Andy

It was harder than it had been a few days prior to say goodbye to my grandmother. We held hands, heads bowed, and prayed for each other, before I hugged her and helped her into the backseat of Mark’s car. Once she was safely inside, Mark turned and gave me a hopeful smile, “Hey, when you guys move down here, we’ll have to meet up more.”I nodded, and closed the gap to hug him. “It’s good seeing you, Mark. I missed ya.”

He laughed, it was a nice, familiar sound beckoning me back to my careless childhood years. “You, too, cuz.”

I pulled away and and stepped back from the car so he could finish loading Evelyn’s wheelchair into the trunk. That’s when Juliet approached me. Andy stood by my side, and she eyed him wistfully, narrowing her eyes. “You take care of this girl, Andy.” She warned him, “She’s got a heart of pure gold and I have this feeling she’d go to no end to protect you. That being said, this little feud you’re havin’ with your friend needs to be mended.”

Ashley was under the large shade tree a couple yards away, glaring at us still, but not with as much malice as before. She sighed, looking at him.

He nodded, peering down at me, hugging my shoulders in reassurance.

“And Ash, take care of this big man baby.” She laughed, leaning in to give me a tight hug. “I know you will, he needs all kinds of care.”

Andy heaved a sigh of dread when he realized where this was going for him.

“Fresh diaper changes, footie pajamas and binkies, you get the deal.”

“Of course.” I smiled, growing serious, “It was wonderful meeting you. We’ll have to meet up again.”

“Absolutely.” She smiled in excitement, “Do you want my number? We can keep in contact if you want.”

“Sure.” I pulled my phone from the pocket in my dress, handing it to her. She typed in her contact and handed it back, looking from me to Andy with a look of fond awe. “For what it’s worth, you guys look great together.”

Mark honked the car horn impatiently.

“Oops, I’d better get going. You guys have safe travels!” She waved at my parents and Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jasper on the porch, before heading to the car, the tall heels of her platform shoes sinking into the pea gravel.

Andy waved one last time as they pulled out of the drive. “That was severely unexpected...” He sighed in surprise, “Out of all the people I could have run into, and the place it happened.”

“It’s bizarre.” I laughed, giving his hand a quick squeeze before heading up the steps to the porch. My parents were finishing up their departing words when I got to them, a tupperware bowl of extra cake under my Mom’s arm.

“We’ll definitely have to arrange another get together, this was fun!” They hugged it out, and I hugged my Aunt and Uncle goodbye with a feeling of longing in my chest. Even though all I ever felt was that Pendant was my only true home, home can also be anywhere you’re surrounded by your closest friends and family.

“Don’t be a stranger.” Uncle Jasper laughed, as we headed down the steps.

“Oh, we won’t.”

We got down to the car in front of the house, and we climbed in. It was unusual... The pain I felt leaving them behind. I’d never been around family much all my life, so this heavy dose in one week was a lot to process at once.

“Hey Ash,”

I looked up, and saw that Ashley was also looking at Andy. “Asheen,” He amended cautiously, causing Ashley to roll his eyes and return to looking out the window.

“I think me and Ashley are gonna head out tonight to talk some things through, okay?”

I nod, unable to answer. It was fine with me, and from what I could tell, they had more than enough topics to cover before they could mend what had driven them apart.

And what I had observed through the patches of arguments and body language, it was becoming clearer that there was a feud prior to Ashley’s death. Ashley died not too long before Andy graduated and moved to California, and thinking about it now, I’d be willing to bet some of it was for more than just wanting to get out of town.

Ashley was mad, as far as I could tell from the fleeting glances I was brave enough to steal. But, every now and again I’d catch a sadened sideways glance from him, which only mixed up every concept I had in mind.

“Ah, how about McDonalds for dinner? It’s easy, quick and painless.” My Mom suggested, and my Dad turned on his blinker, making his way into the parking lot. From the looks of it, the restaurant still had the oldies design with all the characters on the storefront, and it still had the playground.

“I’m so going in there.” I tell Andy with a fierce, determined edge to my voice, causing him to look at me in confusion.

I set off briskly in the direction of the vacant playground, causing my parents to stare after me in concern and confusion. “Ash! Where are you going?” My Dad shouted after me to get my attention.

“To embrace my inner child!” I shout back.

