The boy next door

Chapter Twenty Six: Summer '09

"Moonlight is the proof that there is light in the darkness..." ~Ariana Grande

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Okay, I just remembered this song fucking existed  yesterday, and I swear I hit deep nostalgia.

Deep as fuck.

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Chapter Twenty Six: Summer '09

"Does this not creep you out?" I whispered, as Kailani and I walked into her small, dark and spider-web infested attic.

The boys had said they were getting bored listening to Kailani rant about how 'fucking sexy' Bertram from Jessie was, so she decided to drag me with her to her attic to find Monopoly. The boys were ordered to head downstairs and grab a few snacks.

"I've been here countless times. You've got nothing to worry about." She turned on the flashlight on her phone, and pointed it to the heaps of board games that were thrown on top of each other. "See? That didn't even take two minutes to find." I sighed, and followed her to the stacks of board games.

She ordered me to hold the flashlight on her phone, so she could look for Monopoly. "I think it's somewhere at the bottom," her voice trailed, concentrating on finding the board game.

She tossed the games on the floor carelessly. "Where is it?" She mumbled to herself. I brought the flashlight closer to her, to make the dim room more clear.

"Look, you don't have to find Monopoly. We can just watch a movie or something." Honestly, anything was better than standing in the middle of an attic, infested with god knows what kind of insects.

Kailani chose to ignore me.

For another five minutes we both remained quiet, until she finally spoke up-

"Oh my fucking god! Sofia, look!" She exclaimed, and stood up abruptly. She walked up to me, and handed me a large scrapbook labelled 'Summer '09'. 

The cover of the scrapbook was flooded with pictures of Kailani, the boys and one other girl. The same girl from Mason's Instagram post.

I trailed my finger on one specific picture- All of them together, huddled up for a photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. They all wore the same bright and warm smiles, something so rare on Mason. "Who is she?" I asked curiously, stopping my finger on the girl.

Kailani sighed.

She put her hand on the scrapbook, and trailed it down until it landed on a photo of her and the mystery girl.

Kailani and the girl were seen to be laughing in the picture, holding ice cream in their hands. They both had a bit of ice cream around their mouth, and were both in front of a beautiful floral background. Kailani and the girl wore matching white bandeaus, and denim shorts. The weather looked bright and sunny, adding a vibrant theme to the photo.

Kailani bit her lip nervously, but shook her head. "Um...that is my best friend."

I nodded my head. "Oh."

I could tell she felt uncomfortable speaking about her friend, so I quickly changed the subject. "What is this scrapbook anyway?" I asked, and she looked at me appreciatively.