hey all, here's another installment of this collection! this specific shot takes place during Ramona Forever, for those of you might wonder about the canon context. enjoy!
THEME: #5 ~ Sprinting
He's out of breath from sprinting and his hair is wind-rumpled. Her eyes are wide and for once she thinks it's better that he says something first.
She watches him gulp air back into his lungs, hands on his knees, and starts when his head whips up. She drags her heels in the dirt, slowing the swing to a stop.
"Are you really?" he demands.
She's surprised. "Really what?"
"You know what."
She can't help but arch an eyebrow. She learned that from Beezus. It always makes her mad.
Sure enough, he scowls. "Stop that."
She bites back a grin. "What were you talking about?"
He's lingering near the metal bar of the swing-set like he forgot why he came in the first place.
"Are you really moving?" he finally blurts out, as though ashamed to have said it.
Her stomach feels oddly empty. "Oh."
Her sneakers are muddy. Her mother wouldn't be pleased, and she was already cross all the time. Her father said it was how pregnant women were.
"Well?" he prods.
She scowls, for lack of something better to do. "Maybe. I already told you this. Plus, you said you wouldn't miss me."
He rolls his eyes. "I did not. I said that you could catch a wild horse if it was-"
"I don't care about wild horses!" she interrupts loudly.
This is a half-lie (she'd love to have a horse, although she's not sure where she'd keep it) and she wants to cry all of a sudden. Aunt Bea was acting strange, her father was always worried, Beezus was always difficult, and sometimes it felt like there was nothing she could do.
She couldn't even stay. Maybe.
"Don't move," he says, voice tight. "If you can help it."
She looks up, eyes watery.
"I'd miss you."
just in case you were wondering, when Ramona and Howie discuss her possible move, Howie mentions that there are wild horses in southeastern Oregon. he suggests that she send him one XD
review?