did you?”
I turned to him. He looked at me dead in the eye. His ocean blue eyes locked onto my sky blue eyes. He was silent the entire time, he… he listened to my vent, no distractions, no looking away, he actually listened to what I was saying. After what felt like forever he turned his gaze to the sky, the snow slowly falling. I know the two of us just met, but I felt like I had already broken his heart. He seemed like a nice guy who sometimes gets lost, but always has a positive outlook on life. I turned my gaze to the soft snow I sat on and closed my eyes. 'You messed it up once more Leonardo.' I thought to myself.
“I feel the same way,” I heard him say. I opened my eyes and looked at him again.
“What?” I said.
“I said I feel the same way,” he repeated “Since I turned 5, I got a surprise gift; I’m gonna be a brother. I was excited, a little jealous, but most of the time excited. But after mom gave birth, I guess I got more than I could chew. During the first months, she was hyperactive, really hyperactive, it had to take the 3 of us to calm her down, Mom, Dad, and me. And when she started to walk, it was really funny. She couldn’t stop running until you gave her a snack. I wouldn’t be surprised if she made it into the Olympics if she grows up. She got quite the speed.” I looked at him with a surprised look on my face. He continued to go on. “During most of my elementary school, I focused on how to take care of my little sister, so I have to look for her whenever kindergarten is done. I didn’t really make any friends there. Now in middle school I now have to look for her when the elementary school is closed. I somehow managed to make friends with a few kids my age. You’ve heard of Archie by now right?”
“Yeah,” I responded, “You’re friends with him too?”
“Yep,” he said. “And another one is at my school. The president of the gaming club, you know her right?”
“Isla? Yeah you’re friends with her?”
“Yeah, who knew that she’s a total goddess in memorizing attack patterns in boss battles? Anyway, what I’m tryna say is that I also wanna be friends with my peers. What I have is small, but I want it to grow too.”
“Oh” that’s the only word I was able to say.
“Well, although I’m a little disappointed in the party being a lie, it seems like you really wanted a friend,” he said.
“Yeah, the party thing was a bit of a stretch,”
“Nah, more like a big stretch.” We both laughed.
WINTER