Little Glimpses.

//

"The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder." - Jane Austen

//

Nick huffed impatiently. Really, this was absolutely ridiculous. Sane was him sitting at home, warm and cozy, ably aided by central heating and a steaming cup of cocoa with exactly two marshmallows. Ridiculous was him sitting outside Macy's house, rather hiding in the bushes with Kevin. In Kevin's words, they were doing reconnaissance and secret rendezvous a la Romeo et Juliet but in Nick's opinion, they were being idiots.

He shouldn't have even been here in the first place, but somehow Kevin had bribed him with the phone number of a very pretty red head on Macy's softball team and because he was an incurably romantic stupid teenage boy, he sold his soul for love. That's how he was here, being Kevin's lookout while he did his thing.

If Mr. Misa found them sitting outside his house, staring into his daughter's bedroom, with adoring eyes—that was only Kevin because Nick was in no way doing any adoring—he would shove their teeth down their throats and then he'd take Macy's baseball bat and whack them into infinity. Yeah, Mr. Misa was sort of on the strict side.

"Kevin?" Nick mumbled unhappily, but Kevin was too far gone. He was making goo eyes at Macy and she was blowing him kisses from the window. Kevin just shrugged him off and continued to gaze adoringly at Macy.

"Kevin!" This time Nick urged more insistently. Once again Kevin shrugged him off. Nick however took matters into his own hands. Mr. Misa was standing outside with a paintball gun and looking murderously at the bush in which they were currently hiding. Nick grabbed Kevin's hand and yanked him up as he wildly gesticulated about the ticking time bomb standing a few feet away. Mr. Misa looked ready to erupt in fury. Kevin finally saw Mr. Misa and at once his face was drained of all blood. Kevin hastily waved goodbye to Macy who sent up a silent prayer for minimum injuries only—because her father seemed all revved up to kick boy-band butt— and both of them took off running, hoping to escape Mr. Misa's wrath but tight jeans were an impediment of sorts and Mr. Misa just so happened to be a former track star who also had been a kickboxing champ in his heyday. He still had a mean right hook. That meant they couldn't even slow down to catch their breath.

They were essentially running for their lives.

Mr. Misa chased them down the street, shot a few paint bullets at them and shook his fist in fury. Teenage boys were absolutely the limit.

Few moments later Nick and Kevin reached their own house, panting and wheezing like a couple of old geezers.

"I – paint – on – my – favourite – black – jeans! Never – again – helping – you. Love – go – hang." Nick wheezed as he clutched his chest and tried to regain his breath. Kevin tried to protest but Nick held up a hand.

No more helping.

Ow, his behind was paining terribly. Mr. Misa had hit a particularly sore spot.

That was it. This was the last causality he suffered for the sake of teenage puppy love.

Never again.

//

"Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love." – Jane Austen

//

Macy sighed heavily as she sat down the bench in the Atrium. She had known all along how it would end. After all crushing on your best friend's soul mate didn't exactly scream happy ending for one and all. But still seeing them happily together, laughing, smiling, that didn't lessen the hurt and pain any. It was rather unfortunate that she developed a crush on him of all people but then sometimes, close proximity often made you realize things you would have never thought of before.

She moodily swirled the chocolate pudding in its cup. It was quickly losing its consistency and thickness. Chocolate was balm enough but sometimes there was just no cure for heartache. You just had to soldier on and wear a bright wide smile on your face while all you really wanted to do was cry buckets of hot salty tears.

"Move over Misa," she heard a voice say. Macy looked around in surprise. She was skipping Music now but she didn't think anyone would come to find her. She then turned around to find Van Dyke sitting down next to her, much to her surprise.

"Melting chocolate pudding and skipping music class. If I may theorize Ms. Misa, I suspect heartache." Van Dyke said in his best Dr. Phil impression. Macy could only manage a half-hearted smile. Van Dyke wanting to cheer her up was an admirable thought for sure but he didn't understand what she was exactly going through.

"Look Misa, sometimes we crush on the wrong people. It's not like we can help it. And sometimes, it may seem like this pain will go on forever. But that's where you are wrong. You will move on, you just should want to have to move on." He said kindly, slinging an arm around her shoulders in rather friendly big brother like fashion.

"How did you know?" Macy asked in surprise. She had certainly never told anyone.

"I am all seeing and all knowing besides, under this handsome face, there exists a super intelligent brain," Van Dyke said making squiggly fingers in front of his face in an attempt to look mysterious and intelligent. Macy stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I have a mother who insists I look at the little things. More often than not, it's the little things which tell you the biggest stories." Van Dyke said quietly.

"Do you know how to make it go away?" Macy asked.

"I don't know. But we could try couldn't we?" Van Dyke said with a bright meaningful smile and stood up. He held out his hand for Macy and pulled her up too. Macy smiled, feeling something warm unravel in the pit of her stomach.

Sometimes, friendship was just the right balm for soothing a hurting heart.

//

"More than kisses, letters mingle souls." – John Donne

//

Macy wiped away the tears dripping down her nose slowly. Her hands were shaking slightly as her watery eyes went over the letter once more. He was on tour and she was at camp and the distance between them was endless.

Minutes stretch into hours and hours turn into days.
Each day passes by excruciatingly slow and it makes me realize something new.
I see you smile, I see you laugh, but when I reach out, you are much too far.
I long to see your face, see your smile, hear you call my name and tell me you love me.
I close my eyes my eyes and imagine you in my arms, soft and warm
So that when I wake up, I'll be lonely no more
More than words can say,
I miss you.

Nick.

It was simple and poignant and the words touched her deeply. There were days when she couldn't even hear his voice and there were weeks when he couldn't even send a text. Yet, this simple letter, hastily scribbled down on the scrap of paper bridged the vast distance between them effectively. There were days when she wondered, did he still love her. She feared if she didn't talk to him, he'd forget her. It was silly and stupid but all the same, it niggled her and bothered her like a stain that couldn't be washed out.

But the letter made everything better and melted away her doubts and drove away her fears

She held it close to her heart and smiled through the tears. The letter was link. It was sign that no matter how far they were, words would always travel the distance, just to say 'I love you' and bring them closer.


So I'm a little late for the challenge thing but I've been itching to do them ever since suburbs put it up. And that was my effort. Maybe if I can think of ideas for the other quotes I'd post another chapter of ficlets.