By morning the sun beamed through the windows of Kaylee's car, leaving her and Alexander in a patch of sunlight. The only noise Kaylee heard was birds chirping, and thankfully not the metal papping of rapid-fire guns. The last thing she needed was to die in war after just reuniting with her best friend.
She got up and found she was lying next to Alexander on the floor below the back seats of her SUV. Alexander was snoring.
We had millions of sleepovers when we were kids, Kaylee thought. So why now do I feel so nervous and weird around him?
She looked down at Alexander. He still had the same peanut-colored skin, with millions of tiny dark freckles speckled across his nose. He still went out of his way to help others, and knew a thing or two about everything. So why did Kaylee feel slightly… different about him?
Maybe she was just over-excited to see him because the war had split them apart for so long. Or maybe, just maybe, she loved him and was imagining holding hands with him, or simply saying 'I love you-'
No. Friends didn't think that about old friends they hadn't seen since they were teenagers.
She attempted to get up, only to lose her grip on a sock and fall smack on top of Alexander.
Ouch! Wow Kaylee, you really fumbled this one. Hopefully he didn’t wake up-
Kaylee's thoughts went blank as she stared into Alexander’s deep brown eyes.
He had on a low-lidded smile. “Hey Kaylee.”
“...Hey.”
Kaylee carefully got up, this time careful not to slip on any hand-sabotaging socks and crawled to the driver seat of her car.
In the mirror’s reflection she could see Alexander ruffling his always messy curls, and he looked at her and the two matched eyes once again. If Alexander noticed Kaylee's constant staring, he didn’t bring it up.
He smiled at Kaylee, and Kaylee smiled back at him. So things had stayed the same old same old… or maybe, became something more!
They had been 15 and 16 when World War 3 broke out, and separated for years since. While Kaylee's family stayed in the city as more rations were imported there, Alexander's family fled to the country for safety. Their country's currency had gone up and down like a seesaw. One day Kaylee could walk out of the store with a cart full of rations, the next she left empty-handed, all with the same amount of money. Kaylee lost her Mom in a city-wide attack when the power had gone out. While she grieved, her father barely let her go anywhere by herself anymore, and was constantly checking on her. One early morning he told her to take the car, leave for the countryside, and never come back.
Scared and heartbroken, Kaylee took the car and left on a backroad, road signs being her only way of direction.
A day later at a local rations store, Kaylee heard "Hey Kaylee," and turned to see Alexander, who was trying to play it cool but she knew he was just as excited to see her as she was to see him.
Last night, the two had had a blast driving around town, catching up and rekindling their old best-friendship. Kaylee had got to see Alexander’s house and visit his Mom, who was shocked to see how much Kaylee had grown. They took a walk down by the arboretum, and then played basketball with a few other people who had nothing to do.
But the best part came at night, when they sat side by side in Kaylee’s car, talking about WW3 until they fell asleep.
They chose to spend today just like the day before. By nightfall, they were sitting in the front seats of Kaylee's car while staring out at an abandoned middle school. Crickets chirped, and a gust of cool air would flow through the windows, which Kaylee had opened just a crack.
This town cut all the power. This was good for keeping the place off the enemy A.I. radars, but it left people with no lights, and no electricity, and no way to contact others from anywhere outside the town.
Alexander clicked on his phone, which immediately warned him about his low battery. "See, I told you offline games would make a comeback."
Kaylee gigled, but her smile quickly melted. "I haven't seen or heard from Dad in years, and without a GPS, I have no idea how to contact him. I hope he wasn't killed."
“Man, you'd think in this day and age, people would have found easier ways to solve problems than by hurting billions of people." Alexander glared at the floor as if the people behind the war were somewhere down there. "I wanna leave here, but there's nowhere to go. I reckon I'll just keep going until I find somewhere. I'm getting so tired of living my whole life in a bubble."
Kaylee thought for a moment. “Wherever you go, I'll follow.” A chill washed over her chest as she thought about leaving the only town she knew for sure was safe, but she only felt completely at ease when Alexander was there, and she'd follow him anywhere.
“You always have had my back Kaylee.”
“Sure! We’re a team you know! Just ‘cause some years came in between us doesn't mean we're not cool anymore." Kaylee said, and she turned to look out at the night sky.
She turned back to Alexander only for her heart to skip a beat. He was closer now, his face inches away from hers.
And then the two kissed.
“Kaylee,” Alexander whispered when they broke away from each other. “Do you remember when we used to program our own bots as kids?”
“Yeah,”
“Do you remember the time we made a tag bot to chase us around the yard?”
Kaylee couldn’t remember every single time they played with robots. The two had played together thousands of days and over a decade of summers. The only moments that stuck out to her that were humorous or blissful. “No, I don't think you even remember every time we played with robots.”
Alexander made a 'pfft'. “Of course I don't remember every time, but one specific memory stayed with me.
We were in your driveway playing tag, running and screaming like our lives depended on it from a robot while our Moms talked in the garage. At some point, we stopped running and all laid there in the grass to catch our breaths, and your Mom came out to bring us some lemonade.
I said, 'We need to turn that thing down ten notches. Or maybe five. Anything but the highest speed,' And then you got up and checked the robot and was like 'bro, it's moving at its slowest right now.'
So we just stared at each other. 0.25 seconds later we started laughing. And right then, as I sat in the grass with you, I knew I had it bad for you. I just didn't think you felt the same about me, so I never said a thing."
So he had always had feelings for her, just like Kaylee had always had feelings for him. Filled with love for this boy, Kaylee kissed Alexander once again.
Then, she leaned by his ear and whispered, "Alexander, I have always loved you.”
My latest novel, Shook, is being published to Hive in parts! See all released chapters in this post.
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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