One of the Boys

Chapter 5: Kei to the Past

Kei:

My full name is Keith Sommers, named after my grandfather on my father's side. My parents, being the sentimental type, used to affectionately call me their "Kei to their heart." The nickname Kei stuck. I am a fourth Korean and three-fourths mixture of Russian, French, and Italian. From my Korean side I received tan skin and dark hair. From my caucasian side I was given blue-gray eyes that could be either more blue or more gray depending on whether the sun was out. Or at least, that was what Lucie told me.

"Kei." The way she said my name. The way a playful smile broke out across her lips. The way a few strands of hair brushed over her face. She may have looked different, but I knew she was Lucie.

"Lucie," I breathed, overwhelmed with a mixture of nerves, joy, and relief. Before pulling her into a hug, like the rest of the boys had done immediately, I stopped her.

"What are you doing?" Her mouth twitched into a confused grin. I had my hands grasping her arms, and her hands pressed against my chest.

"I haven't seen you in so long..." I said slowly. "I'm just making sure you're actually here." My eyes gazed into her lively emerald colored eyes, and I drank in her image. She laughed, her voice ringing out like bells. She was beautiful—not just in the physical sense, but her entire essence. She always has been. And to me, she always will be.

"Of course I'm here."

"I can't believe it." There was so much I had wanted to say. And there was so much I had wanted to ask. But my thoughts were formulating too quickly for my mouth to react. I felt like a speechless idiot.

"You're so cute," she said, patting my cheek. "But you better believe I'm here and give a hug," She demanded teasingly; her eyes sparkled. With that I opened my arms out and wrapped them around her skinny framed body. The smell of roses and lemon lingered in her hair as her face buried into my chest. Since when had we ever held each other like this?

"Hey Luce, come over here," Landon's voice called out. The moment had been perfect, but I knew it was far too perfect to last very long. Already, our reunion was interrupted.

"Tell me about London's finest," Landon said, flicking his hair from his eyes. My mouth grew dry and my body stiffened as she immediately released me and eagerly locked arms with Landon. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. I watched them as they began to follow after Devin and Soren, before reluctantly following from behind. I could not hear what they were saying, but Lucie immediately broke into laughter at something Landon had said. She was gazing up at Landon with an awed and adoring expression, and my stomach twisted in knots.

There were things I didn't know about Lucie. And there were things I did know about her. The one thing I wish I did not know was that ever since we were little she had always had a huge crush on Landon.

~~~~~

"Landon is so stupid," Lucie would grumble, slumping on my kitchen counter. We were thirteen at the time, and it was summer.

"Tell me something I don't already know," I joked and pulled out a box of Firecracker popsicles. Lucie loved these and would always try to eat the popsicle by color and layer in order to preserve it for as long as she could. Sliding the box over to her, I beckoned for Lucie to take one. She rested her chin against her crossed arms on the table and merely glanced at the popsicles with disinterest. "Oh come on," I sighed, taking a popsicle for myself. "You know you want one."

"Landon put me in a bad mood," she replied with a huff. For once, Lucie's hair had been brushed and was not pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing a white blouse and a denim skirt that were covered in dirt. Her mom must have put that outfit on her.

"What happened?" I finally asked and began to eat my Popsicle.

"I wanted to play baseball with him and his friends, but Landon kept pretending he didn't know who I was because I was wearing a skirt. All the guys laughed," she huffed. "And then when I was finally allowed to play, he and his friends kept taunting me saying, 'Oh be careful princess, you don't want to rip your skirt.' "

"All the guys tease you when you dress like a girl," I said, matter-of-factly. "But that doesn't mean they think you can't play well. They wouldn't have let you played in the first place if you weren't good. Besides, the McCallister Boys always make fun of you when you wear dresses or skirts."

"Yeah, but that's different. Landon is supposed to defend me, and he was laughing the hardest," she grumbled and snatched the popsicle from my hand and began to eat it. I didn't mind, we shared food often so this was not anything out of the ordinary. I did not even like these kinds of popsicles. I just made my parents buy them because they were Lucie's favorite.

"Well," I sighed. "You know how Landon is. He can be a jerk sometimes."

"Yeah he is," she huffed.

"And he doesn't know what he's talking about," I sat down on a stool beside her. "You look different in skirts," I said, turning my face away from her because I did not want her to see that I was blushing.

"Different?" she shot up and I could hear the accusatory tone of her voice.

"Different because I don't typically see you in skirts, but you look...nice," I mumbled so that she could not hear the last part clearly. Lucie slumped back down on the counter and took an angrily bite from the popsicle. The red and blue liquid dripped down her hand. She continued to complain about Landon and proceeded to eat another popsicle. This was the first summer I began to realize that Lucie cared a lot about Landon's opinion, about his relationships, about everything that related to him. She was always overjoyed when he paid attention to her, and disappointed when he hurt her feelings. I was always the one she came to when she needed to talk about Landon. But I never saw this as her having feelings for him.

"I wish," Lucie said softly. "Sometimes...sometimes I wish Landon saw me as a girl." My eyes widened in surprise. Lucie spent most of our childhood proving to all of the neighborhood boys that she was one of them and that she deserved their respect. Everyone called her an honorary boy, and she worked hard for that title.

"A girl?"

"Yeah."

It was then that I knew she liked him and that she liked him all along.

~~~~~

"Yo, Kei!" Landon called my name. He and Lucie were quite a few distances away, and I had found myself stopped in the middle of the airport, lost in thought. "KEI!" Landon waved and shouted louder. I cringed at how loud his voice echoed in the public area. Some other people glanced back at the direction Landon was aiming toward, and I looked away in order to not be associated with him.

"Come on Kei! The twins pulled up the car!" Now Lucie was shouting and laughing as her voice echoed. I began to move toward them again, my footsteps light.

I had always loved Lucie, but she never saw anyone but Landon.