Sister Cities

Part 48: Ekko (7 Years Ago)

And my heart is playing hide and seek

Wait and count to four

Will you love me like you loved me?

And I'll never ask for more

~

And I still hear the way that you laughed

When you found I believed you

And I could still feel you pull on my arm

When I was too afraid to go

But time's gone by

And I'm not the kid I was on that evening

And somewhere inside

I hope you still see me just the way I was before I walked away

'Cause in my head

You're still alive

You're still alive

And I know that it's a lie

But it's one I like

________________________________________________________________________________

 "I triple-dog dare you."

"No."

"I triple-dog mega-dog ultra-dog dare you."

"No."

"I triple-dog mega-dog ultra-dog super-dog alpha-dog street-dog dare you."

"Shit."

Powder grins. "Just once. Unless you're scared."

In the last year, I've thought three or four times about doing it, but not on a dare. The actual opportunity is different. There's no way I'm gonna pass up a triple-dog mega-dog ultra-dog super-dog alpha-dog street-dog dare, though.

"Why do you even want me to?" I ask.

She shrugs. "Maybe something cool will happen."

I brace myself on the edge of the roof, lean over, kiss her for 0.02 seconds, and jump back. We stare at each other. She touches her lips.

"Ewwwww," we say in unison, and fall onto our backs, yelling with laughter. The evening sun turns my eyelids red.

"Maybe we should actually be boyfriend and girlfriend when we're older," Powder says.

"Like how old?"

"I don't know. Eighteen?"

"Yeah, maybe."

She sits up. "You need to give me a triple-dog mega-dog ultra-dog super-dog alpha-dog street-dog dare now."

"Okay." I think hard— you have to be careful with this kind of power, or else you spend the rest of the day coming up with better ideas you should've used. "I triple-dog mega-dog ultra-dog super-dog alpha-dog street-dog dare you to get out of the Lanes with me."

Her mouth falls open. "Right now?"

"Uh-huh."

"Wow! Yeah! C'mon!"

She jumps to her feet and starts the climb down. I follow and we run into the Last Drop and down to the basement, where Mylo and Claggor are playing cards and Vi is doing her lessons. She does her lessons maybe once a month at the most these days.