Moonlight Kisses

eye on the prize

Three Months Later

A photo of my friends and I sits on my nightstand. The four of us, meek little thirteen year olds who'd thought that as long as we had each other, the world would be ours for the taking. We sit on a polished park bench in the heart of Melbourne and despite the hustle and bustle of the world around us, all that mattered to us right then was each other. Allie, Xyla, Marlowe, and me. We never fought. Never let the petty things of life get in the way. We had always known that the friendship we had would last  forever. 

How naive we were. We didn't think about things like college, family, or moving away. Our world was our own little circle. That was as far as it went. And now here I am in California, waiting for the phone call from one of them I have yet to receive. 

It took me a while to stop feeling guilty about going out and meeting new people, adapting to this new life of mine. There was always this little voice at the back of my mind telling me that if I so much as called someone else my best friend, my previous friendships I'd left behind in Melbourne may as well have meant nothing to me. But slowly I began to open up. Explore the idea that maybe having a few friends wouldn't be so bad. 

And somehow the universe or God or whoever is pulling the strings here decided that Sophie Clemonte would be my new best friend. Not that I'm complaining; in fact, it's quite the opposite. 

Outside of school, we spend most of our time at my house. On very rare occasions, we'll hang out at her house. I stress "very rare" because her literal devil's spawn of a brother gets on my last nerve and Sophie knows that and draws the same conclusion for herself. She has all of these amenities all around her house: a home theater, a spa, a pool, tennis courts, even a damn bowling alley. So while her house is the obvious better option, we almost always opt for my humble home just to avoid Beau's incessant pestering and annoying rowdiness with his friends. 

Sophie stands behind me, curling my hair into loose dark blonde waves that cascade down my back. I never do things like this to my hair for the sole fact that  I do not have the patience to sit around and curl every single hair strand, but Sophie insisted that I try out this new style and I've quickly learned that when she puts her mind to something, the best thing to do is just go along with it. "Jo, are you even listening to me?" She purses her lips and tilts her head to the side. 

"I..." I almost lie, but figure that won't make a difference anyhow, "in all honesty, you lost me at math. You know I can't solve for x even if my life depended on it."

"Well if you'd listened you'd know this has nothing to do with math, but rather the guy in math." The corners of her lips turn up into a coy smile that lets me know this is yet another one of her anecdotes that stem from her lover-craziness. Today's edition: Sean Dubois.  

"Spill."

"So I was making my way to my seat, casually just minding my own business, when Sean brushed his hand over mine and asked me for the notes we took yesterday." Her face reddens at the memory playing over and over in her mind again no doubt. Her sparkling blue eyes make eye contact with mine throughthe mirror to which she realizes I could not be any more unimpressed.

"So that's it?" I blandly ask.

She looks at me as if I'd grown a second head. "What do you mean that's it? What'd you expect; for him to fuck me right then and there?"

"It would have been something."

"Jo! I should burn your hair to a crisp right now." Sophie laughs just as a manicured hand slaps the side of my head with startling force. 

Instead of admitting my defeat, I turn around and hit her smack dab in the forehead with a makeup brush. "Oh, you bitch!" she squeals before taking the hair tie on her wrist and flicking my arm with it.