Flash Fiction Friday #4

It was raining the day I met Jaime, I remember because he was the old kid on the playground who was still swinging from the monkey bars, the only kid whose parents hadn’t picked him up.

“Who’s that?” I remember pointing to Jaime in his bright orange hoodie and mismatched rain boots. He looked like a rainbow had gotten sick all over him.

“Don’t know, but he looks like an odd one yea?” Rubin, my older brother replied. Jaime looked up from the monkey bars, right at me mind you, and smiled. No one had ever smiled at me and looked like they meant it. It was just Jaime, even then he knew how to make people feel important, and I smiled back.

Okay so fast forward a good chunk of years, Jamie and I have been inseparable. We were the two musketeers because there was no one worthy of joining our group, our trail mix bunch (as Jaime would call). It didn’t matter what would happen at school from long boring classes, to theatre auditions gone scrambled (a story for a different time.. Not likely though), we were always together.

That was until today of course, when Jaime came to school in blue jeans and a grey shirt.

“What happened to you? Is everything alright?” 

Before he can reply I go on “did you spill milk on your top and had to borrow some from the lost and found” I started gaggging, “or..”

“Lili! No breathe” he grabs my face in his hands and waits for me to take a deep breath before he lets go. Jaime is still fidgeting and starts cracking his knuckles.

“What is it? Out with it Jaime!”

“I’m moving”

Wow. of all the mean jokes to play this was the cruelest.

“I’m not joking” he holds up a file folder and I grab it” it basically says mum has given my aunt custody and I’m to move with her” “don’t look at me like that, I’m not joking”

“But how could they do that to you? Do you even know your aunt?”

Jaime shrugged “I’ve met her a couple times, she’s apparently been sending my mom money to help with bills and stuff” 

“Well that’s nice right”

“It would have been had my mom not used it all on beer” Jaime shrugged and put the folder back in his book back.”

“So what are we going to do?” I finally say, ready to find a solution.

“There’s nothing we can do, they already got a ticket for me and I leave in two weeks”

“We will see about that” and I start walking away. There is no way I was going to lose my best friend, heck my brother. He couldn’t just get shipped off like a parcel especially when his home was with me and we were family. The two musketeers were not going to be broken up.

-- So my dad said no to adopting Jaime, no matter how much I loved him and how much my family loved him and were his extra family. My mum and dad couldn’t argue with the court order especially since his aunt already had full custody. So on the last day of Jaime being in town we all went out for dinner at Jaime’s favorite pizza place. Dad and mom shared sweet stories and even cried remembering all the birthday parties and sleepovers, and Rubin even had a couple. I didn’t eat any pizza, and I couldn’t bring myself to share a heartfelt story, because I couldn’t say bye. When everyone went to play games it left Jaime and I at the table together.

It was awkward, which made it worse because neither of us believed in awkward moments. 

“I can’t say goodbye” I finally said 

‘Same”

“So maybe we don’t say it, we decide to never say that horrible word” he squeezes my hand

“And maybe we decide that this isn’t an end for us”

Jaime laughs loudly “of course not! Me and you Ophelia Laine Godot are the two musketeers no matter how far either of us go we will always find our way back to each other”

I wipe the tears that are already forming in his eyes

“Your aunt will be magical, and you’ll have the best stories to write me” and Jaime nods already stuffed up with tears to speak. 

And like the universe had sensed the tension, Crocodile Rock blasted through the speakers of the pizza place. Jaime, in a bright orange blazer stood up and extended his hand, and we walked into the middle of the restaurant. I tried to stop Jaime from beginning to dance along, but he moved more and jumped higher. Even though he had tear stains on his face and shirt he looked just like he had on the monkey bars, so just magical and beautiful. 

“ Come on LiLi!” He twirled around me “Dance with me and pretend the world doesn’t exist” He pleaded. And after that there was no going back and we would always be the two musketeers.

Check out Kate's Flash Fiction here: http://katesnovelidea.blogspot.com/
and of course feel free to make your own flash fiction as well. Happy Writing!!