“I know that I wasn’t the best in the past, but I’m glad we’re friends and that we can still laugh with each other.”
…
As I impatiently waited for my mother to finish her conversation with her friend, I started noticing how hot of a summer day it was, and how much I wanted to get out of school and take a nap at home with the air-conditioning on at the perfect temperature.
“Lachlan, that’s Marian, Auntie’s daughter! You should say hello! Go on…” I suddenly heard someone say from behind me. I whipped my head around to look at the source of the voice. It was a tall, smiling man. Hiding behind him was a little boy, shorter than me, holding two ice lollies in his hands. As our eyes met, he stepped back and hid further behind the man who I assumed to be his father. “Go and give her the ice lolly we bought! You two can sit over there to eat,” the man said to the little boy called Lachlan. The boy stepped out from behind his dad and waddled his way over to the bench I was sitting on.
“Which flavour do you want?” He quietly asked me as he extended both of his arms to show me the choices I had. Chocolate or melon.
I shrugged my shoulders at him. “I don’t mind either, you can choose!” His eyes lit up as he handed the melon-flavoured ice lolly to me. We ate in silence for the rest of our parent’s conversation.
Our parents became close friends, and so did we.
…
“Oh my god. You like her, don’t you?” I started teasing Lachlan with a devilish smile. “You have to tell her! I swear she likes you back, I can feel it.”
I couldn’t see his face at that point, but his ears stuck out of his hair, pink as could be. I half-skipped towards him and tapped his shoulder. It could’ve been the summer heat causing the rosy hue, but I decided that I wanted to pull his leg just a smidge more.
“Hey Lach… Your ears are Elise’s favourite colour,” I teased further.
As he bashfully rolled his eyes at me, I saw the shy little boy I befriended all the way back in elementary school.
…
“You are very welcome, Lachlan,” I said in a matter-of-fact way. “I told you, good sir, that she liked you”
“That doesn’t take away the absolute heart attack you gave me when you took my phone to send her that text!” Lachlan said a tad bit too loudly. Our French teacher shot him a glance and then looked towards me. She raised an eyebrow, and we immediately got the memo to stop talking in her class. Lachlan immediately straightened his chair to pay attention.
I tore a piece of paper out from my notebook and hurriedly scribbled a note. “at least u and elise are dating now, i take all the credit. 100% of it,” the note said with a little smiley face on the bottom right corner. I stretched to the chair in front of my desk and flicked his shoulder. As he turned his head back to tell me off, I waved the note in his face. He grabbed the note from me and read it in his drawer. Without turning back, he tapped the edge of my desk twice to catch my attention. He then flipped me off. How charming. I kicked his chair in retaliation as our teacher droned on about conjugations and sentence structures which started to sound like a lullaby.
I jolted awake as our school bell rang. The shrill notes resonated in my ears, confusing my half-conscious state. I turned to see Lachlan waiting for me to get up from my seat, leaning on the desk next to mine with his phone in his hand. He was smiling slightly as he typed.
“Elise is outside, she lives near the bus station we take to get home, I told her she could just walk with us after school. That’s cool right? He mentioned, without looking away from his phone.
“Why wouldn’t it be?’ I answered, while zipping my schoolbag up and slinging my bag behind me. “Let’s go Romeo,” I teased as I headed to the classroom door.
…
Our walks to the station as three blossomed into an unlikely friendship. Mere walks turned into long conversations at the park, orange and brown leaves blowing in the wind. Spontaneous movies after school. They became bubble tea runs and hangouts at Elise’s place. The three of us became inseparable in the span of a few months.
“Elise please do not humour him his ego is already through the roof,” I groaned, as I watched Lachlan’s character flawlessly defeat mine for the third time in a row. He put his controller down and shrugged.
“What can I say Mar, you just suck,” Lachlan said as he looked at me. “Does the poor baby want me to go easy on her? Aw… don’t be sad now,” He cooed, as if he were talking to a small child. I shot him a death glare and tried to hide the smile that was forming on my face.
“Mar let’s play instead, ignore this one, who is he anyway?” Elise smiled as she shoved him out of the way to sit next to me on her sofa. She picked up the controller he dropped and started selecting a character to play.
“Stole your girl, loser,” I joked. Lachlan got up, obviously defeated.
“I’m getting a glass of water, have fun,” he said monotonously.
…
“She did what? Lachlan say that again,” I exclaimed sternly, furrowing my brows in concern.
“I don’t want to say it again. You heard me. She cheated on me,” Lachlan said, his feather-like words barely reaching my ear. “And the worst part is…'' he started, but hesitated to finish the sentence. Lachlan proceeded to look out the window like he was trying to read the countless neon signs whizzing past the bus. The dark circles under his eyes became more prominent under the harsh glow of the setting sun. I started getting worried.
I nudged his shoulder to grab his attention again and quietly said, “And the worst part is?” He was unreadable. His face blank and unwavering.
“I still like her,” he whispered.
…
For the next few weeks, Lachlan and I went back to our old routine after school. Just him and me, walking toward our bus station. However, during this time, our walks were eerily quiet. There were no more loud laughs and sarcastic remarks. It hit a little extra when we passed our favourite bench in the park nearby. It was the perfect size for 3.
Conversations with Elise became awkward. Emotions teetering between anger and disappointment. Wisps of words left unsaid surrounded the three of us like thick smoke. Suffocating.
“I want to give her a chance,” Lachlan murmured as he twirled his chocolate ice lolly, distracted.
“Who is her?” I returned, obviously annoyed. If you looked hard enough, you would've seen a twinge of regret behind my eyes, which were almost as cold as the melon-flavoured ice lolly I was angrily taking bites out of.
…
As the weather cooled, so did the trio’s emotions. Elise and Lachlan tried to repair what they could. On the other hand, Marian’s stubborn nature fortified the wall that caused the rift between her and Elise.
…
Christmas soon came. The season of joy and giving. Our class was having a Christmas Party as usual. I didn’t feel very festive, I was more nervous than anything. Lachlan had encouraged me to try and rekindle my friendship with Elise.
“It doesn’t have to be right away, talk to her about a game? Maybe offer her a snack? I don’t know Mar, you’re the ‘people person’ between the two of us,” Lachlan’s slightly scratchy voice sounded out on the other side of the phone.
“I’ll see what I can stomach. See you tomorrow,” I replied, trying to cut him off as I ended our call. “The things I do for you, Lachlan…” I grumbled, scribbling a note down.
…
“Elise, hey, how have you been?” I cautiously asked Elise.
“Mar! Hi, I’ve been alright. I have something for you,” she replied, her face tight with a strained smile. She handed me a cute red envelope with a green ribbon attached to the front.
As she handed me her Christmas card, I took the note I wrote last night out of my pocket and held it out. She froze. I gestured for her to take it with a small nod. We opened them together. There was a lot of feeling in the small card, but there was one line that hit me.
“I know that I wasn’t the best in the past, but I’m glad we’re friends and that we can still laugh with each other.”
Tears started streaming down my face. That was when I knew that this friendship was worth saving. Worth hurting for. Growing for. Worth breaking down the walls you so meticulously put up. Worth trying and failing and trying again because you know that it is special.
I hugged her.
“Thank you for the Christmas card.”