Brayden's POV
Jamar's friend, Aman, is wearing a knight costume, a perfect competitor in their lightsaber-sword battle that occurs continuously as we travel between houses. They fight on the grass of the boulevard to keep the sidewalk clear for the other children to walk without getting a cardboard tube lodged into their sides.
"Okay, next house," I say, motioning for them to go up the path.
They skip the path, trampling the garden instead, a poorly thought-through choice, for Jamar catches his foot on a stone and goes plummeting to the grass. He hugs his knee to his chest, tears splintering his eyes, and I kneel down to get a better look at the situation.
"Are you hurt?" I ask.
"I scraped it," Jamar whimpers.
He flattens his leg out, revealing the spotty, red gash in his skin. Thankfully, I'm prepared for this. I reach into my messenger bag and take out a Band-Aid. Jamar's sniffles calm as I peel the packaging off and stick the bandage over the cut. He smiles gently and pushes himself back onto his feet, then he and his friend dash up to the door of the house to get their candy.
"You keep Band-Aids on you?" Deion notes.
""I don't like being underprepared," I respond.
"That's good, 'cause I'm never prepared," he says with a smile.
"Then we balance each other out," I conclude.
He smiles at that, even though it's nothing other than a simple fact. We are two ends of a see-saw. We provide what the other is lacking. That's why I'm always so excited to learn what he'll do and say: because it's opening a new book, turning a new page. He's the mystery that motivates me to keep reading. And I must confess that the cover of this book isn't what I'd call boring to look at either.
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Andreas's POV
The beep on the microwave sounds, and I pull out the steaming bag of popcorn. Jayda waits by the island with a bowl, which I pour the fresh popcorn into. The kernels tumble out in yellow puffs, all crisped with black.
"Cool, I burnt it," I state.
Jayda looks down at it in confusion. "You only put it in for 30 seconds. I don't know whether to be disappointed or impressed."
"I have a talent," I joke.
She laughs, a sound like a song, and I pick up one of the kernels, popping it in my mouth, having forgotten how I wrecked it. It's bitter, and I regret it, but Jayda distracted me, and I don't want her to know that, so I keep chewing until I can swallow.
It's even worse when Jayda leans over the counter on one elbow while picking out a piece of popcorn for herself, because I suddenly become way too aware of how low her shirt is. And my thoughts are unholy, to say the least, so I try not to look there. But my other choice ends up being her hair which pours over her shoulders like a waterfall, hiding slivers of skin from sight, and that only makes me want to brush it back. So I try her eyes, but that was a fail from the start. I don't know why my dumb ass thought it would help to let myself get hooked into her deep brown gaze. Her eyelids glitter with smoky eyeshadow and are lined in black, drawing me in even more.
"That's the best costume you could come up with?" I say.
"What?" she responds, her lips curling a little. "You don't like it?"
"Um...I mean..." How do I respond to that? "Yeah, but, um... I don't know if the devil would look this..." I gesture to her shirt, but I can't find the word I want.
YOU ARE READING
The Good Hair Family Sitcom
Fanfiction{4 seasons and complete} Tyrus, Ambi, Muffy, and Wonah are adults now, but growing up and having families brings new kinds of challenges. Through the complications of them and their kids, their life-long friendship is the one thing they can always r...
