Prune.
The girl that I didn't like. The girl that wasn't my friend, or mate. The girl that I didn't want to go to the party with, but the girl that I absolutely loved. The girl that I wanted to be around all the time.
Picture this, the first day of summer, she, in her light dress, fluttering like a butterfly, running towards me to tell the most exciting news of our lives; her grandmother has finally allowed her to go out with a person of an opposite gender. She hugs me, that ugly boy who hasn't even finished school with peach fuzz where the mustache should be. She smiled at me purely. I remember it as if it happened yesterday.
She would give me a friendly look every time I looked unhappy, she would give me a hug every time I felt down.
Thirty years gone by, and I still feel like huge bastard for leaving her. I had a choice. I could screw school and stay with her, find a job in Brighton and live happily ever after. The end. But not so fast. My second choice was to go back to Edinburgh, graduate, and work there, probably find myself a wife, love her (obviously!), but not as much as I loved Prune. And I chose the second one. Oh, thank God you haven't seen how pathetic I was when I apologized to Prune for leaving her. Oh, thank God you haven't seen it. And for those who have seen it, I apologize, you have seen the most pathetic creep of the time.
In fact, there was a reason why I didn't stay with Prune. Her grandmother was a woman I always feared. She was tall, lanky, was extremely skeptical and strict, never smiled and always blamed her dead husband for all the bad that happens in their family of two (her and Prune).
Just imagine Prune marrying me. That would be an utter disaster. A penniless boy like me? Her grandmother would never accept that. I remember her always telling that her husband didn't have anything in his pocket, but love was the strongest thing that had put them together. And of course she didn't mean it in a good way.
In fact, if Prune were to marry me her grandmother wouldn't be completely against it, she would just constantly remind her that she married a poor man. She would remind her even at breakfast when I'm off to work. She would say something along the lines of "Prune, have you not noticed how dissatisfied I was when I married your grandfather? He was penniless! Oh, I had lots of rich lovers, but I chose your grandfather, blind foolish woman!"
At least I was happy to spend my summers with her.
I met Prune when we were both at the same age of thirteen; at exact age when girls begin their menstrual cycle, and boys get pimples all over their faces. Prune was just as awkward as I was back in my early teens; she wore different stockings with different patterns on them, and she thought that nobody noticed it, because they were the same swampy color and the same length. She also wore a shapeless brown dress and her hair was always tangled. I saw her on the playground that we used to have on the street where Prune lived. She was on one of those swings with her friend Lucy, who was ugly as death. Well at least I thought that if death was a person, that would be Lucy. They were swinging and singing a song together, and that was the first time I saw girl's knickers. I was following her with my friend Keith trying to pull her hair as all thirteen year old boys do. We both were trying to avoid Lucy, but she was following us everywhere we went. Oh, she was that one annoying girl on the playground with an extremely rough and loud cockney accent that she shoved into everybody's faces every time she wanted to play "guess who." Later on we started calling her Lu CD (her actual name was Lucy Dee) because she sold random CDs three houses away from the playground. We were all sixteen. When we were seventeen Lu CD disappeared. Prune told me she moved to Ireland. We were both sitting on the bench near the beach as long as I remember.
"She's gone." Prune said.
"Will she ever come back to Brighton?" As if I was ever interested in Lucy's life.
"I don't know. She said she's off to college."
"Ireland is a strange place to go to college."
"Why?"
Why did I say that? How many times have I been told not to say stuff when you don't actually know what it's like? I decided to come out of this situation by saying that I really didn't know and offered Prune some coffee.
"No, thank you Sander, you are the kindest."
I grinned. I was indeed the kindest guy she'll ever meet. At the time I was full of hopes that I'll marry her.
"Would you like to stay for the night, or will you go back to your hostel?"
There was a hostel in Brighton that I used to stop in, and this time I decided to stay there , because we had a huge day.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
I nodded. I was longing to visit her house tomorrow. I needed to come at the exact same time her grandma falls asleep, or else I get caught.
We usually spent our time together at the beach, feeding seagulls unintentionally with the chips we bought in the local cafe. However, sometimes she needed to do the housework for her grandmother, or go to the ballet school. The days like those I usually spent my time in the hostel or met up with Keith. But I don't think somebody could ever replace Prune. She was always the one that I really wanted to meet and could spent hours just talking about absolutely everything. I guess I was the only one who noticed Prune transforming into a beautiful lady, at least I guess so, because who else? Her grandma? Keith? Lucy? None of them really cared. Her grandma was always at work as I director at the local theatre, Keith was only interested in his rugby team, and there was no call from Lucy ever since she moved to Ireland. That leaves her with me. Me who noticed the most pristine transformation of the whole time.
