He was BOLD!
He was DARING!
He was EXTRAVAGANT!
He was currently SLEEPING! on the fountain in the plaza with a magazine over his face.
Aubrey had to resist shoving Mikhael into the fountain. She did need a favor for him after all. How exactly was she gonna wake him up without startling him into falling in?
Well, she started by lifting this month's editing of FLYING off his face, fresh off the presses. Mikhael wanted to be a pilot. Whenever an airplane would fly over, he stopped whatever he was doing to just, stop and stare. The amazement never left his face. It was honestly the most charming thing about him. It'd be wrong to let the magazine get soaked.
Then she grabbed his legs and swung him around so his feet touched the ground. He started stirring. Aubrey sat on the bench and smacked his chest. "Sup."
"Oh, hey Aubrey!" The MAVERICK fixed up his wig. "What a lovely Sunday to be greeted by such a lovely face. What can I do for you?"
"I..." God she was really gonna do this. "was wondering if you had any flowers?"
Mikhael blushed instantly. "I-I, uh..." He shook his head. "The MAVERICK can always give flowers to a beautiful lady such as yourself." He extended his hand. "Shall we go back to my abode?"
She slapped the magazine into his hand as bard as she could. "Don't push it."
The walk back was quiet. Everyone they knew was either at church or lounging the day away in their own homes. Aubrey caught Mikhael giving her curious looks as they walked side-by-side. Realizing he had been caught, he tried to come up with something to break the tension. Make it a good one, Mikhael.
"H-H-Hey, where's your bat at?"
"My bat?" she looked down, somehow expecting it to be on either side of her. It wasn't.
Oh damn, that was a good question. "Oh, probably at Kel's house. I spent the night at his place."
His face went into abject horror. "What?!"
You shrug. Mikhael was always trying to one-up Kel; not that it ever worked. "I mean it's no big deal. We just hung out a bit."
"You could always hang out with me!"
"No offense dude but I'm not trying to be around your family any more than you are."
"Ugh. Of course. I am plagued with evil spirits that ward all others away."
They reached his house. Mikhael unlocked the door.
It was now or never.
"Everyone's at church right now, you know? You sure you don't want to come inside? Just for...a little while? I can show you my magazine collection. I think you'd like the...biplanes."
Oh, this was going to hurt the both of them. Not that she hadn't seen this coming from a mile away. Mikhael had a thing for girls with any amount of confidence. A month ago he asked Kim out for some pizza at Gino's. Kim laughed and said he was on permanent little brother status. I mean it was funny, but good lord.
"_Look Mikhael. I'm not dating anyone right now. I'm happy by myself."
"...Oh. Yeah. That's cool." He turned away. Not again...
Aubrey hugged him from behind. "But I do think you're a good guy. I know how hard it is when your parents don't support you. Just keep going okay? I'm sure there's some girl out there for you. It's just not me. Let's just be friends, okay?"
"O-o-okay!" He'd seemingly perked back up.
"Also," she turned him back around to face her, "you should totally race Kel again. I think you'd dust him!"
Mikael grabbed the back of his neck. "Really? he's kind of been working out since he made the football team. I don't know if I can beat him now."
"Oh come on, you're the MAVERICK!" She gave him a thumbs up. "You've got this!"
"Okay! I'll challenge him first thing tomorrow at school!" He was PUMPED!
Off the distance, the bells of the church started wailing into the autumn breeze.
"Oh, crap! Let me go get the flowers!"
He ran inside and bounded up the stairs. Guess he really didn't want to be here when his family got back.
After a few seconds, he came back down with the flowers and oh my God they look like blue vaginas. She was far too stunned to say anything and just let him push the bouquet into her grasp.
"These are butterfly peas! Hope you like them!" He also gave her a big seed bag to go along with it. "Gotta go. Maverick out!" He took off running down the street. Cars were already starting to make noise throughout the neighborhood.
Thanks, Mikhael.
She walked over to Kel's, and after making sure her bat wasn't outside, sat at the front door. So far, so good. Kel was on his way back. She had the flowers. Mikhael was going to be him in a race. She still had to confront Basil but everything was seemingly going pretty
what if they figured out you stole from them already?