“Don’t you want anything to eat?” My Mom called in confusion.

“A small salad works. And iced tea!” I said, pushing open the little gate that had a large, plastic Ronald McDonald leaning over it.

They continued into the restaurant to order and I went and sat on the swing next to the Hamburgerler, swinging back and forth leisurely. Andy approached me warily, leaning against the short swing frame, frowning in amusement. “What are you? Five?”

“Probably.” I shrugged, continuing to swing. “Sit.” I nodded towards the swing beside mine. He hesitated.

“No one’s gonna see you.” I reminded him, patting the chain of the opposing seat. He sighed, laughed and sat down, his knees coming half way up his chest, looking like an awkwardly crouched spider.

“Ashley!” I shouted to him, waving for him to come over. He looked tired of my bullshit but I wasn’t done trying to get on his goodside.

“Uh, he might no-” Andy began in a reassuring tone, as Ashley sighed, hung his head, and made his way across the small park towards us.

“That’s surprising.”

Ashley planted himself in front of me, his boots sinking into the sand around his ankles, his dark eyes unreadable behind his darkly tinted aviators. He did not say anything so I initiated a conversation, hoping to get back the Ashley I’d spoken to in the bar the night prior.

“So, Ashley, how long were you in BVB?”

“A few years.” He shrugged, looking behind himself before leaning up against a life sized statue of Ronald McDonald, placed in the center of the playground for children to climb all over.

“You played bass?”

“Yep.”

“What was your favorite song?”

“I dunno.”

“Oh...” I backpedalled for a moment, trying to work around his short attitude. “I really liked The Mortician’s Daughter.” I told him complimentary, but he snorted.

“Okay.” He shook his head as though it were funny, but not really.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You might as well tell me, now.” I sighed, gripping the silver chains on either side of me, leaning back and forth lazily.

“You’re gonna get pissy again.” He muttered as he pulled his endless pack of cigarettes from his denim vest pocket, sliding a single stick from the pack before neatly poking it back in.

“I won’t. I promise.”

He did not smile in defeat or anything. Just stared into my soul from behind the liquor colored lenses while he lit the end of his cigarette slowly.

The flame flicked from the end of his lighter, hovering around the end of of the rolled paper for a few seconds before it caught, lighting it up with gentle orange embers, which fell away slowly as the paper and nicotine burned.

Andy looked at his friend in silence for a few moments. “Do you remember our first show?”

“We don’t talk about that.” Ashley reminded him seriously, taking a long, patient draw from it, looking thoughtful for a few seconds before the faintest of smiles curbed his thin lips upwards. “Everything that could go wrong did... CC almost burned down that kid’s house...” He sighed in remorse, “When are you guys headed home, anyways?”

“Saturday morning.” I replied, slowing my swing to merely dragging the toes of my shoes in the gravel.

“I’d like to see them all again... They all still live there?”

Andy nodded in confirmation. “Yep... We’ll have to meet up when we get back. Ash, don’t you start school again soon?”

“I’m not sure.” I admitted sheepishly. “If they’ll even let me back in.”

Ashley chuckled, surprisingly. “What did the little rebel do?”

“I hit Elizabeth...” I sighed. Every time I told this story, I did not feel any better about it or myself. It was still that embarrassing blot of blackness in my memory from that week.

Surprise crossed his face. “No way... No wonder you didn’t want to talk about her last night.” He chuckled, lifting his cigarette to his lips again.

“Yeah...” I clasped my hands together awkwardly. “I haven’t gotten the chance to apologize yet...” I sighed, “I guess I need to do that when I get home. I really don’t want to, she started it... After all. But it doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

I squeaked back and forth on the swing for a little while longer while the sky quickly faded from blushing peach to pale violet to a deep navy blue speckled in stars. A blanket of twinkling wishes above our heads.

I looked up to see my parents walking out the back door of the restaurant with a tray of food and an amused, yet confused expression on their faces.

“This is new.” My Dad noted, sitting at one of the picnic benches close to where we sat swinging. Andy continued to rock back and forth lazily, making the chain rattle and rock without explanation when my parents looked over. “Embracing your inner child, huh? Trying a new style?”

I laughed, getting up to go eat. “You could say that. Hey Dad, I was thinking about it this morning, but do you remember when we used to play princesses in the backyard?”

He laughed, “Of course.”

