For Forever & A Day

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

Past
June 24th, 2017
17...

"Oh my goodness! This is it; this is the day I've been waiting for. So hurry up!" We made our way down a busy street. It was a warm June evening, the twilight sky lit with colors like salt water taffy.  We were in a rush to get good seats at Starlight, a popular bookstore in the outskirts of Santa Monica. It was once a grand theater, renovated only very recently. Since it has opened, I have frequented there quite often, along with my best friend Jules, who was walking beside me now as we rushed to the shop. Julian, tall and lithe, looked down at me beside him, slightly annoyed. I was shorter than him by nine inches (he's six feet tall, you do the math), and because of this, I had to crane my neck to poke my tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes at my childish action.

            "You're overreacting. This day has been coming for weeks, and you've known about it even longer. Please, tell me, why are you so damn excited?" I glared at him, partly because he was being a downer, but mostly because I know that he's been looking forward to this day as well.

            "Hush, peasant!" I cry dramatically, earning several looks from passing pedestrians, "I will enjoy this moment as if it's my last, even with your unwanted, pessimistic remarks." He laughs at me.

            "You know you keep me around for my clever and witty remarks," he says to me, a smug smile on his face.

"What clever and witty remarks?" I snap back quickly. He clutched his chest in mock indignation as we stopped at a corner, waiting to cross, cars whizzing past us in a rush.

            "I. Am. Wounded," he says, feigning hurt, "How dare you question my wittyism!?" I laugh loudly at my best friend.

"Julesss~," I sang over a giggle, as we continue to pick our way through the busy crowd on a green light, "wittyism is not a word." I pulled his arm over my shoulder and nuzzled him affectionately. An old man and his toy poodle walk past us, the small dog yipping at us excitedly as we came to another corner stop. The city was humming with energy that only got me more excited, adding to my already jumbled nerves. The pedestrian light flashed white, the walking man dancing across its screen. We continued towards Starlight's Bookshop.

            "Jules, you know I'm only teasing you," I reassure him, my voice playful, "But you also know that I am so terribly excited for this book signing." I squeal loudly, earning more odd looks from passing pedestrians. I flush with embarrassment but continue chattering on happily while Julian smiled down at me. I talked aimlessly for awhile, my voice excited as I spoke about how amazing the book signing was going to be, and the beauty of the world featured in the book and my favorite glitter-loving warlock. Jules watched me as I gushed about my favorite book series. I think I stopped breathing at some point during my rant, because he took me by the arms, temporarily halting our progress toward the bookstore.

            "Kath, calm down," he told me, and I glared at him, feeling as wrathful as the avenging half angels we'd spent hours and hours reading about.

            "Jules," I hiss, "Why are we stopping? We're gonna be late. We cannot miss the signing!" I pulled at his arm, dragging us back into the chaos of the crowd. I could practically feel him rolling his eyes at me.

            "Kathryn," he sighs, exasperated, "We're gonna be early, stop nitpicking already." I roll my eyes back at him, ignoring his snide remark as we continue towards Starlight's.

       "Come on, Jules," I whined as we stepped out of the bookstore. The signing had been even more amazing than I'd expected. The author read an excerpt from her upcoming book and we got to take pictures with her after she signed our books. All of our books. Which leads to the current argument I'm having with my dear friend. Holding up my newly signed book, I ask, "Just one more picture? Please?" Julians's face remained unwavering and impassive as he firmly shook his head 'no'. Now, I understand why he doesn't want another picture, we've taken selfies with all of the books in my collection, but I still frown thoughtfully before a sneaky thought crosses my mind. "Julian," I say, mimicking Kermit's voice, an old inside joke between us, "Take one more selfie with me." He looked at me and sighed in defeat, smiling goofily at me. I clap and hand my phone to him, as he has much longer arms than me. Holding up my book between us, I smiled as he snapped the picture.