Jordan and Dahlia have been best friends since they met on the playground at age 3. Follow their journey over the next two decades as life, love, opportunities, and sacrifice all play major roles in where their lives go.
🥇-#1- #younglove 9/2/21
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Since my birthday was in the middle of the week, my party was gonna be Saturday, and my actual birthday was spent at dinner with my family and some friends at the new steakhouse Uncle Marcus and Daddy bought.
Auntie Kat even brought my cousins, Nico, who's four, and Logan, who was almost two.
I love playing with them even though it still makes me wish for a little brother, but since it's just me, I get all of Mommy and Daddy's love.
We had all just sat down and ordered drinks when Nate and Tristan finally showed up.
I hadn't seen them since the funeral almost two months ago, and Daddy told Mommy he wasn't sure if they were even coming.
Whenever I thought about Nate I thought back to that day and how sad he was, and I just wished he was okay.
Tristan walked in, ignoring everything and everyone as he focused on his iPad, barely looking up, only to navigate his way to his seat.
I kept my eyes on him, hoping he'd look up at me, and once he did, I felt awful. It was like he was bored, he was staring right through me.
But I couldn't cry in front of him... not again.
A second later Nate was walking in, and I stood from my seat as he walked over. He hugged me tight, almost squishing me as he sighed.
"Happy birthday, Flower."
We pulled away from each other and he handed me my gift, a small stuffed bear holding a sunflower.
Everybody 'awwed' as we took our seats, and as Nate sat next to me, I could see Tristan sulking from across the table.
The only other time I'd seen him like this was when we were on the ride at Disneyworld.
I didn't understand him. A lot of the time-- when it was just us-- he was really nice.
But it seemed like whenever Nate was around, he was in a bad mood.
After dinner, Daddy wanted to show all of the grownups the new nightclub he was putting upstairs, so while we waited for my birthday cake, all the kids stayed in the private room, checking out all of the fish in the large tank.
I was still sitting at the dining table, fiddling with the bear Nate got me, when a small stuffed turtle was set on my lap . I looked over to see Tristan standing in front of me, with his hands in his pockets.
"I... I love turtles. How did you know?"
Tristan shrugged with a small smile on my face.
"Guess I just noticed."
Nate, who was still sitting next to me, huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"So, she's not just a little kid'?"
Tristan's eyes were mixed with disbelief and regret as he looked from Nate back to me.
"Wait... what?"
Nate began to nod and pointed an accusatory finger at his half-brother.
"Yup... he said that we were both dumb little kids and he didn't even want to come tonight."
✨
I didn't understand back then why what Tristan said hurt so bad.
But it was a feeling I would slowly start getting used to.
Even as we got older, Tristan was always there reminding me that to him, I would always just be a little kid and that it only took two measly years to keep us apart.
Thinking back over all of these years and all of the tears shed between the three of us, I would've told my younger self way back then to just let them both go.
We were all better off without each other.
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