Don't Forget Me When You're Famous

Don't Forget Me When You're Famous [Chapter 6]

Don't Forget Me When You're Famous

Chapter 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1WXhapRHmw

-Bitter Song by Butterfly Boucher

****

"Things are going to be different now; Kale. If I get this job, I mean." Honey said, her voice dropping to a whisper. I could barely hear it over the constant spilling of the waves.

"When, you get the job," I said. "You've got the gift, Honey." She gave me a small smile, wading knee deep into the ocean. She bunched her summer dress up around her knees to keep it from getting wet and inhaled deeply. She giggled and curled her toes into the wet sand.

"Somebody is always gonna be better than you at something, Kale," her smile weakened, "it's just the way the world works."

"You don't really believe that," I muttered, taking a few steps into the chilling dark water.

She laughed, "No, really I do. Even the best are beaten, but I guess thats life? I haven't seen enough of it to know whats real and whats not."

I sighed, taking in the musky scent of heavily salted air. "Don't you like it here?"

Her face lost all traces of color when I spoke those words; she turned to look back at her house, not far off the shore. "Of course. I love it here. . . this place is my home. But don't you ever want to," her eyes focused back on me, "go somewhere big? Discover something? Think of a big city!" I saw lights flare in her chocolate eyes. The wind pushed a few stray strands of hair out of it messy braid and around her face.

"A place with hundreds of thousands of people," her eyes glazed over, and I knew she was dreaming again.

"You'd never meet the same kind of person twice! What if we were famous Kale? For our music? You could play your guitar, I could sing along. People would pay to hear us," that smile only Honey could use slowly curled the corners of her mouth. "I want my art to be appreciated, and here. . . well, this place is too small for me to get anywhere. Someday though, I'll be discovered. So will you, Kale, just wait."

A wave pushed into her legs and she laughed as she tried to regain balance, the wind whipping her hair around her face and into her mouth.

"Honey, why do you want to be famous?" I asked. She thought for a moment, trying and failing to push strands of golden hair behind her ears.

"Well. . . . think about it. You get invited to the best parties, you get to stay in five star hotels! You can tour around the world, if you wanted to. But, its not really the fame I'm after," She was quiet for a moment, searching for the right words, "I want to create something that people will love. And the more people there are that hear it, the more can tell a friend about it, or a cousin." She shrugged, "Then more people will love it. I feel like there's not enough good in this world, Kale. I feel like our days would be better if we gave people a bit of our hearts, rather than a piece of our minds." She laughed and her eyes focused. I knew she was back to reality now.

"But what do I know? I'm seventeen. I've never even been outside of California. I've only ever gone to the big cities here a few times, but what i've seen seems. . . right. Like it's the place for me. This," she gestured in the general direction of downtown, "isn't. I'm going to miss you, Kale. I know we'll probably end up in different places, and I know out of the two of us, you'll probably be the one that makes it big-time. So can you promise me something?" She asked, turning the raw force of her eyes on me.

I felt one corner of my mouth tilt up into a half smile, "Anything."

She took a deep breath, her words coming out slowly, and I knew this was something she mulled over. Maybe it even kept her up at night; the idea of being left behind.

"Don't forget me when you're famous."

****

She was on her road to fame, and I was left in the dust. I knew what was happening, but it was out of my control. A phone call would be ignored, an email marked as SPAM, a text put away as unopened. She had a life now, so she'd forgotten her roots. Forgotten her best friend; forgotten me.