A Few Weeks Ago

My cousin Maddy and I walk downhill, towards the community college. You have to walk through it to get to this little Foster's Freeze. It's in a sketchy part of town, but it doesn't matter. I hear the sounds of our own laughter and I don't feel nervous. 

The sun is going to set soon, but it's giving us that golden, late-afternoon glow. Pink flowers are scattered on the sidewalk. I don't know what they're called, but they're pretty. Cars drive by, carrying people who have places to be. 

I don't have anywhere else I need to be. It's Christmas break. No deadlines, no unfinished homework lurking in the back of my mind. These moments are mine right now. 

And we're laughing about something. I think about a TV show. It's usually about a TV show. Or else we're talking about old memories. Or disagreeing about music, as we so often do. Or maybe it's food. 

We walk through the community college and make it to the Foster's. She orders a Twister, I order fries. We sit at the old, outdoor table with peeling blue paint, and we talk. There are only a few others nearby, but they slowly leave. Probably because we talk rather loudly. We just enjoy being together. I wonder aloud if they are going to give me ketchup with my fries and complain about the possibility of awkwardly asking for some while Maddy rolls her eyes at me. 
Our food comes and we eat while we talk. We talk about anything and everything. We never seem to run out of topics. There's a whole world out there, and we talk about how we want to see it all someday.

As we walk home, the slight wind brushes our skin, raising the hairs on my arms. We walk through the community college again and Maddy turns on "Hooked on a Feeling" on her phone. The whole sky has been painted neon as the sun sets, framing the dark palm tree silhouettes. We run though a hallway next to the basketball court, our voices and the music echoing off the walls. 

And we walk back uphill. The moment is ours. We don't think about deadlines or textbooks or the future. Because it's the present right now, we don't let it pass us by. 



xoxo
abby