"Celebration?" I ask and he grins knowing exactly what I mean. The two of us race down the kitchen and I open the fridge and pull out the condensed milk while he grabs the bananas. We both slam them on the counter.
"Banana split time!", we say in unison, "Jinx!" We both erupt into a fit of giggles and then set about making our special banana splits. I sit up on the kitchen bench with my legs dangling over the edge and June perches on a stool. We dig into our bowls and I let out an involuntary moan. Whoops. It just tastes so darn good.
"Thank you again," I say to June as he leaves. He just insists that it was no trouble but spending two hours helping me, certainly feels like it was. Gee, he's such a good friend. The fights we had seem to far in the past and insignificant now even though they were only weeks ago.
It's only then that I remember Patty. He said he was going to text and call me. I run upstairs and retrieve it from the bottom of my schoolbag. I have a missed call and two texts.
(1) Hey, I just arrived. The house looks pretty nice and I actually think this might not be so bad.
(2) Neighbour is nice! I take it back about it not being bad though, the heating here is shit!
I smile at that. I shut my door and lie back on my bed and call Patty back. It goes to voicemail. I guess this whole keeping in contact thing might be a little less simple than I thought. I send him a text apologising for missing the call and letting him know I'll have my phone on me for the rest of the night.
Thankfully, it's less than twenty minutes later that he calls back.
"Hey," he says. His voice sounds husky over the phone.
"Hi," I say and smile up at my roof.
"So how is everything?" I ask Patty over the phone.
"It's actually great. The house is really fancy, it makes me feel rich or something," he says. I laugh at this.
"Patty, you are rich," I roll my eyes. I can hardly imagine a house that is fancier then his old one.
"Everyone is so nice too. I met this girl, Rachel. She's so sweet." I pause for a moment, what?
"You met a...girl?" I question, my brow furrowing.
"Oh shit, I didn't mean it like that," he quickly amends, "she's just my neighbour and she gave me a tour around the neighbourhood which was kind of her is all." I relax a little. I need to calm down and not jump to conclusions so quickly.
"What about your dad's job?" His dad left a week early to start.
"He says it's really good. My parents are really happy."
Patty and I ended up talking on the phone for several hours before I drifted off to sleep in a state of euphoria and bliss. What is it that they say? Absence makes the heart grow fonder? It just might be true.
The next day at school, I'm sitting in Biology next to Jade. Our teacher is handing out the reports for our research assignment and I'm sitting nervously on the edge of my seat. A paper lands on my desk and I grab it eagerly, my eyes are immediately drawn to the letter circled in red pen. A. I silently thank June.
I notice Jade is writing a note with her bright pink sparkly gel pen and a wicked smile on her face. She keeps glancing up to check the teacher isn't watching and then she slides it over to me. It's the details about the concert she invited me to go to with her and Indigo. I scrawl back an enthused reply.
We immediately confirm plans to go the following Friday. I think I'll need to go shopping before then to get some sort of edgy outfit. I'm going to feel incredibly out of place in jeans and some lame shirt when everyone else looks as cool as Jade and Indigo always seem to. It'll be nice to get to know Indigo a little more too. Even though we've hung out a few times, I still don't feel that close to her. And now that she and Jade are getting more serious, I want to get to know her a little more.
I mention the whole Rachel thing to Jade too as it's still on my mind even though I know it shouldn't be. Her response was,
"Lavender don't be dumb. Of course, he knows other girls. Just like you know other boys. So what? He's friends with her? He trusted you being friends with June. Don't be that overprotective bitch, ok?" I just nodded my head knowing she was completely right.
The next week passes by in a haze and Patty and I are good. In fact, we're more than good. He texts me practically all day and calls for at least an hour every night. I've grown used to hearing his voice over my phone speaker as I sit in my room and write poetry or do homework or whatever else I'm up to.
I even got my first letter from him in the mail this morning. His handwriting was messy as heck but the words were so sweet. I can't wait until I get to see him again.
It's Saturday morning and I'm sipping a mint julep ice tea. It was my dad's latest experiment. He spent several hours perfecting the recipe in the early hours of the morning so by the time I came downstairs at nine am, all I saw was a batch of Mason jars with zesty limes on the side looking like they came straight off of a Pinterest board.
For all the messiness his hobby creates, it's nice to have it pay off once in a while. That's just when June turns up at my house again. Without an invitation as usual. But also, as usual, I let him in with a smile.
