The Walls Caved In

Today was Sunday.

Usually, at the beginning of the week, my parents would spend half of the day sleeping. It was the weekend, their day off. They would wake up, and mom would lay dinner out and dad would watch football or whatever other sport was on the television. It was the only night of the week that we all sat down, together, as a family.

It was still early morning, and so I thought I was out of the clear until at least noon. I was wrong.

"Joyce," My mother's voice called out to me as I passed the kitchen, "Joyce, where are you going?" I sighed, taking two steps backwards, resting in the kitchen doorway. My mother stood facing me, her hands resting on the counter behind her. Her hair was piled atop her head, her legs were crossed in front of her as she stood, and I could clearly see the package of chicken breasts behind her.

"Um, I was gonna go out," I said. She nodded, mhmm, and I slid my foot out of my only pair of black flip flops, and then back in.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Oh, you know," I mumbled, trying to avoid this. I had never gotten questioned about something before. Mainly because when I said 'out' I meant the library, or the super market. Or the rare and adventurous trip to the shopping outlet a few miles away. "I'm gonna hang out with a friend for a little while."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay, hon. Make sure you by 2 o'clock at the latest, okay? We might do dinner a little earlier tonight," I nodded, showing her I had heard her. She smiled, and I knew she was watching me as I turned around and walked out the door. Her oldest daughter was growing up, and branching out. Finally.

I walked up the short driveway, taking notice of the beautiful garden, the brick house, and the green grass of the yard. Most of the flowers in the garden were low to the ground and very colorful. It was all perfect and beautiful, which should have made me wary to ring the doorbell.

Eric was inside, though, which took any of my skittish feelings away. Mrs. Jackson was the one to open the door, a smile on her face.

"Hello! You're Joy, right?" Mrs. Jackson asked, her voice polite. I nodded, and she stepped outside with me, welcoming me with a hug. She looked the same as from the last time I had seen her in that little glimpse. She was a slightly bigger woman, her hair the same light shade of brown as Eric and her smile beautiful. She was definitely a sweet person, that was for sure.

"Would you like to come inside?" She asked, her hands lightly clutching my forearms.

"No thank you, ma'am. Its just so nice outside, I think I'll sit out here and look at your beautiful flowers."

"If you say so, hon. Eric should be down in a second. It was great seeing you again." She squeezed my arms one more time, before returning to inside the house.

I settled myself on the middle step of the concrete steps leading to the Jackson's home. I rested my elbows on the step above mine and tilted my head back, feeling the cool breeze blow the scent of the sweet smelling flowers into my face. I didn't open my eyes when I heard the front door creak open and shut.

"C'mon Joy, I've got better things for us to do than sit here at my house and lay out," Eric said, looking down at me from beside the door. He was smiling, his hands hiding in the pockets of his dark skinny jeans. I could still feel the breeze, which pushed Eric's hair away from his face and blew the cloth of his v-neck away from his chest for a moment.

Walking around me, Eric bounded down the stairs. He grabbed my hand from where I held it out to him as he passed, pulling me up so we could walk across his green, green grass.

"What are we doing today, then? Tell me of your amazing plans!"

"Oh, I don't know. We might hang out somewhere and watch the clouds, and when it gets dark, we'll watch the stars. How does that sound?"

"Anything sounds good to me, Eric. As long as we only do our watching until two."

"In the AM?" He cheered, and I shook my head.

"No, silly. I've got to get home to spend time with my parents tonight. I can already hear the jist of the conversation. 'Oh, Joyce, how was the time you spent with your friend today?' Its gonna be a killer."

He laughed, shaking his head. "The only plus thing is they don't know you, so it won't be too unpleasant." He nodded again, watching my face.

"Okay. No fun star watching today, and we've got limited time for cloud gazing. We better get agoing!" He dropped my hand, instead linking his arm with mine, as we walked away to find a nice field or empty parking lot to lie in. I didn't stop smiling. Neither did he. I wasn't lying about what I had said moments ago; I could do absolutely nothing, as long as Eric was there, and everything would be fine.

Eric was my friend. He wasn't my acquaintance, like so many others I knew. He wanted to be my friend, I wanted to be his, and I was going to let him.