Everbloom, USA

2. Dinner and a Show

Making the short drive over to the Flores-Reyes house from Dante's apartment felt like I'd done it hundreds of times before. Despite not having gone to their house in years, it was like riding a bike. You didn't forget it, the muscles remembered the way. That was also the curse of this town. No matter how much time went on ahead, no matter the distance, everything was always the same in Everbloom. We'd grown up together and had been next door neighbors all of my life. I felt some guilt for not maintaining contact with them after I'd left. But leaving Everbloom was because I wanted to leave everything and everyone behind. No exceptions.

I stuck my hand out of the car as I was driving and let my fingers feel the breeze. It was a cool autumn day. Autumns in Everbloom had been my favorite while the rest of the town seemed to prefer spring. There wasn't much traffic in the streets as I turned left into the maze of houses that contained their house and my old home. Some kids were out playing. The town almost seemed normal and innocent. As if it hadn't contained the worst years of my life. I frowned at no one and at myself. Why was I romanticizing this small town already? I'd been here less than a day.

I parked in front of the Flores-Reyes house and looked at the little green house and I was ashamed to admit I hadn't thought about it in years. Through the years I'd occasionally thought about the Flores-Reyes sisters but I'd also forgotten about their house and how many times I'd visited. That's what happened when you were next door neighbors. I looked at the house next door that had once been my home. It had once been my roof on my good days and on my worst days. It was abandoned and it showed. I had no idea how long it had been since Dante had left it but my guess was it had been a long while. When I was little I remembered the house being a bright yellow. We were the yellow house on Sunny Row St. In the front yard there was a big silver maple tree with a thick trunk that I remembered climbing with Dante. The tree had branches that seemed to go in every direction and I would climb that tree imagining it was a giant beanstalk that would take me to another world when I reached the top. The trunk also had a hole near the bottom of it that Dante and I would use to hide our candy or notes for each other whenever we played. I smiled at the distant memory. At one point we had been best friends.

I could practically see myself and Dante running around and then Alejandra joining us and her little sister Rubi wanting to tag along and then Esmeralda forcing us to let Rubi play along. My smile grew and suddenly I felt happy to at least remember one good thing in relation to being back. I heard someone tap the window of my car and I jumped in my seat breaking out of the daze. I turned to see who was tapping and saw an older Rubi. Long gone was the Dora the Exploradora hair and instead she had long dark hair that reached below her shoulders. She had some blonde tips in it and I felt like I'd just watched my little sister grow up. Her eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Are you just going to sit in your car or do you plan to join us? Esme, made me come get you because you've been sitting out here too long and we were all staring out the window and eventually it got awkward," she said. I couldn't help but smile back as she took a step back and I got out of the car. She gave me a hug and I immediately hugged her back.

"Wow dude! You're all grown up!"

"Really you think so? Please tell that to Esmeralda because she doesn't think seventeen is 'all grown up'," she said and made a face. I laughed.

"Holy crap, seventeen already? I'm so old then."

"Yeah, you're all ancient." She said and then stopped talking. She made a weird face and I grimaced. I figured she must have been thinking about Dante too.

"Let's go in, I'm starving," I replied and she nodded as she led me down the little trail of white pebbles her parents had once installed to lead to the front door.