Haircuts and Tiny Girlfriends

Friendship Bracelets and Homemade Board Games

*I had a plan for this story I swear I did. I apologize.*

Mabel's slender fingers swiftly maneuvered around the brightly colored strings, her face showing determination and enjoyment. Pacifica on the other hand was clearly struggling with the simple task of braiding the threads together. Instead of clumsy braids adorning the strings, there were small, complicated knots. Some looked accidental and the others looked intentional, probably due to frustration.

Mabel looked at Pacifica with a grin.

"Ya strugglin' there, Pacifica?" She asked her friend, weaving the strings together without looking. Pacifica glared at Mabel's bracelet with a pouted lip.

"So what if I am?" She grumbled, slouching over her knotted strings as to hide their existence from Mabel.

Mabel leaned over Pacifica's shoulder.

"Well lemme see it, I may be able to help you with the threading," Mabel offered, trying her best to look over Pacifica, but she wasn't having it.

"Don't look! You can't look yet!" Pacifica whined, gently pushing Mabel's face away. Mabel laughed at the girl's whining and slunk away, returning to her own bracelet. Mabel's bracelet consisted of grays and pinks with one single strand of bright green. Pacifica's bracelet was made of one strand of each color. The box had twelve  colors. Pacifica's struggle was a genuine kind of struggle.

After about ten minutes of silence and braiding, Mabel had finally finished her bracelet. She tied the two ends together and scooted over to Pacifica (whose bracelet was even more knotted than it was ten minutes ago, but we're not going to talk about it).

"Hey Pacifica, hold out your wrist," Mabel said with (zero) subtlety. Fortunately for Mabel, Pacifica wasn't paying attention too much and simply held out her wrist without any hesitation. Mabel quickly slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.

"Thank you, Pacifica!" Mabel said sweetly, as Pacifica finally came out of her trance. Pacifica looked down at her now adorned wrist and blinked several times.

Pacifica cleared her throat before she spoke. "That's uh, that's really- uhm, I- thank you, Mabel, really."

Mabel waved a hand at her. "Psht, c'mon, it was nothing! We're friends now! We need bracelets to make it official, and now we have them!"

Pacifica looked down at the jumbled clump of string, disappointment filling her gut. "Well, I do. You don't, though." Mabel looked at her and grinned. Her smile read amusement, yet her eyes spoke something else.  Something far more... complicated. Pacifica couldn't put her finger on it.

"I don't need a bracelet to know you're my friend, Pacifica," Mabel scooter slightly closer to Pacifica and brushed a lock of pink and green hair out of her face. She looked at Pacifica as though she were her life source, and Mabel was drowning in the sea.

"I- I don't-" Pacifica spoke with such hesitation that her punk-like demeanor didn't fit her personality in that moment.

Mabel pulled away, her face growing a rather intense shade of red. "Sorry Pacifica, I guess I zoned out there for a second! Y'know how it is!" She laughed nervously, looking around the room. "Do you wanna play a game? I have a whole bunch in the closet: some homemade, others from school- you get the idea." Mabel withdrew two game boxes from the closet. "Which one do ya' wanna play? Waddle-opoly or Pig-tionary?" Pacifica looked at her new friend. Her new friend that was desperate for a distraction. Her new friend that had something on her mind.

Pacifica tapped her chin as though she were deep in thought. "Hmm- Waddle-opoly sounds like the best choice," She grinned, watching Mabel sigh in relief as Pacifica went along with her crazy ideas. Mabel nodded and put Pig-tionary back, and pulled open the box to Waddle-opoly. It was just a Monopoly board with pictures of pigs glue onto the property squares, and different pig breeds in place of the landmark names. The figurines? They remained the same.

Pacifica chose the thimble, and Mabel chose the dog kennel.

Waddle-opoly took five hours to play. Good thing it was a sleepover.