FRIENDS

ANEIKA

"You oughtta be shot!" I laughed with Z at the store. She drank from the sprite bottle and put it back into the store's freezer. It was cold outside, and not just a little chilly it was full on winter parkas cold. We were at the corner store that was one of the bus stops on our schools bus' route.
The owner of the store gave us a menacing glare. Since we were middle schoolers he probably suspected we were up to no good. It was an old short guy with a beer belly. I walked pasted the candy shelf casually dropping a bag of skittles into my backpack. I looked over and saw Z stuff a bag of Doritos into hers. We giggled and gave each other a smile. Its time to bounce.
We walked pasted the counter giving the clerk our cute little innocent smiles towards him. We made it passed the broken sensors and out the door. We didn't start running and laughing like crazy animals until we were across the gas station area. We weren't even running to get away we just did it cause we were having fun. We ran until our lungs burned from laughter and running so wildly.
I looked back at Z, and she was just as wild as I was in this moment. I slammed into something which knocked me back a few steps and made my newly 'purchased' candy fall onto the asphalt sending skittles dancing and bouncing around Z and I, plus the person who broke my speed. He looked at the candies then at us, I recognized him.

"Tyreik Gordan?" I asked.

"Aneika Robinson?" He said. We hugged, which is something we've never done before, he gave me a long glare before Z cutt in. "And I'm Zailie." She smiled showing off her teeth full of braces.
Tyreik waved hello to her. "I didn't know you were a thief." He picked up the skittles wrapper waving it in my face, I snatched it from him. "And besides your doing it wrong, what you should've done was purchase something maybe under a dollar to seem less conspicuous once you left the store, and waited to actually run when you were out of eyesight."
He pointed to the store which if I looked close enough I could still see the clerk reading a magazine. I could've sworn we had gotten farther than just this, at this point I felt heat rise to my cheeks, I was a little embarrassed and I could tell Z was cause was looking at the ground kicking at the loose skittles. He laughed.

"What, were you watching us?" Z asked.

"Too entertaining not too." He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Well what do you know about this you're just a P.K." I folded my arms at him.

"P.K.?" Z asked.

"It means preacher's kid." I said to her in an 'obviously' tone.

"But I'll tell you one damn thing, you ain't never met a P.K. like me." He smiled.

*
Mom's perfume burned my nostrils as we sat together in church early Saturday morning, yes Saturday. Now that Tyreik was back from living with his aunt he occupied the normally empty seat next to the preacher's wife. Mom and I sat a couple of rows back. Every now and then he'd look back and give me a small grin or a selective little wave.
After the service had ended, people were all around chatting and giving their compliments to the preacher about his word for today. Mom was talking to the preacher's wife at the moment and I felt crowded by people, so I snuck off to the bathroom area. There was a separate room that came before the ladies and men's bathrooms, and I stayed in there for some quiet.
A man came in and went into the men's room. The door opened a second time and this time it was Tyreik. "Hey thief." He laughed while saying it.

"I'm not a thief, and stop going around saying it, you better keep your mouth shut." I gave him a side eye.

"Why would I? It was only a small bag of skittles and besides, I wouldn't want to ruin my chances." I was kind of relieved that he wasn't going to tell my mom about the skittles heist, or worse tell the preacher. The thought made me shudder. I'd never shake the name thief then.

"Ruin my chances with you." He smiled, and placed his palm up against the wall, trapping me against the wall. He leaned in and we kissed. I closed my eyes and drifted to heaven. It was like magic. His cologne not too strong but enough to be alluring, and the room was quiet and still. This was perfect.

*
I kicked around a few pebbles on the ground with my heels. I finally just decided to take them off, even though it was cold outside. I was sitting outside my school on a Friday night. The music from inside went off, finally. Kids were already leaving and calling parents to come pick them up.
Tonight was the semi formal and I had been stood up. I went in to the festivities that were happening in the gym but everyone had their dates and it just made me feel a little self conscious so I just decided to come back out and wait. Before long the food tables were being taken down, and the clean up crew we're starting to pick up. The only reason I was still here was because I was waiting for my mom to show up.
It kind of sucked that I didn't get to enjoy one of the last activities before we were going to be headed of to high school. All because my boyfriend Tyreik. I almost made myself mad enough to cry but I decided against it. I always wondered if things were going to change once we got there.
Someone came barreling across the parking lot to wear I was sitting. He wore a gray suit and and a sleek red tie. He came up to me all out of breath.

"Am I late?" Tyreik asked.

"No, you just missed the entire dance, your totally fine." I sacastically said rolling my eyes shivering out here in just a formal sleeveless long red dress. He looked sorry and a little beaten down inside. He unfastened his blazer and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"I'm sorry Aneika its just tha-"

"Please spare me the excuses." I said wrapping myself in the blazer a little tighter. It was a cold night for summer to be rolling around the corner soon. But weather was always weird to me. We sat in the cold silence for a really long time, almost to a point I forgot we were sitting together I could tell he was sitting there just thinking.

"Well then, let's dance." He took out his phone and played 'I believe I can fly' on his phone and he held out his hand to invite me to dance. I laughed at him and his crazy little jesture of affection.

"I believe I can fly? Really?." I chuckled taking his hand to dance. He put his hands around my waist and I threw my arms around his shoulders. And as we sat here dancing to a song being played on a phone, me wearing his blazer, and me being barefoot, as we danced outside my school there was only one way to describe it, and it was perfect.
I hugged him and closed my eyes as we shuffled around. I was hugging him as tight as a pillow until I realized it was just a pillow.

"Aneika?" Khari said opening the door to my bedroom. He was standing next to Z and Tiff. I noticed I was crying. I looked at my pillow as I saw my tears roll down my pillow. They saw the tears in my eyes and came over and got on the bed. The four of us hugged each other close. I looked at Khari, Z, and Tiff then I realized something.

This was just as perfect.