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Leah sighed and opened the car door. “Axel, don’t treat me like a baby.”
“Hey!” I lowered the window to call to her. “Remember to brush your teeth if you eat something! And don’t take candy from strangers.”
She knitted her brows and flipped me the bird.
I shook my head, laughing and happy to see her that way.
45
_________
Leah
Blair came outside soon after I rang the doorbell, and we walked down the street together under the sun. A soft wind was blowing and we decided to sit on the patio of a café we used to go to before. I used to always order a coffee and a banana-chocolate muffin that was almost as tasty as Georgia’s cheesecake. Blair was more for savory foods, and sometimes would get a small order of fries while we chatted away. We used to spend the whole day together, just the two of us.
“I didn’t think you were coming,” she said.
“I went diving with Axel and it got late.”
“Diving?” She smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”
“It was all right,” I admitted.
Actually, it had been much more than that. Stimulating. Intense. Floating in the middle of the ocean, feeling weightless while the fish whirled around me like dots of light dancing in random patterns. And Axel there by my side.
“I’ll have some fries and a soda,” Blair said when the waitress came over. “What about you?”
“A banana muffin and a decaf with milk.”
“Sure thing, ladies, I’ll be right back.”
“You know what? This reminds me of that day we played a joke on Matt and filled his locker with glitter, and we ended up here laughing about it, and then we saw him in the distance and we took off running…,” Blair said. “But he caught us because I turned around to grab the last bit of muffin I’d left behind. I remember. Also his books were sparkly for weeks.”
Blair started laughing and I ended up doing the same. She had a way of making all those moments add something to laugh about rather than subtract it. She had been my best friend in the world, and I had struggled for months to keep her away from me because somehow I knew, if I kept her close, I’d wind up hurting and disappointing her.
“How’s school?”
“A lot better than before.”
“You going to go to college, then?”
I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about it. “You happy at work?”
“Yeah, I love it. It’s exhausting though.”
“You’ve always liked kids.”
They brought us our order, and I started breaking off pieces of my muffin and eating it, distracted. I savored it slowly, thinking of Axel’s words, enjoying the contrast of the banana and the soft bitterness of the chocolate.
I looked up at Blair, uncertain. “I think I’ve got feelings for him.”
“You mean Axel, right?”
“Yeah. Why…why is this happening to me?”
“Because you like him. You always have.”
“I’d like to be able to fall in love with someone else.”
