I really love you.’

Gale’s heart stutters when Kara squashes her into a hug. She nearly spills her drink from the intensity of it. Almost falls.

‘You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.’

Gale swallows on the best friend part. She pats Kara’s tough shoulder and pries away before her heart bursts.

‘Okay, alright.’

At least Gale can say she struggled. But Kara always finds a way to win over her, whether she knows it or not.

Stuart wasn’t sure whether to add more or less rat poison to the old man’s beef stew. Jake wasn’t sure whether to add it at all.

“We can’t break a blood promise,” Stuart reminded his best friend. “He hurt us. And he enjoyed doing it. We promised to get him back.”

Jake stared at the tin of poison. The label said Rat-Xtinct. Old Man X-tinct now. If he went along.

“We were kids,” Jake reminded him. “We are grown now.”

“He was grown when he whacked our asses with a baseball bat.”

They had found their old teacher, tracing him to the rest home after Jake’s mom was admitted. Jake looked right into his eyes. The old man had no recollection. Dementia.

“There’s nothing of him left but a breathing body.”

When Stuart found out they came up with a plan. Easy enough to sneak some poison out of the supply closet. It took some planning to get it into his stew that night.

“He said we were losers,” Stuart said.

“Maybe we are,” Jacob said. He tossed the rat poison into the trash.

“We need to let it go. He’s gone.”

“No vengeance?”

“What’s the point?”

I stood waiting by her door, gripping a bouquet of flowers a little too forcefully. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what was to come. Already anticipating a disaster to some extent, I didn’t exactly have high hopes.

At last, she arrived. The house door slowly opened, and it revealed a stranger. She was no longer the childhood friend I once knew. We were adults now, and hadn’t seen each other in a decade.

Suddenly fumbling with the flowers, I held them out to her, saying, “Hello, Lua.”

She looked up at me, the astonishment visible in her eyes. Her emotions had always been easy to read. She took the flowers gracefully.

“Jake.” She said, my name falling out her mouth as if it were the most unnatural thing. “It’s been a while.”

Her tone sounded unsure, more than unpleasant. My stomach took a flip.

“Please, come on in,” she said, forcing a sad smile as she opened the house door wider.

She showed me to the living room, and we sat down across from each other. The silence was loud.

I took a deep breath, and said, “I think you know why I’m here.”

“After all these years…” she started. “You kept your word.”

I smiled weakly.

“You know… this unusual predicament we’re in.” I said quietly.

She paused. A brief moment passed, but it was long enough for me to see the sadness flicker in her eyes. A dancing, fleeting moment.

Almost laughing, she added, “I really wonder what our lives would be like now if we hadn’t made that silly joke all those years ago.”

“It was my fault… I was immature,” I said, remembering the day with a shiver.

We were both eight years old. She was my neighbour, and naturally, we grew up together, playing games and running around the streets. Considering how it was a time when magic was prohibited, we were particularly reckless.

Acting as adventurous travellers, we stumbled upon forbidden secrecies, only to be discovered by either a curious child or a trespasser with a death wish.

An ominous building. A foggy wall of protection that practically screamed, “KEEP OUT!” But being the brilliant horror-movie protagonists we were, we entered without hesitation.

We stumbled upon a room, filled with delicate treasures. An aura of magic coated the air, and perhaps that drove our insanities.

I picked up a little golden ring, with a shiny jewel embedded. Of course, I would not take it, but I lifted it to the window’s light.

Lua gasped, perhaps both out of shock and admiration. “Wow…” she gushed. “It’s… beautiful.”

Laughing, and properly pumped with the rebellious adrenaline, I exclaimed, “A wedding ring…” I looked her in the eye, and dropped to the floor on one knee. Grandly (or so I thought, at the time), I held the ring up to her, and said, “Marry me, Lua?”

It was a joke. A childish act. She giggled, flattered.

“Yes!” She replied, letting me place the ring on her finger.

…

That moment. That was when it all fell apart.

Lights. Sounds. Force.

The magic seeped through the ring. What appeared to be a coloured gas rose through the air, blinding the two of us. Sparkles of light, often shown to be beautiful in the movies, were more like terrifying fireworks being released centimetres away. Something, through the cloudy fog, pushed the two of us.

I could suddenly feel her hand, and we gripped onto each other out of terror.

A voice, unexplainable, like the moment, came from the room, saying, “The oath. You have made the oath. Once both of you are eighteen, your fates must intertwine. The oath of marriage.”

What happened after was a blur. A blur I do not wish to recall…

Back in the present time, we both gazed at each other.

“It’s both our fault,” she admitted. “We shouldn’t have trespassed.”

“I suppose.”

There were so many things I wanted to ask her. How was life? Did she ever get that game she really liked? Is she studying medicine like she dreamed?

But I only managed to say, with a saddened heart, “Marry me?”

(For my creative writing class we’re supposed to write a love story between abstract nouns and I picked escape (Jessie) and promise (Bradley) and this is what I’ve got. I hope you all enjoy! Thank you so much for all the reads and likes! I love you guys!!!) Also while you read you can listen to If you love her by Forest Blakk.

