Good-bye, with Love

by Niquel

  “What are your favorite books?”

  “Goosebumps and Where the Wild Things Are, just to name a couple. What about you?”

  “Charlotte’s Web, anything with Nancy Drew in it, and I love Goosebumps too!”

  “Awesome. Well let’s get started, I promised my mom we’d have lunch together since she has the day off.”

  “That’s cool, I told my mom I’d be back by then too.

  We were on the last sheet of paper and I couldn’t help but admire Johnny. I could tell that he’d been through a lot in his life, even though he hadn’t told me much about his past. He also looked and smelled nice that day. His hair was a little messier than usual and he wore a red and black long-sleeved shirt with no leather jacket this time. He looked up at me and smiled briefly before focusing his attention back on his worksheet. I didn’t care that he’d busted me staring; I couldn’t help myself.

  I finished the last line on my paper and started to put my things back in my bag. “Are you almost finished?”

  “Yup,” he said as he placed his pencil down and shut the book, carefully sliding it back toward me.

  “Thanks. So what now? It’s barely noon and we’re already done.”

  “Maybe we could go for a walk. You’ve lived here for a long time right?”

  “Yeah. Let me check in with my mom first.”

  “Okay, then maybe you can show me around. I’ve only been here less than a week.”

  I finished packing my bag and we left the table together. He ran in front of me to get the door and held it open for me. “That was sweet of you, thank you.”

  I took him to a memorial park. There were huge flagpoles, and plaques with the names of fallen soldiers from previous wars, dating back to the early forties. The grass was still green and the flowers were still in bloom. We walked down a long stone path and admired everything we passed. There were bronzed boots molded to the ground with a small placard in front of it, and a long marble wall with soldiers names carved into it. We both searched the wall to see if anyone shared our last names, and some did: Colonel Richard Gates and Sergeant Michael Dawson. “I bet they were both awesome,” he said.

  I looked down at my watch: it was thirty minutes past noon. “Hey I think we should go now, our moms will kill us if we come home too late.”

  “Okay. Mickey?”

  “Yes?”

  “Would you like to go out to lunch with me tomorrow?” His blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and I felt like my body was sinking into the ground.

  “Sure. Where would you like to go?”

  “Meet me here around noon, it’ll be a surprise.”

  “Deal.”

  “Take care, Mickey.”

  “You, too!”

  On the walk back home I couldn’t help but smile. Just the thought of him brought out some strange feelings I’d never felt before.

  I hadn’t experienced many schoolgirl crushes yet, but I was sure none of them would compare to this. There was something different about him and I could tell we were going to see a lot more of one another.

  I swore that girl could show up in a potato sack and would still look pretty. That day she was wearing a pink top and some jeans with a matching pink hat, and I swore she looked like a princess. I’d never clicked with anyone as fast as I had with her and I could feel my nerves getting the best of me. I wanted to be around her more, but I didn’t want things to get weird between us.

  I saw a diner on the walk to the library that I thought I’d like to try out and I figured she’d be the perfect person to try it with.

  As I got ready for my lunch date with Mickey, I decided that day would be different. She’d told me something personal and unique about herself, and I thought it was time I told her about my past—the broken family, the abuse, everything. I felt like I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge me like others would.

  I walked to the memorial park and sat down on a bench to wait for her to show up. A group of girls who were walking by stared at me and giggled until their leader came over to me. “Hey.”

  “Sup?”

  “What are you doing out here by yourself?” She looked around. “Oh, are you waiting for someone?”

  “Yes.” The girl looked disappointed by my answer. She was a short girl with long brown hair. She was wearing a Mickey Mouse sweater and jeans.

  “Sorry to hear that, but if things don’t work out, give me a call.”

  She handed me her number on a ripped piece of paper and I pretended to put it in my pocket while she walked away. Then I got up and tossed it into the trash. I caught sight of Mickey being dropped off and then walking down the street with her headphones in her ears. She looked up at me and gave me a quick smile. I smiled back at her.

  “Hey!” she said, removing the buds from her ears.

  “Hey. Are you ready to eat?”

  “Yeah, I’m starving!”

  The diner was a few blocks away and we both walked in silence. We walked up to the building that looked like an old train car and had the words “Mom & Pop’s Retro Diner” on the top in neon lights.

  We walked inside and it looked so cool. There was a wooden bar to the left with red backless bar stools, and on the right there were red and silver leather booth seats. The tile on the floor was a black and white diamond pattern. Someone greeted us as soon as we walked through the door and took us to an empty booth.

  The diner was so cool. The waitresses wore old-fashioned uniforms with big teased hair and checker patterned aprons. We were greeted as soon as we came through the door and a server named Betsy brought us over to an empty booth. I looked in the back of the restaurant and they had a real live jukebox. It was so cool.

  Their logo was printed on the top of their menu in an old funky font and it only had about fifteen options between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I ordered a turkey sandwich on rye with a side of spicy home fries and a vanilla milkshake. Johnny ordered a huge bacon burger with spicy home fries and a root beer float. Everyone that walked by was friendly and smiled at us. We were so busy stuffing our faces that we only waved and nodded. The food was so good. Everything was perfect.

