Neighbors

As he sat there on the bench in the middle of the park, he watched his whole world slipping away with every step she took. He watched her pink flip-flops with yellow daisies on them take one step after the other, her purple paisley skirt move side to side with every movement, and her straight, black as night hair trail behind her on the slight breeze.She said it was over.

They were next door neighbors as babies. Their mothers brought them together every weekend and while they gossiped and traded recipes and gushed over which actor they’d like to date if they were single and had no children, a fledgling friendship grew. At first, the adults noticed small things, for example, one day they were both in the playpen in the front room – presumed asleep by all parents and she woke up crying. Before either set of parents could rush in and see what was the matter he woke up as well, and without any thought (mostly because he was a baby) and her mother caught it as she entered the doorway, he shifted closer to her and flung his chubby arm over her chest.

She stopped crying.

They grew older, they grew closer. At four years old she ran as fast as her legs could carry her through the ‘jungle’ (overgrown flower garden) in the backyard with tears running down her face. She slammed open the backdoor and grabbed the first parent she noticed and dragged them back through the ‘jungle path’ to reach her ‘safari guide’. He’d gotten his foot caught in a hole and it knocked him forward into a rock that was there for decoration only and was knocked out. She whispered in his ear before the paramedics took him away, “I was brave enough.”

He woke up a few minutes later in the ambulance and asked if she was okay.

At eight years old things began to change. She developed a taste for tea parties and frilly dresses; he developed a taste for squirmy, muddy frogs, and playing hockey in the street with his friends. However, on rainy days, there was always room for the ‘nice gentleman’ at her tea parties, and on sunny days she was always welcome as a scorekeeper for his team. He always wore his Sunday clothes to her tea parties and she was off limits to teasing at his hockey games.

That Christmas he gave her a necklace that said ‘Best Friends Forever.” He had the other piece, but it was on a bracelet. He got his first kiss under the mistletoe from her.

At 13 years old he didn’t attend tea parties anymore, he claimed he was too old for pretend girly games. She stopped keeping score at his games with his friends. She moved on to makeup and shopping, he moved on to — well, he didn’t move far, just to football and soccer. On his birthday she gave him a football jersey from his favorite player; on hers, he got her a gift certificate to her favorite store in the mall.

She smiled and hugged him like they were moving away from each other. He whispered in her ear, “You’ll always be my best friend.”

Fifteen years old, they entered the high school together, looking forward to starting their last years of school with kids they’d known for years. Although they had several classes together, each started to recognize what they were best at. She took choir, theater, and very briefly, band. He went for wood shop and the computer class. She was in every school play, no matter how small the part, and he was at every football game, starting out as a freshman on the bench most of the time to a running back his senior year.

Every game she was in the stands, wearing his number painted on her cheek, and every theater performance, he had front row seats and a rose to give to her afterwards. She would whisper after every game, “You were the best player on the field.” He would whisper after every performance, “You shined brighter than everyone.”

At sixteen, tragedy fell. Her little brother was diagnosed with leukemia and her life went into a downward spiral. She still went to school, attended each class, and did all her homework, but she stopped auditioning for plays, going to choir practice, and talking to her friends. He took noticed of everything, but knew she would come to him if she wanted to. One day her father showed up at the door and his mother answered, “I need his help,” were the only four words spoken by the distraught man at the door. His mother called for him and he went without hesitation. At the bottom of the stairs, her father looked at him, “Break her out of this. She’s slipping away.”

He nodded and ascended the stairs slowly. He could hear things being thrown and broken in her room as he reached the landing on the second floor. Without a single thought he walked to her door, opened it and shut it behind him, ducked a lamp and locked the door. He sat down on the floor in front of the door and waited. She screamed, she threw things, she even tried to flip her bed over before she sat down beside him and said, “he’s dying,” in a whisper that he barely heard as she laid her head on his shoulder and started to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and said nothing as she cried. Later, after she’d worn herself out, he stood up, carried her to her bed, unlocked the door and as he left the house, nodded to her father.

