a daydream away // moey fanfiction

29

“Nothing is ever really lost as long as you remember it.”

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(Joey's POV.)

I opened my eyes after a few moments, drawing in a deep breath through my nostrils. I pressed my lips together gently as I looked around the empty space that was her backyard. So many memories surfaced in my mind.

I remember this one time, we were swinging on her - now rickety and rusting - swing that still sat on her porch. I started kicking my legs faster and faster, making it swing higher and higher. The air shot past both of our faces to the point where we had to force our eyes closed. She screamed for me to stop but it was too late, we both fell right off the swing and onto the hard wood of the porch in a pile of laughter and adrenaline. In between laughs I had said, "Man, I wish my eyes weren't closed when that happened because I would have loved to see the face you made as we fell off."

I chuckled to myself, but quickly brushed the memory off. It stung a little to have thought about it, because after all it was only a memory.

She had lived here for 9 years now, which was around the time that I moved here as well. Before we both moved here, however, we both lived relatively close to each other without even knowing it. It would have been amazing to have grown up with her, so I could look back on memories from when we were really little. 

A warm feeling started to bubble up in my stomach as I thought about it more. Looking back on some of the other memories that came to my mind, it made me realize how lucky I was to have Meghan as a best friend all these years. She was always there for me when I needed it, and I was always there for her.

She helped me through my worst times, and always wanted to know if I was okay, and I mean always. Saying that I did the exact same for her would be an understatement. I would call her every night to check up on her, and if she didn't answer I would go to her door and knock multiple times until she answered it literally half asleep and jokingly shooed me off because "she needed her sleep". She eventually told me she didn't need me to do that anymore so I just stuck to calling her.

I would also always thank her, even if it wasn't really necessary. I would just say it when I felt like it, and she wouldn't hesitate to say you're welcome, it didn't even matter if she had no idea why I was thanking her. It was kind of a little thing we always did. I guess it was a general thank you, for always staying by my side even at my worst times. 

My hand shot up to my cheek to quickly wipe away the remains of a tear that had fallen. I could already tell there was going to be a lot of crying, and I guess I was the one who was going to start it. 

It took me a few more minutes to build up the courage I needed before I could do this. With a swift movement I picked up a grey pebble that was lying in the grass and flung it up at her window. I watched as it hit the glass and fell back down to the ground in under a second. 

My breath hitched in my throat as she appeared in the window, and stared down at me. Our eyes met and I tried to smile but my lips started to shake as another tear was forming in the corner of my eye. Instead she smiled lightly before unlatching the lock and sliding the window up above her head. 

"Hey." She called out, her voice sounding hoarse. 

"Hey." I called back, feeling slightly awkward. This was such a childish thing to do, I mean we weren't teenagers anymore so I assumed that I probably looked like an idiot right now.

"You wanna come up?" She laughed, sniffling afterward. 

"If that's okay with you, yeah." I returned the laugh.