“You did what?” Ashley sneered, earning him a sharp jab to the ribs from Andy.

I ignored him, continuing with the memory fondly. “Those were the best days, just running around in the yard.”

“Yeah,” He laughed, “Until my age caught up with me. Sandy, we should’ve adopted another little girl to keep up with Ash’s endless energy.”

They both laughed at the idea.

“Why... Why didn’t you guys ever try again?” I asked curiously in an innocent tone, trying not to step on any toes.

They looked at each other and shrugged. My Mom responded, “I guess we were just afraid of trying again. We had you, and we decided that you were more than enough and two was just not meant to be.”

She didn’t seem bothered by talking about it. I nodded, listening.

“We’re more than happy, don’t you worry, and we’re so proud we have you.” To my surprise, she reached across the picnic table to squeeze my shoulder lovingly, “You’re the best daughter we could’ve asked for.” She said softly, fond pride sparking in her eyes as she told me. I was speechless. I’d always known my parents were proud of me to some degree, but they never said so.

“Even with the little brat I’ve been lately?” I laughed nervously, picking at a lettuce leaf absently.

“Of course, flaws and all, you’re all we could’ve asked for.” My Dad smiled, nudging my arm. “Eat up. Anyways, I was thinking, we could go to the beach tomorrow? Get some family time in before we head home on Friday.”

I lit up in excitement, thinking of the possibility of going underwater again with Andy, but then the idea was halted when I thought of how difficult it’d be to slip away from my parents.

“That sounds awesome. Which beach?”

He was thoughtful for a moment, “There’s actually this beach, more of a lake, just outside of Oakland. Heard some people in the lobby this morning saying it was beautiful there.”

I nodded in enthusiasm, impaling a couple lettuce leaves with my fork. “That’d be cool.”

There weren’t many lakes around Pendant, more like small diving holes that were loaded with the locals on a hot summer day. They were small, so you normally ended up waiting forever just to dip a toe in the water. Besides, I’d already had a lovely experience with the ocean last night.

“Remember sprink break, 2006?” Ashley chuckled to Andy, gripping the arm of Ronald McDonald above his head, before nimbly leaping up, kicking his boot off Ronald’s hip, squirming up ontop of his arm with ease. “That was a unique beach experience.”

Andy laughed as he recalled the tale I’d never heard. “It was insane. Remember Connie and Dee Birkle? The hot twins?”

I resisted the urge to sigh in amusement as the term “Boys will be boys.” Came to mind.

“Hell yeah! They were damn hot, and fuck, when they were playing chicken on the lake?...” He trailed off suggestively, wiggling his brows.

Andy threw his head back in laughter, “You’re such a fucking pervert.”

I pulled away my prying eyes from their private conversation and concentrated on my boring mortal food, already looking forward to the following day’s festivities, and not just because of the before-mentioned reasons, but for other reasons.

I’m an outdoorsy person, I suppose. I take a lot of walks and visit the stream in the trees behind my house as frequently as I can, and I enjoy photography a great deal. Being outdoorsy and enjoying photography go hand in hand pretty well, and with the hope of visiting a beautiful beach the following day, I was relieved that I had remembered to pack my digital camera.

It was dark out by the time we finished up, the sky painted pretty with the stars that shone brightly despite all the street lights threatening to drown them out. There were some lights that shone out over the play area of McDonalds, illuminating the slightly nightmare-inducing characters with eery grins in the playground.

“I’m bushed.” Andy sighed, walking between myself and Ashley as we made our way back to the car, my parents a few steps ahead.

“Why in the world would you be tired?” I joked, “You’ve done nothing today. Nothing at all.”

He heaved a dramatic sigh, dragging his arms at his sides, “It’s exhausting to be a ghost. You know the term ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’? It’s a bunch of bullshit because you’re still tired as fuck when you’re dead.”

“Right?” Ashley replied, shaking his head. “Actually, I don’t recall ever being this tired alive. Anyone who’s suicidal ought to be aware it’s worse on this side.”

“Amen, man.” Andy clapped Ashley on the shoulder, before climbing into the backseat through the front seat door when my Mother opened it. I smiled to myself, his dorky antics still the same as when I’d met him. Why did that day feel like it was forever ago?

Notes

Pleeassee comment your thoughts? Big things are coming up!