Living on Perfectly Remembered Memories

Matt

Mom was humming a lullaby she used to sing to me when I was a kid while finishing the final touches to the gift-wrapped boxes she was expertly making pretty. Yeah, I called it pretty. Shut up.

I would have wrapped the presents myself but mom was better at tying the ribbon onto it. It's Franchesa's birthday and I am not going to give her some crappy looking presents.

"Mom, tell me about how I was when I was eight again," I urged.

Her eyes fluttered at me for jumping onto the kitchen counter and sitting there. "Why do you want to hear it again? It's depressing," she sighed.

"Please?" I begged lacing my fingers together and shaking them at her.

She shook her head and smiled. She shortly stopped fluffing the ribbons on the little box before going back to it. "When you were younger, you were extremely quiet. I mean, really quiet. Your father and I began to worry that there was something wrong. Even as a baby, you didn't cry as much as other babies did.

"We took you to the doctor, afraid that you were sick. It was already stressing enough that I was pregnant with Amy and I didn't want you to feel neglected.

"We waited for hours with you until the doctor came out with a clipboard in his hand. He told us there was nothing wrong with you; you were just a quiet boy. I didn't believe him one bit. We bought you anything you wanted—but didn't spoil you, we always gave you attention, and we still couldn't figure out why you isolated yourself so much.

"All we wanted was for you to be happy, smile at least. It wouldn't be a good thing if I gave birth to your little sister and you were weren't happy with it. So we took you everywhere we could in three months. We took you out to ice cream, the zoo, amusement parks, the circus, and even Chuck E. Cheese. None of it worked! You were such a stubborn little boy!"

"Still am!" I chirped, laughing along with her. She set the boxes to the side and pulled her hair back to a ponytail.

"Yes, but then one day I took you to the park." The seriousness of the story began again. I remembered that day at the park. It was really hot out and I was surrounded by a lot of kids my age.

"Matthew please go play with the other little children," mommy pleaded, trying to pry my fingers from the bench handle.

"No!" I screeched, holding on tighter. She was desperately trying to pull me away but her belly was too big for her to use all her force. We started a scene but I didn't care. I didn't want to play with other kids. I wanted to go home and play with my truck.

"Excuse me?"

I stopped screaming and mommy let go of my fingers. We both turned our heads to see who interrupted my temper tantrum.

There stood a young girl with mousy brown hair. She was sipping on a Capri Sun pouch while holding two more in her other hand. Her clothes were very clean, very surprising to me.

Mommy sighed and pushed her hair to behind her back. "Yes dear?"

"Hello! My mom wanted me to give you and your temper tantrum son these drinks." She waved the pouches in mommy's face. I wanted to hit her for being un-nice to mommy.

Mommy smiled and took one of the pouches. "Why thank you! What is your name?"

"Franchesa," she mumbled, kicking the dirt with her sneaker.

"This is very kind of you Franchesa. Where is your mom? I would like to thank her."

The girl, Franchesa pointed behind her to a lady with a big belly like mommy's. She was going to have a baby too!

Mommy walked over to the lady without looking back at me. I opened my mouth to scream out her name because she left me but the Franchesa girl hopped up to me. She sat down on the ground and stared at me with big eyes.

"What?" I grumbled.

"Your face is funny," she stated.

My eyebrows scrunched together and I rolled my tiny hands into fists. "Take that back!" I growled.

"No." She stood up and stuck her tongue out at me. We stared at each other before she took off running to the trees. I chased after her, planning to get my revenge for her saying my face was funny!

She hid behind a tree and laughed at me. I ran up to her, glaring. "Take it back!" I screamed again.

She laughed out of breath. "No. Do you want this?"

I snatched the unopened Capri Sun from her hand and guzzled the whole thing down in five minutes.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Matt."

"I don't like Matt. I'm calling you Matty from now on. Aren't I a genius? I got you to get away from the bench."

I gasped, looking back to the playground. We were far away from it. Mommy looked at me with a smile on her face. I smiled too. I had fun for the first time in a long time.

Mommy and I walked back home, holding hands. I skipped behind her, giggling to myself about that weird girl. Why does she like Matty so much? I like my name. Matthew is a nice name.

Mommy squeezed my hand and pointed to the house across the street from us. "We have new neighbors," she said. I nodded as she pulled me to the new people moving in.

We waited outside for the moving people to finish bringing in the furniture and for the neighbors to walk out. After the moving people went away, a lady walked out.

"Samantha! Who would have thought we'd be neighbors?" the lady laughed in surprise. Who is she? I held onto mommy's hand tighter, wanting to go home.

She shushed me and smiled. "You're right Jenna. Who knew?"

"Mom! Dad said we're going to go have dinner at a restaurant."

The girl from before walked out with a Capri Sun in her hand. She really likes them. She looked at mommy and me and gasped.

"We're going to be best friends!" the both of us yelled at the same time.

"You've heard this story so many times. Why do you want me to tell you it all the time?" mom asked.

I shrugged. "It's a nice story."

"Sure it is. You want to hear it because Franchesa is in it," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh yeah, okay time to go!" I announced, taking the presents mom wrapped and subs that I made earlier today. "Bye mom!"

I ran out the house as fast as I could and jogged to the park. I hope that everyone was already there so I wouldn't have to wait too long. I didn't eat all day because of this picnic.