  “Hey, can I try some of your shake?” Johnny asked.

  “Only if I can try some of yours!” We swapped shakes and made sure we used our own straws. His float was so good.

  “How did you find this place?” I asked.

  “I saw it on the way to the memorial park yesterday and figured, hey let’s try it!” he said as he stole the last fry from my basket. I didn’t put up a fight.

  “Awesome. Well I don’t regret it. The food was so good. I’ve lived here for so long and always drove by it but never noticed this place. Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome, Mickey. Hey, is there an actual park or something around here where we can hang out and talk some more?”

  “Yeah there’s one nearby, about ten minutes that way.” I pointed.

  Me: Mom, going to the park with Johnny.

  Mom: Okay, please be careful. I’ll be around the area if you need me.

  On the way to the park, I admired our surroundings. Most of the leaves on the trees in our neighborhood had turned and the sunlight made them look brighter and prettier. There was a light breeze and it blew the fallen leaves around and over our shoes. I could see the huge swing set ahead and took off. “Race you to the swings, slowpoke,” I teased.

  “In your dreams, Knits.”

  We both got to the swings at the same time and started laughing. “Guess it’s a tie?”

  “Which is sad because you got a head start,” he said, sticking his tongue out at me.

  “Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Let’s go over there. We can climb up to the tallest double slide and sit up there and talk.”

  We climbed up the metal ladder and of course he felt the need to show off. “Hey look at this!” He sat in between the bars and let his body fall backward, holding on with the bend of his knee.

  “Okay showoff. Get up before I h
ave to help your mom plan a funeral.” We finally reached the top of the platform and sat down on the huge double slide. It had zigzags you’d bump into on the way down and was longer than a normal slide. “So what did you want to talk about?”

  Johnny was usually happy and outgoing around me, but this time he was serious and it freaked me out a little. I hoped he didn’t have something bad to tell me. I hoped he wasn’t sick like I was, or worse.

  “So Michelle, I’ve been feelin’ kind of bad ever since you told me about your cancer.”

  “Why?”

  “Cause I never told you anything personal about me or my life.”

  “I wasn’t expecting you too. I just felt comfortable enough to talk to you about mine.”

  “I know, but I want to tell you why I moved up here.”

  “Okay.”

  I cleared my throat and tried to let it all come out. “So, my dad was kind of a jerk and would hit my mom.”

  “Oh no, did he hurt you too?”

  “Sometimes. When I was younger I didn’t understand what was going on, but as I got a little older I knew it wasn’t right. My mom never looked good. She always looked tired, she never dressed up, and I barely saw her eat. She’d cook and made sure we ate, but that was it. The last time I saw my dad he’d thrown me across the room and my body hit the wall. I fell on the floor and broke a few ribs. Mom decided that night that enough was enough and we left to stay with her friend Janet.”

  “That’s good right? That you got away?” she asked.

  “It was good until he found us and acted crazy in Janet’s yard. He was drunk and throwing himself all over the yard, begging my mom to take him back, which was so pathetic. My dad is not a small guy either. He’s over six feet and two hundred and fifty pounds, with a bald head and tattoos all over, so that made my mom decide we needed to move out of the state of North Carolina and move to Massachusetts. I couldn’t believe he’d do something that extreme and think my mom would crack and go running back to him. My ribs were bandaged for weeks, but we still traveled to get away from him.”

  Tears ran down her cheeks as she heard my story. There were a lot of other things I wanted to tell her, but I decided not to. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to me. She wiped her tears away and sat there quietly with her head on my chest.

  “Johnny?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why do you think bad things happen to good people?”

  “Well, I guess because they’re strong enough to handle it.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Johnny was finally starting to open up to me, and it made me feel like I was just as important to him as he was to me. I felt bad that his dad was such a jerk and had hurt him and his mom. Johnny was nice and from what I’d heard about his mom, I would have never guessed they’d lived like that. I couldn’t imagine what that must have been like, constantly looking over your shoulder, hoping you didn’t get hit for moving the wrong way. My dad barely spanked me as a child and I was glad for it.

  We had a half-day at school the next day because of some teacher’s conference. Johnny and I had finished everything the day before and hadn’t made any other plans, which made me kind of sad because I was so used to being around him every day.

  I sat in the wooden chair in the corner of my room looking out the window. I didn’t feel like going outside or being bothered. Mom had asked me to go to the mall with her earlier, but I didn’t want to. There was nothing I needed and I hated big crowds.

  The trees were blowing in the wind and I couldn’t stop looking at them. They were so pretty. I felt like they were telling a story every time they moved left to right.

  Tap. Tap. What the heck?

  I walked over to the window facing the front yard and pulled my curtains back. Tap. I looked down and saw Johnny in my yard; he’d been throwing little pebbles at my window. I unlocked the top latch and lifted the window. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

  “Well I got bored sitting at home and wanted to come over and bug you for a bit. Can you come outside?”

