SnAPPED

#1

She sure was something.
She was special, and she was my best friend. We had spent half our lives together and I truly loved her. I'd do anything for her. With a name like Nova you could tell there was something different about her. Although from me, she hears Clyde. Clydesdale horses were her all time favorite, she earned that nick name. I'd never been so close to someone before, especially on a platonic level. We had a bond no other person could fill, not any romantic or sexual partner. We understood each other through all of our differences. But I've been known to exaggerate a lot I suppose.

"That tea shoppe closes at seven! We should get going!" I yelled.
"Bus?" Clyde appeared from around the corner.
"Nah I thought we'd fly." I saw her roll her eyes at me. "The 19 comes in twelve minutes we'd better get our asses moving."
I fumbled through my backpack for my wallet. "Dammit! I don't have the right change. Could I borrow two quarters?"
"I suppose you did pay my way yesterday." She grabbed her change purse, a long lock of blonde hair falling over her eyes. She handed me two shiny new quarters.
"Yeah that's right." I winked.
We were on our way downtown to visit a tea shoppe. Usually I don't like tea, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to do some Christmas shopping. I always let Clyde take me to these types of places around this time, because she always gives me ideas on what to get her. It's funny, she never catches on. Even after eight years.
"I can't believe how cold it is out." She started putting on her gloves. "Seven minutes late, why does it always have to be late?"
"Probably traffic somewhere. I hate Christmas time. Everyone is running around panicking because they have to get all their gifts bought last minute." I rolled my eyes in disgust. "It's so annoying. I applaud my grandma for always buying her gifts in January." I laughed.
"She's a smart woman man. I love Cathryn."
The bus finally came, and we proceeded downtown. The weather was nice, at least to me. The sky was that wintery gray, with fog brewing in from the harbor. I find this weather just perfect to photograph, the lighting was always just right and there was no sun beaming in on the lens. Simply beautiful. If only I'd brought my camera.

We arrived just as the testers were being brought out, and even though it's winter, they had variations with ice. Only kind I'll drink. I laughed to myself.
"Mmmm!" I heard Clyde sounding satisfied. I turned to see her holding a small cup, not much bigger than a thimble. "Try this! It's called Gingerbread Town!"
I grabbed one, and it really wasn't too bad. "Wonder what it'd taste like iced?"
When she walked away, I grabbed two pouches. "She'll love this!" I thought.

We shopped around for another half hour and I'd picked up quite a few gifts, as well as a few things for myself. Including a beautiful cold drink cup, it was gold and pink and had a striped straw with it. I'd finished Christmas shopping two weeks prior, but I thought picking up a few stocking stuffers wouldn't hurt. With only a week and a half left, I'm glad I finished when I did. Like I said, I hate Christmas time with all the running around being crazy. Makes me anxious.
"Are you done here?" Clyde walked up to me carrying a bag.
"Yeah, but before we go home we should talk a walk down the pier and see if there isn't any small shops."
We walked down the hill towards the boardwalk. A small kiosk with handmade diamond Christmas ornaments was on the right. We walked up and I found the most beautiful set of candy cane colored striped bows, and Clyde and I decided we'd get them and they could be a symbol for our friendship we could recognize every year.
"Man I'm so happy we came down here, these ornaments are beautiful." I said to Clyde as we walked towards the piers bus terminal. She put her arm around me and the bus showed up. We started our commute home.
"We've been friends for so long now." Clyde said.
"Half of my life." I laughed. "Eight years later and still as close as ever."
"Well almost eight years. It will be in January. That's when my dad and I moved to your street. January eighteenth. We'd only been living there for six days, and you kept biking up and down the street" she started laughing. "You didn't care about the snow, you were just having a blast."
I started to remember, it was quite funny. I had a green older-styled bike, it was pretty fancy. I think it's still in my garage. I couldn't believe she had remembered that after all these years. It was pretty crazy to think about.
"Man, that was back when my parents weren't together! That's so odd to think about." She said.
Her parents separated when she was seven, they had their differences but remained civil to keep toxicity out of the air for Clyde and her brother, Jace. But they ended up getting back together when Clyde turned nine. I couldn't imagine being separated from someone I loved for two whole years, but I guess some people just need time to figure things out.
I'd known Clyde during the time her parents weren't together and she always seemed to take it well, though I didn't know her in the early weeks. Her dad and her moved to my street after three weeks of their separation. Her mom had her brother and they sort of exchanged every weekend. When Clyde told me she had overheard her parents talking about getting back together and moving things slowly, I was worried they were going to move back into their old house and I'd never see her again. But thankfully Brielle and Grayson (her mum and dad) decided they liked our neighborhood better and Brielle and Jace moved into Grayson and Novas house.
It made me jealous, just a little bit. Thinking back on it, it made me wish my parents could get back together. They split up when I was twelve, my dad walked in on my mom sleeping with a co worker. My dad was supposed to have been at work but took the day off to give my mother the best god damn anniversary she's ever had. Turns out she had her own anniversary plans. They divorced and she moved out into his apartment. I saw her once a week, aside from holidays and family gatherings, I really never wanted to speak to her again. But maybe I'm just bitter.

It was so cool to think that I've known this girl for just about half of my life. I don't know if I could ever admit it to her, but she was my first love. It drove me insane for awhile, but I got past it. I couldn't get over her piercing blue eyes and long blonde hair. Her tan skin contrasted the icy tones of her locks. I wrote about her in my diary, always coded of course, no one knew anything I wrote, always looked like nonsense. I called her my ice queen. A secret peasant admirer I was. But it's no use thinking about that now. I got over her a very long ago, probably around three or four years now. It never would have worked between us. We were very different as much as we were the same. It dawned on me we would be better as friends or siblings than as lovers. There's also the fact that now, I'm very much in love with my boyfriend Julius.

Our bus stop drew near, and we got off.
"I'll see you later Charlie." Clyde said.
There was so much to do for Christmas.