I hear the voice of his little twelve year old self in the back to my mind as my eyes fall on him. His blonde brown hair, the same black T shirt and shorts he’s always worn. He’s older now, it makes me realize how long it’s been since his promise. If I love you this way, promise you’ll love me the same. __ My heart starts to slow down as he finds my eyes in the crowd. It’s been years since we last saw each other, and apparently years are seconds. Nothing’s changed. I push past groups of people laughing and talking as a loud song blares in the background. He does the same and we both meet in the middle staring at each other. I take in every new thing about him. There’s a small scar on his cheek, his hair is a little longer and falls over his forehead and his smile is more beautiful than I ever remembered it.

“Wow,” he breathes as I bite my lower lip. “You don’t see something like this everyday.” I meet his dark eyes as I fight the smile that’s tugging at my lips. “You don’t have to—” “But it’s true,” he gently brushes his fingers agasint my wrist as he slides them down, lacing them between mine. “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” I let my lips smile as I stare into his black eyes that instantly take my smile away. He’s the only one who looks at me like this. I used to think it was just the way a tweleve year old boy with a huge crush would look at a girl but maybe there’s something more to it.

A slow song starts playing softly in the background a song that makes the two of us smile. “Sounds familiar,” he whispers as the soft guitar echos around the room. “I love this song,” I tell him as he lifts my hand spinning me slowly around and then placing my hand on his shoulder as he wraps his around my waist. “I know,” he mumbles under his breath as we step slowly to the gentle beat of the song. I let my hands slide to his neck as he pulls me closer.

He sings along his voice gentle and soft as he lowers his lips to my ear. “You remember? Our promise.” I nod as I squeeze my fingers letting my cheek fall agasint his shoulder. “If I love you like this,” I whisper into his ear. “Promise you’ll love me the same.” He brushes his lips past my cheek as he meets my eyes his nose inches away from mine. “I promise,” he breathes his eyes trembling as he looks into mine the same way he always has. It’s been years. I think as I let my lips part trying to find the right words. “How did you find me?” I ask. He half smiles. “I looked. You’ve never been that great at hide and seek.” “I’ve been hiding all these years.” He nods as he brings me closer pressing his forehead agasint mine. “And I found you. Just like when we were kids, I’ll always find you Jessie.” I let out a slow breath as I close my eyes. Feeling his hands on my back, his forehead agaisnt mine, his feet that guide mine to the beat of the song. “It’s hard to keep a promise,” I tell him my eyes still closed as I feel his warm breath on my cheek. “If we can’t be together.” His forehead moves from side to side agaisnt mine. “We’ve kept it this entire time, love.” My heart trembles as I take a deep breath. “I’ve always loved you,” he says. “Even when you run, even when you don’t feel the same.” “Why?” “Because,” he pulls away from me cupping my face in his warm hands. “I see you. I see your heart all the pieces of it. And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” My eyes blur with tears fogging my view of his gentle face but even when he’s just blobs of color on a dark background he’s still him.

“I don’t like running,” I whisper as a single tear slips down my cheek. “You don’t have to,” he answers using his thumb to wipe my cheek. “I’ll always find you.” I shut my eyes choking out sobs as he stands with me. I’ve missed him so much. And I have to let him go, everytime it has to end this way.

“You’ll get tired of it,” I tell him, opening my eyes slowly. “Try me,” he smiles as a tear runs down his cheek. He lifts his hands off my face the cold air brushing my cheeks as he takes a step back. “I don’t want to hurt you, Bradley.” “You never have,” he smiles as he tilts his head his eyes looking at every part of me. From my shoes to my head. Just like everytime. “There she is,” he mumbles tears washing down his face as he stares into my eyes. “My pretty girl.”

He starts to turn around and I see it, my future. Him finding me and then leaving because there’s no other way it could work. I grab his hand pulling him back to me. “Kiss me,” I say as I wrap my arms around his neck. His lips meet mine and for the first time I feel like I’m safe. Like I don’t need to run anymore. He breaks gently away from me, tucking my blonde hair behind my ear as he gives me a comforting smile. “Go on, love,” he breathes. “And remember—” “If I love you like this, promise you’ll love me the same,” I say with him and he laughs as he takes a step back. He continues to back up and before he disappears into the crowd he whispers: “I promise to love you like that for the rest of my life, Jessie Styles.”

I watch him leave my heart starting to break as he fades away. I turn to leave my eyes blurry from tears as I run away from the boy I love.

You know those times. When you’re both kids. And in a shared moment of vulnerability you both make that silly pact?

 The pact that says, ‘10 years time, if we are both single, we’ll give it a shot?’

It’s a pact you never expect to actually become realized, but you do it anyway? Because no way, Wren, is your gorgeous best friend Sydney Hart not going to have a boyfriend, or be married at 25. Yet here we are. 10 years later…

 She had contacted me over email like we were 55 instead of 25. I was in my dorm at the moment it popped up in my inbox. So it happens I was very busy trying to be distracted from whatever version of torture my advanced calc professor had thought would be fun. To tell you I was positivity floored to find out it was Sydney would be an understatement. We hadn’t been in touch since before we left on our separate ways for college. 

