On the Brinks

A girl sat in front of an old, classic mirror. She sighed, ripping her hair out of a long braid. Bethany held a cowboy hat in her lap and familiar brown eyes in the mirror stared back at her. She jumped suddenly when the door behind her swung open, chipping the lavender paint on the wall where it smacked.

“David you’re repainting with me tomorrow!” She squealed at her all too familiar neighbor. He just came up and sat behind her, tugging on the one braid still standing. She smiled and fell back into his embrace. “What brings you here?”

“Oh, nothing…” He said, letting his eyes wander the room. David lived in the apartment below hers, it was so rundown they could scream through the vents and talk to each other. “What’s with your get-up?” His eyes wandered over her braids, the plaid shirt and hat in her lap. He gently took it from her hands and set it on top of her head.

“Oh, nothing…” Beth said with a small smile, trying to mock him. He began to pull at her hair, “What are you doing?” She tugged her hair from his grasp and braided it.

“I was trying to do that.” He said, staring at her big brown eyes through the mirror. He leaned into her ear and whispered, “I wish I could have met this Bethany.” He broke out into a grin and spiked up the collar on her shirt. “Or this one.” He made the game face, and made her giggle. David was the only one who had made her laugh since Faith had gone on “Vacation.”

“David, pinky promise you won’t laugh when I do this.” Without a question he held out his little finger, no expression on his face. They held their fingers together for a moment before she stood up quickly and dashed over to her closet. Pulling out a beat up shoe box, she tore off the lid and unfolded some tissue paper. David watched her intently the whole time, hardly blinking his blue eyes. Soon enough, Bethy was sliding on some old cowboy boots, trying to stand up. She wobbled and fell over just after standing up. David stood up and held his friend's hands, keeping her upright and grinning when she tilted.

"Bethany, I..." She looked up at him with those big brown eyes and smiled slightly. "Um, I guess I wanted to tell you that-" But he was cut off with the sudden musical ring of Beth's phone. He let go of her hands and she fell to the side, pulling herself along the ground and grabbing the purple telephone. "You know I love you, right?" He mumbled to himself, his eyes made their way to the ground and he turned to her book shelf.

"Gosh, really?" Beth turned to her friend and mouthed It's Faith, before turning back to the phone. David listened to her awe and screech with her best friend. Above all, he listened as her laughter floated through his mind. He pulled an old photo album from her book shelf and began to look at some of her baby pictures. There was her on a horse and a picture of the family, it actually included a photo of her mother and little sisters. David had grown up with a nice little family. He had one younger sister and two doting parents. He never really had an out-there situation, he just couldn't imagine.

"David? Davey?" Beth waved her hand in front of his face and he shivered as he looked up. "Why are you looking at that album?" He just shrugged and put it back on the wooden shelf. They had made the shelf together in a senior year woodwork class. They took around a million pictures together with it. Ones with Beth sitting at the very top or David squished into one of the slots.

"Anyways, I'm going out with Faith. So, I'll see you later okay?" He stood up silently and blushed secretly as she kissed him on the cheek. Then Beth proceeded to push him out the door yelling, "Stop by later!" Beth bounced around her room, she couldn't wait to see her long lost best friend.