A Different Slice

39 - Keychain (Naomi)

One silly keychain was all it took to flip Naomi's mood. Jodie had tossed it to her with a casual, 'You'll never guess what I found'. Naomi's fingers had rubbed the golden animal's features into oblivion during the lonely year after their family dog Hailey passed and throughout those awful tests at school, where Naomi's brain refused to share the answers she'd spent hours memorizing. It had also comforted her during the heartbreaking months when Greg got his first girlfriend. She'd like to say she'd outgrown the relic, but she'd transferred her emotional burdens onto Shivanna and Kieran.

She still recalled the night she'd received the keychain. Hailey had passed away a few weeks earlier, and nothing was the same. No wagging tail to greet her after school, nor the perfect running companion to keep her in shape. To make matters worse, when Naomi was upset, Hailey always jumped up beside her and laid her head on Naomi's lap. But that would never happen again. Her family told her to focus on the pleasant memories, but she couldn't.

They'd travelled to visit their grandparents at the Gimli house, and perhaps because of Naomi's mood, her mom had agreed to let Greg sleep over. It was a big deal to them the summer before junior year, even if they'd be in separate tents.

Since he'd wanted to see the lake at night, they'd walked five minutes to the rocks near the beach path. He kept wandering in the opposite direction of the park until he seemed satisfied with their distance, and they sat together on a large rock.

He stared at the dark sky speckled with white dots and the occasional migrating satellite. "It blows me away how many stars are outside the city."

"Two damn many to count," she muttered.

Greg looked at her, his grayish-green eyes glistening in the light of the full moon. Tentatively, he reached into his shorts' pocket. "I got you something." His hand shook as he passed a small rectangular box to her.

She raised an eyebrow. If Greg brought anything to her place, it was food his mom made. "It's not my birthday," she said.

The box was light in her hand with a thin ribbed cardboard exterior. It fit in her palm.

"You've been down since Hailey. It's a silly idea, but I saw it, and I thought you might like it." He scratched at his neck and averted his gaze.

Beneath the lid lay a metal keychain with a golden retriever stretched out mid-jump. The elated expression on the animal's face reminded her so much of Hailey that Naomi began to tear up. She pulled Greg into a way too tight hug and fought the onset of sniffles. His warmth soothed her, and he smelled like a forest.

"Oh my god. Naomi Wheeler, are you actually hugging me?" he whispered in a teasing tone.

Thankfully, her cheeks were hidden as they were burning. "Shut up. This never happened."

Greg chuckled as she still hadn't let go. "We're two people sitting on the beach together. Like how you never get emotional during 'A League of Their Own' and never dance to Uptown Funk when you think no one's watching."

She squeezed his shoulder and frowned, even though a warm sensation grew in her chest. "Exactly. Like how you didn't panic when you made a mistake during our first driving lesson, nor did you spend your paper route money on lightsabers to do accurate reenactments."

She'd held on long enough for someone who rarely gave more than high fives, one-armed hugs and fist bumps, so she pulled back. But she had seared his warm embrace, that pine scent, and the slight tickle of his hair on her neck into her memory.

"I'm quite proud of the reenactments," he countered.

"Even when Finn shared your YouTube channel with everyone, and you had to disable the comment section?"