It wasn't exactly rocket science. You left their house, at best, early in the morning. Once Kel's dad realized what was missing all of a sudden, he'd ask Kel. Kel would say no. That only leaves you.
Deny deny deny. They can't prove anything; even if at all adds up. If you can't come around anymore, oh well, at least you got one last hangout out of it.
BEEP BEEP! A silver minivan had pulled up to the house. The window rolled down to reveal Kel's goofy face. "Hey Aubrey! Ready to go?"
"Yeah." She slid into the car. Kel was wearing...a suit? A black jacket over an orange shirt and a blue tie. Not gonna lie it looked pretty good on him.
He'd always worn a suit there when she thought about it. I guess it had been a while.
You used to go to church with Kel's family. It was an easy way to escape the house. Kel's mom was there every week with him and Hero. You never took church seriously, but she definitely did. So you had to act like you did. You would have taken it more seriously if prayers actually changed Mom.
"Nice suit."
"Thanks. Nice flowers. What are they?"
"They're butterfly peas." Don't mention the cans. Don't mention the cans. I would much rather talk about the multiple blue vags that I'm holding.
"Ready to go see Basil?"
"Sure." He spun the car around. "Let's go."
Basil's house was at the end of the road; sealed off with an armada of trees from the rest of the neighborhood. Everything past it was untouched forest.
An assortment of critters and birds alike made their hasty retreat as the minivan approached. There were potted plants strewn on the front lawn hanging in the air or straight up just planted into the ground Vines were growing along the front window. Most of them had been chewed at somewhat, but it was still a relatively pretty home to admire.
Grandma's car came into view. It had seemingly been cleaned recently and actually had a nice shine to its brown frame.
"I never realized how much money Basil's family had until Polly shouted about getting to drive a Lincoln Town Car." Kel put the minivan in park.
"Wait," Aubrey came back to reality from her sweet memories of leather seats and Cracker Jack, "that's a Lincoln?"
"I know, right?! We used to just sit in the backseat of that thing. By now it's kinda old, but still..."
They took a moment to appreciate the past. From the backseat to the steering wheel; where had the time gone?"
Kel took a deep breath. "Now before we go in there Aubrey, I just want to remind you, his grandma has been sick for years. She does not look well. Promise me you will not freak out."
"I won't." Fuck Kel. Fuck Basil. You can't afford to let yourself down with this one. No matter what she looks like, she is still the same woman you ran to when Mom and Dad started fighting, when Dad left, through the divorce, living alone with Mom.
"You pro-" Aubrey was already out of the car with the bouquet. Dangit. Kel took his time getting out. Mom would bite his ear off if he messed up his church clothes.
Aubrey stood at the door. A delightful autumn wreath with a welcome sign attached. Alright. Let's do this.
DING-DONG!
Just like what the guy on that one show last night said. Whatever happens, happens. Whatever happens, happens, whatever happens, happens.
The door swung open. "Hello?" Basil was wearing orange shorts and a faded DRUG FREE THE WAY TO BE Ninja Turtles shirt. "Aubrey?! What're you doing he-"
"Hey, Basi!" Kel's humongous frame rushed into view behind her. "How ya doing, bud?! Aubrey's got a little something for you and your Gram-grams!" He swung his arm around her neck and pulled her in. Aubrey responded with a swift elbow to his side.
Basil just...stood there at the door for a minute. Where to start? Where to start...
"So after I tell you to tell no one about my grandmother, you decide to tell Aubrey?"
Ouch. Like yeah, had that coming. But goddamn.
"W-well," Kel decided to look at the conveniently placed daffodils on the ground. "I uh, we kinda-"
How are you flopping at this before I do, Kel?
"Yeah, he did." She stepped forward, face to face with Basil. Foot in the doorway. "He wanted us to be friends again. Don't get mad at him."
"And you went along with this why?" "If this is about money," he kept his eyes on Kel, "we don't have any."
Kel's eyes widened, and he bent over to look at the daffodils more closely. They sure were flowery today.
"Kel are you serious?!"
