The Good Ol' Days

Kyle

I will have to watch her friends more closely. They threaten me – I've yet to see her without them. That and her family – but at least her family is to be respected.

I have gone to the store and gotten that dark blue paint for her room. I realize her room is white but she is entering a new life, and so needs a new color. Maybe it will set off her eyes. I haven't gotten close enough yet to see what they are.

Julie

Adam and I finally left my house, about a half-hour after we went downstairs and ate lunch. It was around 1:30 when we left, and I had yet to figure out what he had dreamt about. He was totally closed on the subject, and gave me no hints whatsoever.

The sun was bright, shining down on my beaten arms and warming me up. We had left my board and his blades at my house. Neither of us felt like skating at all, so we were just going to watch or wander or something. My mom liked Adam best out of all of my friends, which didn't really surprise me at all. Adam was the quietest, most responsible, so it would figure that she would like him best.

We walked along. Sometimes, our town was suffocating to the both of us. It was the same places, over and over again. The dump, when we felt like getting into things we weren't supposed to. The day care center for skating. Occasionally, the canal when we got bored. And when we got really bored, upper town with the shops, but no one ever had any money so actually shopping was out of the question.

And every once in a while, slightly north to the playground, back when they still had one. But lately, especially in Western NY, the contractors had taken out all of the wooden playgrounds, the classic ones. We were left with plastic ones that shocked you whenever you left them, which ruined our fun. Sometimes we would travel up to the duck pond, and of course to each other's houses. But that was the extent of our travels alone.

"Get any new books, Julie?"

"Not really. Yourself?"

"Not any that I can think of. I'm still reading Terry Goodkind, the guy that you gave to me a while back. It's interesting, to say the least." Adam scuffed his feet along the sidewalk.

"Yeah, he's an awesome author. Seen any good movies?" I responded, desperate for some new conversation.

"No…wow, it's only the first few weeks into summer and we're already this damn bored. What the hell?" Adam said, raising his hands dramatically to the sky. I laughed, and we continued along in silence.

The birds were silent all around us, and the only sounds we could hear were the many, many cars that were going by, rushing back to work, for it was past lunch break, and the katydids, who were making noise fit to be heard in Japan. The buzzing irritated me and made me paranoid, for it was similar to hornets buzzing around a person's head.

"Hey Adam…?" I said as we turned into the daycare center, looking for anyone. It was deserted.

"Yeah?"

"Remember when Rob got into that bee's nest?"

"No…when was that?"

He stopped and turned to face me. I looked into his eyes. The sky was reflected in them, and it turned around. I swallowed; shaking off the dizziness that tried to overtake me.

"When we were seven. We were out in my backyard – that wasp nest hanging up in the willow tree?"

"Was I there?"

"Yeah, you were the one that dared him to do it."

"Oh…yeah." Adam snickered."Damn truth or dare. You guys always made me play but I always got revenge on you."

"Yeah. These bugs remind me of those bees, buzzing all around. Isn't it ironic though, that poor Rob got stung only in the ass?"

"Yeah, that was awesome. I remember him running inside, trying really hard not to cry. We had to stay in the rest of the day because he knocked the nest out of the tree…"

"Yeah…good days."

"What happened?" Adam asked me quizzically. I shrugged.

"I don't know. We used to be so innocent, and like…that. And then puberty happened."

"Oh, you can't say we were innocent. Remember the hot tub incidents?"

The hot tub incidents…Rob had a hot tub at his house. And we used to play truth or dare there as well. At first, of course, the innocent things, like jumping out, running around and rolling in the snow, and sitting back in the hot tub as fast as we could. And then, as our parents slowly began to leave us alone (bad mistake on their part) we began daring each other to remove articles of clothing. Ah, the good old days of curiosity…how much more interesting it would be now…I nodded and Adam grinned at me.

"I know what you were thinking. The good old days; right? We're growing up too fast, Julie. Three years and we're gone."

"Yeah. I know, don't remind me. This is our last summer of not being able to drive. Next year, all of us will be able to be on the roads. Isn't that a scary thought?" I sighed."Where are we going now?"

"Well, there's not a whole lot of choices. We can head up to Steve's house if you'd like."

"And do what? Steve's working all day. I don't know what Rob's doing, or even if he's still there. If he is, he probably has one of Steve's guitars out."

"Probably. But I know you love guitars, so I doubt that'd be a problem. Why the resistance?"

"It's so dim in there. I love Steve and Rob to death, but I need light and warmth right now. I don't want to be alone again, and Steve's house makes me feel that way sometimes."

"I see." Adam rubbed his forehead. I think I confused him a tiny bit. I shrugged, and he blinked at me."Okay then. Where to?"

"I don't know…have you seen Lindsey at all lately? I haven't seen her since school let out."

"No, I haven't seen her either." Adam replied, knowing what I was implying. Let's go bother Lindsey!"I heard she got her eyebrow pierced though…" Adam trailed off, trying to offer up information.

"No way! She's like deathly afraid of needles…" I replied. I remember Lindsey refusing to get her ears pierced.