I arrived at the spot in the heart of the park where a bunch of trees gave shade. It was always cool in this part of the park too. That meant we could lay back and enjoy the sun.

I spotted Angel's red hair and walked faster to them. They all sprawled out on the huge picnic blanket that I knew Josh brought because it had a huge Nightmare Before Christmas picture on it. They didn't notice I was the final person to arrive so I cleared my throat. They all lazily opened their eyes and saw a smiling me.

"Thank gosh! We were all dying from hunger!" Zacky whined, patting his stomach.

I shook my head and put the food I brought down so I could look for Fran. I found her a few feet away, watching Kenny climb a tree. Why is he here?

"Happy birthday!" I screamed. She turned around with a happy expression on her face.

"Matty!" she beamed and ran into my waiting arms. I gave her a big hug and kissed her cheek. "Kenny get down here so we can go eat!"

The three of us walked back to the picnic area. The entire group sat on the blanket in a spread out circle, waiting to devour all the food. I rolled my eyes and led Franchesa down to a place to sit.

After we all ate the food, Jessica and Leana pulled out a chocolate birthday cake for Franchesa. The three girls giggled with glee at all the chocolate in front of them. I was literally scared of them at that point. I've heard of girls that absolutely love chocolate, but experiencing it in person was a scary thing.

"Presents time!" Jimmy suddenly shouted, breaking the girls from their stupor. We all hurriedly agreed and placed our presents to Franchesa in front of her. All except for my presents to her. I wanted her to open mine last.

Kenny ran off again, climbing another tree. I sighed and shook my head. "Why is your brother here?" I asked.

"My parents asked me to look after him," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"It's your birthday!"

"I know. It's okay, I don't mind."

"They always throw him at you! It's not right."

"They don't "throw" him at me. I like spending time with him."

"Sometimes you need your own freedom."

"Oh-Kay! You should open mine first," Angel butted in, putting a small bag in Franchesa's lap.

Franchesa took the tissue paper out and reached inside the bag to see what Angel bought her. She took out a box that said "Mac" on it. That was a make-up kit.

"Wow! Thank you Angel! That's very...angelic of you," Fran grinned. Angel laughed and nodded her head. The joke was corny, but it was cute.

Josh and Jimmy's presents were next in line. They both were gift cards to Hollister. Out of all the places, they chose Hollister? She doesn't even like Hollister all too much. Franchesa thanked them anyways and gave them a hug each.

She tore Zacky's present apart to reveal a whole bucket full of Hershey's chocolate. Her eyes widened and she stared at Zacky. "This is the best present ever!" she roared and tackled him down to the ground.

"You're welcome! But, ow, get off! Get off!" he pleaded.

She did so and hopped back to her place in the circle. Jessica and Leana gave her two thin boxes to open. It turned out they made an outfit for her. Inside was a sparkly green shirt with thin straps and jean shorts that rose up very close to her butt.

Now it was my turn. They all looked at me with smirks of their faces. "Are you scared to show her what you bought her? Afraid our gifts kicked yours asses?" Jimmy laughed, giving Josh and Zacky a high five.

I scoffed. "Please. Haven't you ever heard of save the best for last?"

Jessica snickered. "Burn."

I switched seats with Leana and held my two presents out for Franchesa. She raised an eyebrow at me and took it. I watched her as she pulled the ribbon apart and took the wrap off from the boxes. She looked back at me, mouthing "two boxes" before opening the first one.

"Oh my...Matty this is so pretty!" She threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Then she hit me on the back of the head. "Why did you get it for me? It looks really expensive!"

"There's nothing like a girl loving what you got her but hurting you for it being expensive," hooted Josh who received a smack to the back of the head by Jessica and Angel.

"It doesn't matter how much it cost. Open the other one," I informed her, pointing to the unopened box.

She pulled away from my neck and proceeded to open the other box. Again, she threw herself at me. "Thank you so much!" she whispered, giggling now. I sighed, happy that she was happy with the things I bought her. It took me over a month to find the perfect bracelets for her.

Once the thrill of food and presents was over, we all stayed at the park, doing whatever. No one was talking to Franchesa, and I, being the awesome best friend I am, sat down next to her and poked her side. She squealed and slapped my arm away.

We sat together into another silence. Kenny was over there, climbing another tree. Sometimes he believed he was a monkey.

I gulped at my cold and clammy hands. I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend right now. No...now. Now. NOW! This would so work out if I opened my mouth first. Wait, no. I have to think of what to say first. If I just ask her out without a game plan, she's going to laugh and deny me. Okay, so what do I say?

"Franchesa, I know we're best friends and we have an amazing friendship, but I love you. I've loved you ever since seventh grade. I want to take this to the next level. I'm not afraid to be with you anymore. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Holy crap, that sounds perfect. I turned to face her, my hand touching her shoulder. She smiled at me. "Franchesa, I know-"

"Kenneth!" she yelled and sprinted to him.

"DAMN IT!" I screeched, punching the ground.

"Matt come on!" Jessica screamed, pulling my arm.

I ran with her to where Franchesa and Kenny were. He was crying with his left leg sticking out at an odd angle.

"Can someone please call 911? He broke his leg," Franchesa whispered, holding her little brother's head in her lap.

"Sure thing," I sighed, running over to a payphone. I mumbled to myself. "Sure thing...girlfriend."