𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑙𝑦.

#12

-D.F

"I'm coming!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs to answer the repeatedly loud knocking that echoed throughout the house. As I unlocked the multiple locks on the door I gave the person on the other side a frustrated glare.

Dalia stared back at me sheepishly. She held two pairs of shoes up in both of her hands and kept a large grin on her face. The guilt for knocking so much showed in her eyes but left once I sighed away my glare. I took a long look at the first pair of shoes, black stilettos with red bottoms. I then looked over her before looking at the all-black wide heels.

"Those," I said pointing to the red bottoms. Dalia sighed and pushed the other pair into my arms. She gave me a look of appreciation while she slipped the red bottoms onto her newly pedicured toes. When did she have time to do that?

"Thank you so much, I couldn't decide which ones to wear," she let go of the doorframe after and brought her hands to her brown -now iron curled- hair. She fluffed out the waves and meshed in her gloss between her pink lips. She looked entirely different. I don't think I've seen her with this much makeup since we were younger and wanted boys to look at us.

I adored the tight black dress she had on that stopped just above her knees, along with the matching blazer that buttoned in the middle. She looked like a proper businesswoman. It made me realize how serious it all was, whatever she signed herself up for.

"So?" she raised her hands and did a three-sixty, the smile on her face seemed genuine as she turned around. I couldn't ruin her moment.

"Absolutely stunning" I hugged the shoes close to my chest and gave her a big smile. My jaw felt sewed shut into this position.

"Thank you" her eyes lit up and her hands dropped to her sides. I nodded my head about to speak but when a dark blue car- way too expensive to even be in this neighbourhood- pulled in-between our houses, I froze.

The car was loud, drawing attention from Dalia. "Oh that must be Xavier, he offered to drive me" She turned her attention back to me and gave me the quickest hug, as she strutted away I couldn't help but notice how good her walk was. Her hips swayed and her steps were perfectly aligned. She was practically made for this.

As she got into the car the window rolled down in the process, Xavier smiled as she slipped on her seatbelt. I gripped the shoes tighter in one arm before waving Xavier's way. "Bye" Dalia yelled as the car sped off just as loud as before.

"Woah what was that?" Spear said running down the stairs, "where is the car?" he jumped onto the window ledge and practically smashed his face against the glass to catch a glance at the car that had already left.

"You were too late Spear I'm sorry" I pouted my lips actually starting to feel sad at his expression. "Want to go for a walk?" I said attempting to cheer him up even slightly.

Succeeding, he jumped towards me with so much excitement that he couldn't compose his little self. I laughed and placed the clearly expensive shoes on the table right next to the door. As I moved from them to my cheap sandals I couldn't help the feeling that grew in my stomach. A feeling that was getting familiar, a feeling I extremely despised. Loathed.

"Maybe we can find more cars." Spear slipped on his shoes faster than he spoke, after doing so he grabbed my arm and pulled me, I shut the door and almost tripped as he yanked me.

"Hey, hey!" I stopped him halfway down the pathway to the sidewalk and gave him a stern look. Knowing exactly what I meant his face dropped to his shoes. "Patience is?"

"Key." He finished in a whispered tone, "I'm sorry" he made to look me in the eyes as he apologized, something that I was teaching him to do as respect. I felt proud of myself as this felt like the biggest accomplishment yet. And just as fast as the feeling came, it left.