The next day, her mother took her to the mall, to take her mind off things. He came over with a smile on his face and an idea in his head. Two hours later when she and her mother got back home she carried her bags up the stairs and stopped in her tracks.

Her room was spotless, broken things were either fixed or gone, everything back in its original place, and a note on her bed,

“You will get through this – but not alone.”

He stood by her side at her little brother’s funeral – his hand held by hers as she watched the coffin being lowered into the ground. He stayed by her side at the family gathering afterwards as the family he barely knew offered their condolences to her, she trembled with the grief she felt, he still held her hand tightly. He stayed until she fell asleep on his lap in the sitting room long after everyone had left. Her father smiled at him from the doorway, a tired smile, as he walked over and made to lift his daughter from her place on the couch. He told her father, “I’ll do it,” and carried her up the stairs.

He went home with a wrinkled suit jacket and a warmth in his heart he hadn’t noticed before. She slept peacefully in her bed without nightmares - that hadn’t happened since her brother got sick.

They started dating four months later – both sets of parents were whispering, “Finally” behind both of their backs, but the kids didn’t mind. It was like nothing had changed, she resumed trying out for plays and he made sure she was happy. He got a job at the local coffee shop, she got a job at the library. He took her out every other Friday night and that was their life, until they turned 18.

They had 2 weeks until graduation and were sitting on the hammock that was placed on the line between the two properties, each with a thick envelope in hand. Both of them had applied from several colleges but had only been accepted to one. They had both agreed to wait until all the letters came back before showing each other where they had been accepted.

“On the count of three,” she began. He counted with her, “1…2…3.” They turned their envelopes over at the same time and their happy expressions fell away to ones of sadness. Her envelope said Princeton, his said Stanford. She would be going to Massachusetts; he would be going to California. As her envelope fell to the ground he held her tight and whispered in her ear, “It will be alright, there are holidays and spring break, and Skype,” he said the last with a smile on his face. She nodded and they sat for a minute and then they said goodbye to begin packing for their trip to college.

The day they were meant to leave for college was painful. They hadn’t actually been away from each other since they were very young and since they had begun dating it just made it harder. He told her he would text her every night, she told him she’d text him every morning.

Holidays were spent alternating between houses, birthdays were spent on messengers with webcams and mailed packages, spring breaks were spent at wherever they planned to go (in advance). Two years went by this way and it worked. Long distance seemed to be a perfect thing for them, even though they’d heard the horror stories from friends about said relationships.

Things began to change, slowly at first. He would text her every night like he told her he would. She wouldn’t text back until later the next day, saying she forgot, or her phone was on vibrate, or she was studying. Internet messaging got further and far between until he gave up all together.

Spring break their junior year in college they decided (separately) to spend it at home with their family. She had twin baby sisters she couldn’t get enough of and he found his mother had gotten a dog to deal with the empty place in her house. The dog had his room now; he had to crash in the guest room.

They met in the park that sunny afternoon, walking silently side by side to the bench in the middle of the park. “I missed you.” he told her as they sat in silence. She nodded with a painful grimace.

“I met someone.” She told him as she slowly met his eyes. “He’s a senior and he wants to take me to Paris next break.” His heart began to break. “I’m going with him. I’m sorry… It’s over between us, I can’t do this anymore.” He didn’t let his emotions through to show on his face as he said, “Will this make you happy?” She held his gaze as she slowly nodded. He smiled and pulled her in for one last hug, “Then it’s okay.” She returned the hug and they sat there together until the breeze picked up and she moved away. "I need to go." He nodded and watched her walk back down the path, his heart breaking with every step.

Two weeks later she received a small box in the mail. It didn’t have a return address on it. She opened it slowly in the company of her ‘new friend’ and he sat still, curious as to what was in the package. She opened the box and pulled out a small brightly colored box. Opening it up was a necklace – the same one he’d given her back when they were eight, but there was an inscription on the back now. On the front it still said ‘BEST FRIENDS’, but now on the back it said, 'I will ALWAYS be here for you.'