One of my roommates, Jackson, seeing that I was in a state of shock read over my shoulder in the nosy way that roommates do. And in the stead of his roommate responsibilities proceeded to hype me up as men do.

 She had asked to meet for lunch at an old restaurant our friend group often haunted in high school. I, being completely aware of my emotions, was terrified to see her again. Terrified in the way that you’ve been away from a person you care about so much for so long you no longer know how to act around them. That, my friend, is a scary thing, a scary thing I had now agreed to put myself through. 

I sat in a corner booth at a little diner called Rex. I had worn an outfit that screamed poor college boy. My best pair of jeans, beat up chucks, and a thrifted sweater that was dark greens and blues.

To distract myself from a horrible decision I was surely making, ironically, I’d brought my calc homework.

I was stuck on a particular aggravating question when my heartbeat trippled.

“Kylo Wren Benson.”

A nervous smile lit my face at sound of her old nickname for me that she’d developed after I’d made her watch the entire Star Wars franchise.

Looking up to meet her gaze I froze. Sydney had changed. A lot. The quirky little girl that was my best friend that would run through mud with me in pursuit of a football was gone. Or a least hidden. The girl before me now, was hot.

Grown-up Sydney still had her striking green eyes and brown tresses of hair but now they were longer and more tame. Dressed in a cute white knit sweater and jeans. There was no way she was here to see _me. _

_“_Syd.” I blinked a couple times to get my head on straight. “How are you? You look…amazing.”

She smiled and glanced at her shoes. “Thanks. It’s good to see you too. Mind if I sit?”

I pushed up my glasses-a nervous tick I’d developed over time. I gestured to the seat across from me. “Yes of course. I mean, no I don’t mind. Have a seat.”

She sat down chuckling and I internally kicked myself for being an idiot. Her eyes traveled up. “Your hair is so dark now.”

I ran a hand through my dirty blonde hair. It used to be super blonde but,

“Yeah, I haven’t been spending as much time outside as I used to.”

She nodded. A beat. “So. Tell me about your life.”

I took a deep breath, wondering how to sum up my life in a single conversation.

“Me first huh? Ok well, I’m halfway done with my mathematics degree, hopefully I’ll also be done with my teaching degree around the same time...I do laundry, steal my food back from my roommates and…that’s about it.”

Ok so that really wasn’t all that hard to sum up.

She nodded as a waitress came to take our orders. After we placed our orders there was an awkward moment where neither of us seemed to know how to proceed.

I chuckled a bit and was relieved as she did the same.

“How about you?”

She smiled.

“Well, I have one year left in my nursing program, then I start as a paid assistant nurse in the hospital down town near Kinsley’s old house. I also have been doing photography for some of my college friend’s weddings. Just as a hobby you know?”

Wow. Her life was a lot more impressive than mine.

“That’s awesome Syd. Look at you.” And then because I couldn’t help but wonder, “Are you…in a relationship? Or….”

Just as I was screaming internally at myself for seeming like a loser, she shook her head.

“Not for a year now. I dated this one guy but he wasn’t the right one.”

Oh.

She continued, “What about you? You gotta girl?”

Oh.

“Um no I don’t. Same thing sort of. Dated around but never found one that I was interested in all that much.”

“Oh.”

And then the dreaded what-now silence. The waitress brought our food and as a guy, who didn’t know what else to say, I dug in.

Sydney laughed a bit and then,

“Wren, do you remember that pact we made? When we were fifteen?”

My heart hiccuped. _Of course I remembered. _

I’d made that pact with the girl I’d been in love with for years. My best friend, who had just gotten out of a bad relationship.

“Of course.”

She grinned. “If neither married or dating at 25…”

I smiled softly while my heart was pounding screaming “what the heck is happening” “We’ll give dating a shot…”

She laughed finishing the silly pact. “If only for** **the benefits.”

I laughed along with her. My whole being felt right then. I realized how much I’d missed my best friend.

Slilence descended once more.

We were waiting. For what, I wasn’t sure. And then my roommate’s hyping came in clutch. And I think I maybe read some hints that she was maybe giving out? I went for it anyway.

“Well, um, since the conditions are met, do you? Want to try? Give it a shot and that?”

Instantly, I felt like an idiot who had now ruined my chance to have Syd back in my life as a friend and now made it awkward. Great going Wren.

To my utter shock she didn’t get up and leave saying I was a weirdo and no.

“Yeah actually. Why not? I’m free this Friday.”

I knew it. She could never want—wait what?

“Really?”

She grinned and shrugged.

“I’ve missed my best friend.”

My heart melted.

“Me too.”

We finished our food while catching up and sharing stories of our time apart. Then we walked through the doors of the diner together, laughing, once again right at home with each other.

Her eyes were my favorite shade of bright green. The color they are when Syd is unspeakably happy.

She’s in there. Syd hasn’t changed at all.

And I was totally still in love with her.

I looked at her hand.

Since I was already taking chances I guess,

I reached for it.

She didn’t pull away and instead she grinned.

My heart soared and I felt like I won the Super Bowl.

Maybe she could be the one.

After all these years.