"Let's get something straight; right now." She cupped Basil's chin and swung his neck. Eyes on her. "I do not need your family's fucking money, Basil. I'm a lot of things. Shallow is not one of them. Your granny's sick. I want to see her. Nothing less. Nothing more."
"Just because Kel will believe that doesn't mean I will. He held his hand out. "I'll take the flowers. You can leave."
"Not before I see her. Basil, I'm going past you or through you. Make your choice."
She brought her back foot forward.
Big mistake.
Basil's hand shot forward and smacked her in the chest. Aubrey fell over, completely off balance. The pavement hurt. It hurt a lot.
She could choose to be shocked or angry. Basil was standing in the doorway. Hand still in the air. Even he couldn't believe what he'd just done.
Aubrey got back to her feet. Her clenched fist crushed the bottom half of the bouquet. "I'll fucking kill you."
Before Basil could slam the door.
Before Aubrey could rush him.
Kel got between both of them. Hands outstretched. Keeping the door open and Aubrey at bay. "We are not fighting here." His voice went into a low growl.
"You don't get to play peacemaker when you started all this, Kel!" Basil slammed the door, right into his head.
A giant smack erupted in the air.
"Look, I'm sorry!" Kel's palm caught the door and slammed it back as open as it would go, knocking it out of Basil's grasp. "But I knew you'd say no if I asked!"
"So you decided to completely disregard my feelings, go behind my back, and bring someone that's been bullying me for years, to my house with my sick grandmother?! Kel, I trusted you! You're the only person I've trusted!"
"DON'T YELL AT HIM LIKE THAT!" Aubrey tore past Kel's hand to get to Basil. Kel lowered his shoulder and boxed her out against the well. He didn't care. She was fully locked in on Basil. "HE'S BEEN DOING ALL OF THIS FOR YOU! YOU DON'T HAVE TO TREAT HIM LIKE THIS, YOU PIECE OF-"
"Basil?" A voice came from inside the house. "Is someone at the door?"
"Hey Grandma, it's me, Kel!" He grabbed Aubrey's arm and stormed past Basil. "I have a friend who wanted to come visit!"
Too late, Basil. This was happening.
Kel opened the bedroom door gingerly. There she was, lying on the bed. In the past, she was a plump woman. The color of life embedded on her cheeks.
She was bony now. A pale, drained complexion universally ran down her body. Her hair still had a touch of blonde to it, mercifully.
If you had not developed a resistance to awful smell, you would have found it near impossible to breathe even with the open window Basil used to ventilate the room out because no way can he physically stand the permeating stench of inevitability.
Even Kel has to stay at the door, pushing you forward towards her.
"Hey, Grandma! Hope you're doing well! Aubrey came to visit, and she has something for you! You remember Aubrey, right?!"
Grandmother just stared at her. "Aubrey?" Wrinkles around her eyes creased as she examined the girl. Trying to put together the pieces.
God, what was this feeling? Keep a straight face. You don't deserve to be fucking surprised. You could have visited her anytime. The phone works both ways, as they say.
And yet.
The pain in your chest right now. It hurts worse than falling on the pavement. It hurts worse than being screamed at. It hurts worse than being smacked in the head. It hurts worse than being thrown into a wall, hit with a wine bottle kicked in.
This hurts more than anything you've ever felt in your life, and all this woman did was look at you.
"AUBREY!" With seemingly all of the strength she had, Grandmother reached up and hugged you, pulling you right into her lap.
These were still the same hands that walked you through the forest on mild spring days. Taught you how to use a camera so you could take pictures of the phones that were drinking from the nearby creek. These were the same hands that still picked you up when you were little enough to be raised overhead so you could reach out to the sky and grab the sun's warm rays of life between your fingers. The same hands that patted you on the back and told you how smart you were for being able to identify so many birds without even having to look at the bird-watching book she carried with her. The same hands that hugged you and told you you were loved and your life was special and and
and
and
She's saying something. You can't hear her. You're rapidly losing your senses. You've gone completely numb. Everything is going blurry and
and
and
and you cannot stop yourself from bawling at this dying woman.