  “Yeah, let me grab my shoes.” I slipped on a pair of flats and ran down the stairs to meet him. I opened the door and jumped back a little. “You scared me!”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He slid his hand into his pocket and told me to close my eyes. “Hold your hands out and open them.”

  He put something in my hand and when I opened my eyes, it looked like some sort of colored rope tied in a knot. “What’s this?”

  “It’s a friendship bracelet. I’m not into beads and all that flashy stuff, but I figured I could make a green one for me and a purple one for you, to represent our friendship.”

  He didn’t know it, but it was the kindest thing anyone had ever done for me. “I love it, thank you!” I placed my arms around his waist and hugged him. He smelled really good as always. He slid the rope over my right wrist and then I slid his on his left. “So, what do you want to do now?”

  “Are your parents home?”

  “No. Mom’s at the mall and Dad’s at work. I normally can’t let people in without asking first. Let me call my mom to see if it’s okay.”

  “Okay, cool.”

  “Stay here.” I ran into the kitchen to grab the cordless phone. Her number was programmed in the phone already so all I did was hold down the number one and hit talk. “Mom, it’s me. Is it okay for Johnny to come over?”

  I walked back in the room with a sad look on my face. “What’s wrong? Did she say no?”

  “Gotcha! She said we could hang outside until she got back.”

  “That’s cool, my mom would say the same thing.”

  “Let me grab my jacket, I’ll be right back.”

  I ran into the closet and grabbed my brown jacket. I stopped by the fridge and grabbed a couple of sodas before meeting Johnny back on the porch. “I hope you like this kind of root beer.”

  “I do, it’s my favorite kind actually.”

  We sat on the porch swing and drank our sodas together in silence.

  I was tired of sitting in the house doing nothing and decided to pay Mickey a visit. My mom dropped me off in front of her house, and I saw a few stones on the ground and tossed them at a random window. I wasn’t sure which one was hers, but it happened to be the first one I hit.

  She opened the window and told me she’d be right down, so I hopped on the porch to wait for her. I’d made her a special present and was nervous about giving it to her.

  She opened the door as soon as I stepped in front of it and I could tell I scared her. It didn’t look like anyone was home with her either. I handed her the gift and her face lit up. She hugged me and then went to call her mom to ask if I could come inside. If she said no, I’d totally understand.

  Her mom did say no and she went to grab her jacket so we could hang outside. She came back with two glass bottles and I knew they were IBC, my favorite kind of root beer.

  “So, Mickey, what else do you like to do for fun?”

  “I love to play softball.”

  “Oh yeah? Are you any good?”

  “Wade Boggs, remember?” She laughed.

  “Maybe we should play sometime. You should bring your mustache for good luck,” I said, laughing so hard tears fell from my eyes.

  “Shut up, Johnny!” she said, smacking my leg.

  “What? I’d pay to see you play with it on your face,” I said, still laughing so hard I started to choke.

  A black van pulled into the driveway and I immediately recognized it. “That your mom?”

  “Yep, she got here pretty fast.”

  The driver’s side door flung open and a short lady with blonde hair came out. “Are you two going to sit there and stare at me, or are you going to help me bring these groceries inside?” Mickey looked just like her, only taller.

  We both ran off the porch and grabbed the bags from the backseat. I grabbed more than Mickey could and I made sure to pick on her in the process.

  “So you
must be the Johnny I’ve heard so much about,” a soft voice said behind me.

  “I hope you heard good things.” I swallowed nervously.

  “Oh yeah, Mickey has said nothing but nice things about you. I hope you’ll stick around for a while. Would it be okay with your mom if you had dinner here with us tonight?”

  “I’ll ask. May I use your phone?”

  “Sure.”

  I quickly punched in my mom’s cell number and asked if it was okay. She agreed, but made it known she was coming to pick me up afterward. She wanted to officially meet Mickey’s family.

  Mickey’s mom made the infamous potato soup she bragged about and you know what? It was delicious. “Thank you, Mrs. Dawson. That was better than Mickey described.”

  “You’re welcome, Johnny. Would you like to bring some home? I have plenty.”

  “Sure, that would be great.”

  “So, Johnny,” Mr. Dawson interrupted. “I know you guys are only kids, but what are your intentions with my daughter?”

  How am I supposed to answer that? I hated being put on the spot like that. “I, uh, we’re just friends, that’s all.”

  “Dad, are you for real right now? Leave him alone. He’s just my friend and that’s it.”

  “Fine, but I’ll be watching you kid. My Mickey has been through some things and I don’t need some punk breaking her heart.”

  Mickey pushed away from the table and yelled at me to join her in the living room.

  “I’m so sorry about that, he’s never acted like that before.”

  “It’s okay, I kind of expect it. I’m sure the older we get, the worse it’ll get.”

  “Probably.”

  I heard a horn beeping outside and knew my mom had arrived. “That’s my mom; this should be fun.”

  Mickey went to open the door and I followed behind her. My mom rushed out of the car and up the steps. “Hey, honey. Oh she is as pretty as you described.”

  “Mom, seriously?” I shook my head, embarrassed that she’d put me on the spot.