"Well I think she was incredibly stoned when she got it done, but I wouldn't know. It would figure, with her. And that's probably the only way she'd get it done without screaming. Let's see if it's done first."

We took a left, ascending the beginning of the East Avenue hill. It was here that we were right on the border of town. Ahead of us? Fields. Behind us? Cars. All around us? Cars.

East Avenue had originally been composed of just fields, but it now had the library and scattered houses that had just been built recently. It was very hilly terrain. Supposedly, thousands of years ago, this was the shoreline of Lake Ontario, then a monster lake. And way before that, it was all part of an even grander lake. Long, long before the humans came and decided to destroy it all.

Lindsey lived two houses away and across the street from the library. Her house was only 10 years old, and small, but it worked for her, her brother and her parents. They lived comfortably, and had a nice sized backyard. Lindsey used to live in the city – Rochester, but she had moved out here 2 years ago or so and we befriended her.

Lindsey was short. Her picture formed in my mind – short with long black hair and dark brown eyes. She wasn't incredibly thin but by no means was she overweight. She usually dressed like a “normal” person, buying clothes whenever they looked good. She favored jeans and T-shirts, very simple by most people’s accounts. But, she was cool.

She wasn't soft spoken but she wasn't overly talkative. When I think of Lindsey, I think of balance. Oh and another interesting side note – her boobs are the same size! My right side was slightly larger than my left side. And my hair grows faster on my right side…

We wound our way down East Avenue in silence, not really fashioning anything to talk about. Adam and I could spend hours talking, the same way we could go hours without saying a word, and being perfectly comfortable.

"So…you sure you don't want to tell me what you dreamed about?” I snickered at Adam. He refused to turn his head and look at me, laughing along with me

"I'm positive. It's not something you should be hearing about anyway Julie.”

"Well that’s more information than you gave me before. Come on! It's not like I'm going to tell anyone anyway! You know me. Why is it such an embarrassing dream? You get all defensive.”

He stopped at that, turning to me and cocking his head to the right side."I'm the one getting all defensive? Look at the novel you just practically yelled at me. Let it go, Julie, let it go. Maybe I’ll tell you later on if you would leave me alone for it. But honestly, you have no reason to know about what I dream. My dreams are weird, and pointless, and uninterpretable.”

"Alright; alright.” I said, not to happy. It wasn't too often that Adam refused to tell me things. It was odd that he wouldn't tell me – I can't even remember a time when he hasn’t told me something eventually. Was it about something or even me?

We walked up Lindsey’s gravel driveway, and up onto her porch. Her grass was unusually green, like the color of a cartoon frog on a warped television. Her house was a creamy white, with light blue shutters. The roof was red and gray, in seemingly random places, probably cheap shingles from when it was first built. It looked like our roof but not quite. The house was a raised ranch, and she had stone steps leading up to her door. We ascended the stairs, and Adam reached towards the doorbell. He rang it, and inside we heard a joyous melody sound off, reverberating through the house.

The doorbell was a simple one – slightly yellow colored light inside of it. When you pushed it, it turned red. If it hadn’t of been Lindsey’s house, but instead my own, I would have spent at least an hour ringing it and watching it turn red. It was quite possibly the most amusing thing I had seen that day – and what a long day it had been.

As we waited for Lindsey or someone else to answer the door, I dug through my memories for a time when this house wasn't here. It’s kind of hard to remember a time when certain people or events weren’t in your life. I can't remember a time when I didn't know Lindsey. Although I’ve known her for only a few years, I can't remember a time when this house didn't exist, when I was younger and more innocent. I'm sure there was a time – there had to have been. But then again, I have a hard time just remembering today.

Lindsey came to the door after what seemed like an eternity. She looked half-asleep and was, in fact, still in her pajamas. Her yellow ducky pajama pants looked warm and comfy – much more comfortable than the pants I was wearing. She had smeared makeup on and big yellow slippers. The shirt she had on was huge, old and torn through the right side.

She looked at both of us, and then looked down at herself. A classic look, one with a mix of surprise, embarrassment, and amusement appeared on her face. I looked at her eyebrow – no piercing. I sighed, disappointed, and Adam grinned at me.

"Hi Lindsey. Sup?" Adam offered to her. He even extended a hand. She laughed, taking his hand.

"Nothing here, except I'm a lazy piece of shit. You two wanna come in or let me get dressed or something?"

I looked at Adam."We don't care." I said, answering for the both of us.

"Okay then." She whistled."I'll be back in a moment then. Don't mind me. You guys can come in if you'd like. I've been watching reruns of anime."

As she turned and hopped up her stairs, I shrugged, opening the door and letting myself in. I hated anime, but I was willing to sacrifice my eyes. Her house was air-conditioned – it was getting hot out, especially when I was dressed in black. Her house was welcoming, a dim glow coming from the television upstairs. Not 5 seconds later, Lindsey returned.

Her hair was even brushed! She had changed into a white shirt, with some "ad" labeled across the front, making some sick innuendo as always with those shirts. She had on stone washed, loose and slightly beat up jeans.

"Right." She said, resisting the urge to pant."Hey there. How are you two? Come on up, or are we going somewhere or what?"

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