"June!" my dad calls from the kitchen with a broad grin. June walks around the corner and greets him. My dad immediately shoves one of the teas into his hands. Once again, June has become the guinea pig taste tester for my parent's creations.
"This is good," he says with a smile, the dimple in his cheek once again making an appearance. He runs his hand through his hair, "as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I need to borrow Lavender for a minute."
"Of course," my father says and winks at me. I roll my eyes at him and grab June's hand, dragging him with me into the backyard. We go and lie on the trampoline looking up at the clouds, drinks in hand.
"Hey guess what?" I tell him, completely forgetting that he was the one who needed to talk to me.
"What?" He replies right away.
"I got an A on my assignment, thanks to all your help!" His face lights up.
"That's great, Lavender!" I take a sip of my tea, relishing the cool minty flavour. I'm definitely going to have to force my dad to make this again for me one time.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I ask nonchalantly, twirling the straw between my fingers.
"Oh, I just wanted to see if you would come to my art exhibition at school?"
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world." At this, he props himself up on his elbows, causing the trampoline to bounce a little. A bit of my drink spills over the edge and onto my leg, leaving behind a sticky residue.
"Hey!" I cry, handing him my drink to hold while I wipe up the spill. He slides off the trampoline and puts the drink on the ground before climbing back up. He stands above me, his hands held out.
"Well come on then," he says. I shake my head, looking up at him.
"I am not jumping around on this trampoline. It's not even supposed to hold our weight!" This does nothing to dissuade him. He grabs my hands and pulls me up with him. I reluctantly give in. He laughs and looks up at the sky. His cheeks are reddened by the cool air and his hair is flopping about wildly. It strikes me that he just like Peter Pan. A boy never grows up.
I smile at that thought and join in his jumping, unable to resist. There's never a dull moment when I hang out with him. I haven't done this for years and I forgot how fun it was. He whoops and hollers and sticks out his tongue at me. He's so childish at times. His yells cause my dad to pull open the sliding door and look out at the backyard in confusion.
"What on earth are you two making all that noise about back there?" he asks with a look of bemusement.
"Sorry, sir!" June calls back and I'm surprised by his formality. He gathers himself up and flops back down on his back, exhausted. He holds up a hand to block out the sunlight as he looks up at me.
"This lighting really accentuates your olive undertones," he muses. I break out into laughter.
"Only an artiste would say that," I mock, pronouncing the word as the french do. He laughs. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out to see a text from Patty.
'Meet my new friends!' it says, accompanied by a picture. In it is a girl with a cropped blonde bob and a smattering of freckles as well as Patty and two other brown hair boys with tanned skin who look like they could be twins. I smile. It's good to know he's fitting in okay. I still find it strange to be completely apart from such a major aspect of his life though.
'Tell them I say hi!' I text back with a smile. I slip my phone back into my pocket to notice June staring at me.
"What was that that totally captivated your attention?" he asks.
"It was just Patty texting me."
"Ah, of course. Patty," he says and I almost miss the imperceptible flash of resentment in his eyes. "Your lover," he says, going back to the French accent.
"Oh my god. Do not say that!" I cry, "that sounds so...weird!" He just laughs at my sudden disgust as I wrinkle my nose. He pats the trampoline next to him.
"Come lie back down," he says. I oblige and I snuggle into him, resting my head on his chest. We used to lie like this a lot as kids and it's just a natural response.
"Which cloud looks the most like me?" he asks.
"That one," I say immediately, pointing at a formation to the right.
"Wow, so sure. Why that one?"
"Because it's fluffy like your hair!" I say patting his head which is awkward to do, mind you, due to the position I'm in.
"...aren't all clouds fluffy?" he says confused and I think for a moment. He's right. I just shrug which causes him to start laughing again. I push him away and sit up, sliding off the trampoline.
"Where are you going?" he asks, shielding his eyes. I poke my tongue out at him and don't reply. The laughter fades off his face, a more serious one falling over it.
"What?" I ask, suddenly worried.
"N-Nothing. It's nothing," he stammers and I shake my head in puzzlement.
"God, you're weird," I laugh and walk inside. I close the door behind me glance back out to see he's leaving through the back gate. I just smile. That boy is really something and I'm not even sure what that something is.
My phone vibrates again and I eagerly pull it out. It's from Patty again.
'I did and they all say hi back! I wish you could meet them, everyone here is super amazing.' Me too, Patty. Me too.
'Cool!' I reply, not really sure what else to say. I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm missing him a lot more than he's missing me.