Unfinished Business

Chapter 1

        "Zachary! Stop pushing me! I will throw this basketball at your head!" 8-year-old Joy screamed with glee. She tried her best to sound upset and tough but ended up bursting into another fit of giggles. 

       "I'm not pushing you! I haven't even touched you!" 9-year-old Zachary replied, running around their "court" which was really just Joy's driveway. Zachary and Joy had been friends since before each of them could remember, and neither one of them wanted to imagine what it would be like if they never met. Their parents had been friends since Zachary's older brother had been born, so naturally, they saw each other often. 

       "Aim for the square on the basketball hoop! That's what my brother always taught me!" Zachary called as Joy lined up to shoot. Joy wiggled her hips like a cat ready to pounce, lined up her shot, then threw her hands back over her head and let go of the ball. The ball naturally flew in the opposite direction of the basketball hoop and right into Zachary's forehead. "Ouch!!" Zachary moaned as his butt hit the concrete. Joy turned around dazed. 

       "Are you okay? Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Zachary!" Joy cried out rushing over to him. She had no clue what to do to help, so she just crouched next to him, worried. "Please don't hate me..." she whimpered. 

       "I could never hate you, Joy. It's going to be alright. Just a little bump on the head I guess," Zachary said weakly, forcing a smile to comfort her. They decided to take a break from basketball, and both laid there on the concrete looking up at the clouds, and calling out what animal each cloud looked like (though some of them were most likely imaginary). 

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2 years later

       "Amanda, this dance is going to be the best one yet! I am so excited!" Joy squealed to one of her best friends as they changed into their dance costumes. 

        " Christmas is my favorite holiday and this particular performance is definitely my favorite," Amanda replied sliding into her tights. The two girls exchanged stories from previous performances and reminisced about ones they shared. The "Christmas Carnival" was still the highlight of their year, though. 

       Finally, it was time for the girls to go on stage. Holding hands for good luck, they stepped behind the curtain to begin their dance routine, but all too soon, it was over. They walked off as quickly as they had come on, still filled with adrenaline and laughing at some of the silly mistakes they knew they had made. 

       As they were walking back to their dressing rooms, Joy heard an all too familiar voice say, "Dude! She's really hot!" Joy felt her face turn red all the way up to her ears, wondering and slightly hoping the voice was talking about her. She spun around on her heel and came face to face with her childhood friend, Zachary. 

       "Oh..uh-uh.. hi..oh..umm..." Zachary managed. "I just meant.. I mean...uh.."

       "Oh hi Zachary!" Joy said with as much enthusiasm as possible to hide the embarrassment. She suddenly became very aware of her costume: A purple dress with a slit in the middle right beneath her chest, revealing her stomach. 

       "Hi, it's been a long time since I saw you last..." he said, half to himself, half to whoever was earshot. His friend who sat next to him laughed and patted him on the back with a "good job bro" look on his face. 

       "Yeah...a couple years anyway. I should be getting back to my dressing room with Amanda! I'll see you on Sunday at church maybe!" Joy said, her voice trembling more than she'd like. Without another word, she left Zachary and his friend and scurried off to the changing room. 

       The last time the two youngins had been together they were 9 and 10...sure, now they were only 11 and 12 but she still felt a certain way about him... though she couldn't quite figure out what it was yet...

3 years later.

        Joy lugged her guitar into rehearsal. She loved playing with other people, but she really didn't want to have to go through another rehearsal with this group. As she unpacked, a thought she hadn't entertained for a long time slipped into her brain. She thought about his smile...the way he carried himself... She scolded herself for thinking such things. After all, she did have a boyfriend and it wasn't HIM. 

        A few hours later, the service was about to start. She picked up her guitar, messed with her music and started to play. Every once in a while she would look up, and HE would be staring at her, with those big greenish-blue eyes that would melt your heart and see the deepest parts of your brain. It took everything in here to look away. She couldn't stare back at him too long without making it obvious or messing up the song. His name danced around in her head...Zachary. 

       They'd been friends since they were too little to even know what the term meant, but for whatever reason, they hadn't even talked for the past three years. She couldn't even remember the last time she saw him. She shouldn't even be thinking this but, she wondered if he felt the same way around her.

       "Stop thinking that!" she thought to herself. "You have a boyfriend. You are happily in a relationship. You need to stop." But it was just so hard... she finished her song and put the guitar back in it's stand before making her way to her seat in the audience. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop staring at Zachary, and every once it awhile she'd catch him sneaking a peek at her, which made her smile even more. If only he knew how she felt, and if only she knew if he felt the same way...but what about Evan, her boyfriend? She liked him...

       But no matter how hard she tried...or how long it was since she last saw him...she still had THAT feeling whenever he walked into a room.