My Ex-Boyfriend From Kindergarten

Chapter 13: Love Bugs

This is yet to be edited.

I kept squeezing the plush tomato for about five minutes. But then I realized that Nairobi might see me and think I’m too happy about the gift. So I put it back in its box and hid it under my desk. Then halfway through the lecture, I realized that Cairo had given me a gift, and I had to thank him for it. A little after that, I thought about why he had given me a gift in the first place. Sure, he said he thought about me when he saw it. But I think about Nairobi when I pass by the food court in the mall. That doesn’t mean I’m going to buy the food court and give it to her.

Then again, this is a plush tomato. If I saw a keychain that had the letter “N” on it, I’d probably think of Nai and buy it for her. Yup, this is just a simple gift. It doesn’t mean anything. I shouldn’t go back to overanalyzing his every move.

Still, the plush tomato was really cute. And… sweet.

After school, Nairobi and I walked home together. As expected, the topic for discussion was the Owl City concert. Sunny walked with us to the school gate. I think he might have wanted to walk me home, in which case Nai would have made up an excuse so it would be just me and Sunny, but he had to wait for Cassandra. So it was just me and Nai. We haven’t walked home together in a while.

“Hey, can we drop by Salazars’ Bookstore?” she asked me.

“Sure,” I looked at my wristwatch. “Why?”

“Well,” she bit her lip. “I heard that Miguel was back.”

“Really?” was all I could think of saying. I was surprised that he was back. I was even more surprised that Nairobi wanted to see him.

“Actually, I heard about it last week. But I’ve only recently made up my mind about seeing him,” she said.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked her, concerned.

She nodded. We walked to the bookstore. We used to go there all the time. That’s where we met Miguel. He was the owner’s son. He was older than us by five years. But that didn’t stop us from having a crush on him. He was always so friendly to us. Looking back, I guess it was pretty obvious to him that we had a crush on him. I mean, how many 11-year-olds do you see in the engineering section of a bookstore? That’s where he usually was because he wanted to be an engineer.

We were in sixth grade when he was in his last year of high school. It was by accident that we met him. Nairobi and I were walking home when we decided to take a different way. That was a Friday. I remember because the reason why we were so eager to go a different way was because Nai and her parents were going on a trip that weekend and we wanted to spend more time together before they left.

In the display window of the Salazars’ Bookstore that day was a big blue book about stars. It caught our attention so we went closer. But when we got closer, we spotted something that caught our attention even more. Or to be more accurate, someone. Of course, that someone was Miguel.

A few more minutes and I could already see the bookstore. I noticed how Nairobi was starting to walk slower. So I slowed down my pace, too. I kept thinking about suggesting that we don’t go through with it. But I thought that, if I were her, I’d want to see Miguel, too.

We stood for a while right outside the door. Then, she mustered up the courage to open the door and go in. I quickly went after her. Nothing much had changed inside the bookstore. There was an average crowd. I lost Nai for about two seconds because I kept looking around. After all, Salazars’ did have a lot of good reads.

When I found Nai, she was standing frozen. I walked up to her and immediately saw who she was looking at. He was in the engineering section, just like old times. Of course, he was older now. He was better-looking.