“when we were younger / we wore our hearts right on our sleeves”—Little League by Conan Gray
Someone knocks on my door just a second after waking up.
For the first knock, I am sure it was just in my dream, but then that certain someone knocks again, making this pretty realistic.
“Who’s there?” I call out, not bothering to even get out of bed yet.
It’s not Aaron, that much I know for sure. He would be barging in here, possibly even throwing himself on top of me only so I would get up or give him some cuddles.
Who would have thought Aaron Marsh would love cuddles? Not me.
And besides, Aaron has left to help my parents with grocery shopping. Or I just dreamed that when he woke me up and told me. Either way, I don’t really care.
“Uh, Lily. Can I come in or is this a bad time?”
Lily? Oh. Lily.
She’s been staying here for a week. I cannot believe I haven’t once asked her to see my room. Is that what people do? Show their friends their rooms?
No? Alright.
Anyway.
“No, yes. Come in.” I sit up, running my hands down my face to… what? Make myself appear less asleep? Rub the sleep off my face?
The door opens and she comes walking inside, stopping halfway through the door. “Oh, wow. This is… purple.”
She looks around my room, until they eventually settle on the frog on my bed. She comes walking in all the way, closing the door. In what must be a heartbeat, she’s over by my bed, taking the frog in her hands.
“So you guys really did switch them, huh? I thought Aaron made that up so I would be… I don’t know, less suspicious about your relationship when I used to hate it,” she says.
“Wait, switched them? Aaron gave me his because I lost mine.” I don’t remember anything about switching my stuffed frog with his.
Lily chuckles, putting the frog back down on my bed. “Yeah, he told me you stopped by before you left for Germany so you could switch the frogs. Apparently, you liked his better and he didn’t want to be mean and say no when he didn’t know when he would see you again.”
“I… I never asked for his. I stopped by to say goodbye and then I told him I lost mine. He just gave me his.”
Shrugging, Lily walks over to my dresser, looking at the pictures standing on it as well as the ones on my wall. “I suppose he just wanted to keep something of yours, so he stole it and gave you his as a replacement.”
“He had the necklace.”
Lily doesn’t even look at me when she waves me off, not agreeing with my words. “Yeah, but the necklace didn’t smell like you.”
“We were eight, Lily.” I get off the bed, walking over to her. Well, to my dresser because I should really get dressed sometime soonish.
“Mhm, and I was blind as fuck, clearly.” She points at one of the pictures on my wall. It’s a picture of Aaron, Lily, and me.
The picture was taken on one of Lily and my competitions. We just received our medals for second place as Aaron had run across the ice to get to us.
The camera has captured the moment when Aaron had run into my arms first, instead of his sister’s to congratulate us for our win. You can’t exactly see my face, but I know I was smiling widely, even more so when Aaron was hugging me.
And Lily? She’s looking at the camera, holding up her medal like a proud mother.
I remember when Lily turned around and had just forced herself into the hug because she thought it was a group-hug rather than Aaron being proud of me.
But then again, we were like six years old, it’s a little less deep considering our age.
“You weren’t blind, you were a child,” I kindly let her know while quickly putting on some underwear from my dresser as I am still in Aaron’s shirt only.
“Ah, well, I should have known,” she says, turning around to look at me. Her eyes follow me as I walk over to my closet and take out a pair of black leggings. “I did kind of plan a wedding for you guys though.”
I laugh. “That one time we were playing house does not count.”
“You guys made me be your dog, what the hell else was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, Lily, what do dogs do?” I put on my leggings, then go and find myself some socks because it’s getting quite cold. “Bark and, I don’t know, pee, I guess? But they definitely do not plan weddings.”
She holds up her hands like I was holding her at gunpoint. “I was a very talented dog. Even to the point where I could hold the entire ceremony.”
Being a child really is magical. You find joy in everything, and your imagination doesn’t hold back. See a stick? No, it’s now a wand. See a leaf and have sand? No, it’s now a weirdly shaped, self-built cup with tea.
I take a seat on my bed again, taking a deep breath before letting out a question that’s been on my mind since she’s got here for my birthday. “You’re not mad at me for being with your brother, are you?”
Lily frowns at me like she’s seconds away from bursting out laughing. She shakes her head, making her way over to me only to take a seat next to me. “I am sorry for you. I always thought you were smarter than dating someone like Aaron.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Ah, you know. Only that he is the worst human imaginable?” She leans her head on my shoulder. “Like, did you hear him talk? He’s worse than Colin, ego wise, I mean. Aaron truly believes he’s the best of the best.”
Yeah, okay. I can’t argue that. But Aaron does happen to be pretty good at hockey, so I can’t blame him for being proud of himself for it.
“No, seriously, Sofia, I am happy for you. I told you, I don’t care, it’s your life. Besides, I always wanted to hold a great wedding speech and not having to lie about liking my brother’s spouse. I can include how you guys excluded me when we were younger and only did the exact opposite of what I wanted. So, it’s convenient.”
“I thought your last one was great. With all the woof’s and growls.”
I don’t remember exactly what Lily had said back then, but not a lot. She was supposed to be a dog after all.
“Well, if you would have had a child instead of a dog, maybe you would have gotten some words, too.”
I truly wish Lily and I could have gone to school together, grow up together. Imagine all the stories we would be able to tell, all the things we would have experienced together. Though, unfortunately life doesn’t always give you want you want.
“Oh, uh, what I actually came here for,” Lily says, sitting up straight again, “Colin wants to go to a bar for New Year’s, and he was wondering if you would come with us. We’ll even make an exception for Aaron.”
“How gracious of you.”
