After The Ending (John Frusciante)

Chapter 3

"Mom, I'm going out," Amaya hailed from the hallway of the house and then quickly made her way out of the front door, right before her mom could start questioning her over where she was exactly going and when she would be back.

She had her papers and her pencils and her charcoals and she was going to the place she was always going with her papers and her pencils and her charcoals – to the park closest to her house, where she would spend time drawing and smoking and enjoying the heat and the sunshine with the option to hide herself into the shade once it became too unbearable.

Amaya took a quick, yet a curious look at the neighbouring house the moment she made it outside, then continued her way to the park. Sometimes she would see John and his little brother on the driveway shooting hoops or hanging out, but not today. There was nobody around, only birds chirping and the sensation of the warm breeze making its way under her short dress that flew lightly in the wind.

Well, it's not like she actually cared about seeing him, but she couldn't deny that she had become curious about him over the month he had been her neighbour, partly due to his peculiarity and partly due to his own efforts of making sure she knew of his existence. Amaya viewed him as the classical "look at me" boy, who thought that the best way to get people's attention was behaving like a complete idiot, but she had also discovered a different side of him that intrigued her a bit more than she would have liked to admit.

She too had become aware of the fact that their windows were facing each other and she too noticed him in his room quite often, reading his books or sorting his records or playing his guitars and he for sure spent an absolutely mindblowing amount of time on doing that. Even as Amaya could never hear what he was playing or how, she could see by the way he was handling them that he was extremely good and she actually wished that she could hear him even for a second, but then there were times when she wished that a bird took a dump on him.

Like that time a few weeks ago when he stole her cigarette pack when they happened to run into each other in the park, a location for smoking he was now so very confidently and so very annoyingly taking over, or the time he secretly placed a frog into her school bag in that very same park that she didn't discover until the next day in class and almost had a heart attack while that cold creature brushed against her hand, or the time he decided to be extra funny and spray her with a hose while watering his lawn.

So, even as he did seem interesting, he was still a nuisance to be around and Amaya couldn't help, but to roll her eyes in advance the second she noticed him coming her way once she was sitting in the park, under a huge tree and enjoying the shade it offered. The weather was once again so very hot and she had decided to take a break from her drawing activities.

"Howdy, neighbour," he grinned as he made his way towards her, lighting a cigarette and letting his eyes travel around the park a bit, then landing them firmly on her.

She was wearing a tiny dress that exposed her tanned legs and her tanned arms and he watched as the soft breeze blew through her long hair and how she stared at him with her annoyed, warrior like expression and that never failed to amuse him. The attitude she gave him only encouraged his antics he had so much fun coming up with and this time was no different.

"Hello, John," she rolled her eyes as she greeted him back and watched him stand with his hands in his pockets, looking all smug and into himself.

"What are you up to?" he inquired, then snickered, "Collecting friends for your pet frog?"

"Fuck you, John," Amaya almost hissed and squinted her eyes, "You owe me a pack of cigarettes."

"Oh, do I?" he laughed, then smirked, "Maybe I do."