The Bucket List

a walk down memory lane: part 1

"Where are we going?" Kevin asks, and I smile.

"It's a surprise. And it's only about thirty seconds away."

"It's not the junkyard, is it?" He says, reffering to an old junkyard that's just down the road from here. Once him, Liam and I snuck in when we were maybe nine, and we kept hearing rattling and creaking from around the yard. We were convinced it was haunted, and never went back.

"What, are you scared?"

"What? Pffft, no."

"Aw, honey." I say, taking his hand. "Spare me the tears, because that's not where we're going."

"Well then, where?" He says, just as I pull into the parking lot. "Oooooh." We get out of the car and walk up to that old jungle gym, where we first talked. "Why?"

"Well," I say, "this is where I first met you."

"I thought you might say that."

"You remember?"

"Of course. You and Liam were here with your parents, and my dad dropped me off and told me that he would be back in a couple of hours. I didn't know anybody since we had just moved. You guys let me join you." He said.

"Yeah. You told me you didn't want to play with me because I had cooties."

"Inside though, I thought you were the most beautiful girl in the world." I feel my cheeks turning pink as I look up at him. He smiles at me and continues. "Before we started talking, I looked over at you guys and secretly wanted you guys to talk to me, because you were so beautiful, and you were having so much fun with Liam."

"I was shy, though. I didn't like to say much back then and if it weren't for Liam, we never would have became friends, because I was too afriad to talk to you."

"Why did you bring me here?" He asks, as he takes one of my hands.

"I don't know. I just wanted to see it again. Oh, and so I could do this." I say, and jump up at him, trying to tackle him to the ground. Surely enough, he stumbles back but isn't able to save himself, and falls backwards onto the grass.

"What the hell was that for?" He says, me still on top of him.

"Well, the first time I ever hated you was when you tackled me and broke my wrist."

"You were a different person after that." He says, as I get off of him and he sits up.

"Well, yeah, you took away my only chance at making the national team."

"When you were nine?"

"Yeah."

"That seems pretty young."

"They have to get their recruits early." I say, "and I hadn't made it the year before, and it was my last chance."

"I didn't realize that the stakes were so high."

"I mean, we probably wouldn't have been able to pay for it anyway. But I was still mad. I gave Addison permission to shoot me if I ever forgave you."

"But you did?"

"I'm an idiot."

"Did she try out for nationals too?"

"Yeah, her and Rachel both made it."

"But they didn't go?"

"Addison couldn't afford it either, and Rachel didn't go because we weren't going."

"Wow. That's tough. Maybe you would have liked me sooner had I not done that."

"Probably not. You were still an ass." He laughs.