I am startled awake by the sound of my phone alarm. The time reads 6:30 AM. It is July 2nd, and I'm going on vacation to Seaside, Florida. This is a trip that I've been looking forward to for so long. Not because of the trip though. Not at all. I've been so excited because a certain someone is coming with me.
My childhood best friend, Cameron, as well as the rest of his family, is coming with me. I haven't seen them since 2018. Well, he hasn't seen me since then. I, however, have seen many photos of him over the years through his mother's Facebook. I think it's safe to say that he has grown up. He's only a few months older than I am, but he's in the grade above me. I, a rising junior, and he, a rising senior.
We met in the fall of 2016. School had started a few weeks ago, and both of our little brothers were just starting kindergarten. My brother, Juan, and his brother, Jonathan, were two Hispanic boys in a class full of white kids. They obviously bonded, and they wanted to go to the park one day. I too, wanted to go to the park, so I went with my brother and my father.
We both lived in military housing- both of our fathers were in the military. That being said. The park was only a quick walk from our cozy house. It was a windy late September afternoon. I dodged a few younger kids riding their scooters down the sidewalk, accidentally brushing arms with one of them. I didn't think he'd notice, due to the heavy coat he was wearing, but his scooter came to a halt not too far behind us. The boy took a long look at us, and then yelled "Hi, Juan!" in a very high-pitched voice.
Soon after the encounter, I found myself on the playground, right at the edge of a platform that turned into a wobbly bridge. Juan and Jonathan were taking turns going down the small slide behind me, but I wanted to go on the big slide. The only thing stopping me was the bridge. I was so scared to cross it. I didn't want to fall. Then, just like magic, a boy emerged from the slide entrance, tired from climbing up the twists of the slide.
"Are you Juan's big sister?" the boy asked. I looked at this boy, and my goodness, was he cute.
"Mhm," I say, my voice wobbly. I sniffed and wiped my face, not even noticing that I was crying until that moment. His face twisted in confusion, but he then looked... empathetic??
"I'm Jonathan's brother, Cameron" he explained. He crossed the bridge to me with ease. All I could see was the ground beneath him shaking, as if it was going to fall from under him in seconds. As he got off the bridge, I just kept staring at it wiggling. I eventually zoned out.
"Hey! Juan's sister! Can you hear me?" Cameron shouted. I looked up at his face to see the same empathetic look on it. I nodded my head in response. "Okay," he said, holding his hand out. "Do you want to cross the bridge with me?" he asked. I shook my head violently, too scared to set foot on the unstable part. "It's okay, I won't let you fall. I do this for Juan all the time!" he said. I looked into his eyes and took his hand. "Go really super slow," I told him. "Don't worry," he replied.
We began walking across the bridge, and I stopped crying after realizing it wasn't too bad. We eventually reached the other platform, where the entrance to the big slide was.
"Wanna go down together?" Cameron asked. "Yes please," I responded. "Only if you tell me your name first," he said. "Lisa," I whispered. "Okay Lisa, let's slide!" he replied, sitting down, pulling my hand down with him. We scooted ourselves closer to the edge of the blue slide, him in front, me behind him.
"Push me with your feet and then slide down quick!" He told me, very excited. And I did just that. I pushed his lower back with my pink twinkle toes shoes, and then flung my body down the slide, feeling my feet meet his back again.
Once we exited the slide, we were both met with the faces of our fathers. We left the park and went to our homes. Later that night, my family went over to his place, and that night, my 2-year crush on Cameron Rodriguez began.
