"Do you live nearby?" Alphonse asked, stopping in front of the merry-go-round.
His new friend opened her eyes, looking up at him from where she lay on the metal disk, one of her legs slung over the side to lightly spin herself. She grinned impishly, "Maybe."
Al laughed and hung onto one of the rail bars beside her. "That means yes, right? You come here a lot? You were here yesterday too."
"Because there's nothing else to do!" she moaned miserably, flopping in place. "I'm going to die of boredom…just die."
That's something he liked about her. She was so dramatic and it made him laugh. "We can play again. I mean, if you want." He looked away shyly and scuffed his shoes in the dirt. For a moment, he had forgotten himself. She was much older than him, a teenager, one of the big kids. Most big kids didn't like playing with little kids and found them annoying. Yesterday, the girl hadn't minded though…
She took one look at him and sat up. "Aww, okay!" she cheered brightly. "Get up here. I'll push you around."
Grinning happily, Al leapt onto the merry-go-round while his friend rolled off the side of it.
"Go ahead and sit in the middle. I can't have you flying off." He did as she ordered, allowing her to start spinning at a sedate pace that slowly got faster turn-by-turn. Anticipation coiled in his stomach. "So where's that brother of yours?"
"He's doing chores. I get done with my chores faster than him so I got to come play," he told her wickedly. Thoughts of his brother had him recalling their argument from yesterday. He wanted to ask the girl her name, but then she really began to pick up the speed.
"Hold on!" she called, shoving her weight into the pushes.
Al had an absolute blast.
When she gave him a break to recover from the dizzying whirls, he brought up his question. She didn't mind answering.
"Ana."
"Ana?"
"Ana. Just straight up Ana."
"I'm Alphonse," he announced.
"I know."
"You know?"
"Er, I mean, your brother called you that yesterday."
"Oh." He shrugged it off, failing to recall that she had left moments before his brother arrived. He watched her standing there, scratching her head, and he wondered if she had grown tired of spinning him. It had been so much fun and made him laugh. Al wanted to go another round, but he didn't know how to ask.
"Wanna spin some more?"
Her simple question had him beaming.