Thursday
Picture 2
Burntcore's Choice: both
Title:
It was one of those days that you wish you could capture up and bottle, something you could bring out during the cold, bitter winter months to warm you up ... something you could remember forever. My memories and pictures would have to be sufficient, but they are never quite the same.
The last hurrah of summer, before the days started to cool, before the air in the evening took on that bite that smelled like football and the fall. The three of us were lying together in a pile in the park, which was normal for us during the summer. We would sit and talk about boys we knew, our parents, our dreams ... sometimes talking well into the late of the day. We were inseperable.
School started in a week and we were all tittering about the start of our senior year. We made sure we all had at least one class together, despite our different interests. It was comforting, especially considering the changes that were going to occur after we gradauted from high school. All three of us were planning on heading to separate colleges, although not so far apart that we couldn’t visit one another.
o -BUaD-o
We were in our spot in the meadow again, the following summer. We were now all high school graduates. Giggling, we talked about boys yet again, memories from prom, and everything that happened since. This was our last day before we left. All of our things were packed, our parents’ cars loaded with all of the clothes, shoes, and other things that we felt we couldn’t live without in our tiny closet-like dorm rooms.
Not many things had changed between the three of us. We were still the closest of friends. We all swore that college wasn’t going to change that … that we’d always be friends, always be together, and always meet at our spot in the park every summer.
Except for always doesn’t always happen.
o-BUaD-o
I waited. I waited in our spot faithfully waiting. No one showed up. The first two years of college, we still met up in the park … but not last year … and not this year. It really didn’t surprise me. The three of us had grown apart, just as we said we wouldn’t. It wasn’t instantaneous, but it still happened.
We slowly moved in different directions, with different interests and different friends. We grew up ... I always thought we’d grow up together.
Feeling foolish, I folded up my blanket and stuffed it in my bag. I looked around at the other people visiting the park; some were in groups like we used to be. There was even a group of teenaged girls, no older than freshmen, giggling under a tree. I felt a pang deep in my heart over the loss of my childhood friends. I hoped that they wouldn’t lose what I did.
I walked to another part of the park, where a small lake was located. Dropping my bag, I walked along the pier till I reached the end. Carefully, I slipped off my shoes and sat down, dipping my feet in the cool lake water. Leaning back on my hands, I lifted my face to the late afternoon sun and closed my eyes. Perhaps I could bottle up a day like this, without the pain of lost friendships but the peace of what this moment held for me.
“Michelle?”
My eyes flew open as I heard my named called. I twisted to look behind me to see someone walking down the pier toward me.
“Will?”
He stopped a few feet behind me, nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at me. “Hey,” Will said softly.
“Hey,” I replied, blushing, surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”
Will shifted his weight from side to side.
“Um, I came to see you.”
“Me?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah. Um, can I sit down?”
“Oh, sure.” I scooted over to make a spot for him, which he promptly took. “How did you find me?”
“My family doesn’t live far from here ... and you always talked about this park. I figured I’d find you here.”
“Oh,” I whispered, surprised. “I didn’t realize I talked about the park so much.”
“Eh, maybe not a lot but I noticed.”
I blushed again and stared at the lake.
“Where are your friends that you always meet with?” Will asked looking around.
I shrugged. “I dunno. They didn’t show up I guess. Didn’t show last year either.”
Will leaned over and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him. “I’m sorry, Michelle,” he said softly into my hair.
I felt so comforted by his simple gesture, and something else I hadn’t felt about him before. Something with possibilities ... maybe with a future.
“It’s okay. People change, right?” I said softly.
“Possibly, not always, though.”
I hummed a moment as I thought, and snuggled deeper into his arms. Perhaps this was a dream I wouldn’t have to bottle to keep.
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