Memories Never Seem To Fade

“Jack, where are we going?”

I narrowed my chocolate brown eyes at the skinny back of my best friend. I was hoping they would burn a hole right through his skin, causing him to stop his walking. Being kidnapped at three in the morning was something I didn’t approve of—especially if I hadn’t even managed to fall asleep until twenty minutes before then.

These things seemed to happen though. Jack would stay up long nights thinking about things and would either call me on the phone or randomly appear in my bedroom. Not once though, had he managed to sneak into my house, walk up a flight of stairs, and barge into my room to drag me outside without being caught.

“You’ll see, now come on!” The tone of his voice was too hyper for this time of night.

Letting out a grunt, I narrowed my eyes to the point where I couldn’t even see. I was just relying on the tall and lanky male in front of me for guidance. Being cold, tired, and pissed wasn’t exactly helping the situation.

“Jack,” I prodded a second time, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” He muttered, the already tight grasp on my wrist growing tighter as he continued to drag me down one of the dark streets in this sleeping town.

I huffed wrapping my free arm around myself in attempt to warm up. However, with this new found awkward stance, I grew uncomfortable and found it nearly impossible to keep it up. So, I let it drop to my side in defeat after a few seconds. “Jack, really, I’m cold and tired. I at least deserve to know something.”

“Fine!” My best friend whisper-yelled, as I felt a smile grow on my face in triumph. Before I could even figure out that he had stopped dragging me, I bumped into him. On instinct my free hand wandered up to my forehead and rubbed at it as I slowly backed away from my statue of a best friend.

I allowed my chocolate eyes to search the man in front of me due to the street light hovering over us, revealing what we both looked like. His brown hair was an unruly mess sticking up in random directions. His blonde streak of hair was the only thing that seemed to want to corporate, having glued itself to his abnormally large forehead. His brown eyes were narrowed ever so slightly with absolutely no sign of amusement in his eyes—meaning that whatever this was, he was taking it seriously. The tall, lean male was wearing a worn out Blink-182 shirt, a pair of black and grey plaid shorts, and a pair of converse.

I cringed thinking about what I looked like. Compared to his six foot two figure, I stood at a depressing height of five foot two. My own brunette colored hair, was tied up into a loose bun that was messy looking and lopsided, landing on the left side of my scalp. I had on a shirt that was three sizes too big, which managed to cover up my skimpy booty shorts completely, along with a pair of flip flops. I looked like a mess, and the fact that the normal soft features of my face had a permanent sour look painted on, didn’t help much.

With I light shake of my head I allowed my eyes to focus on the hand attached to my wrist. I didn’t tear my eyes from it until I heard the animated voice of my best friend.

“If you must know,” He paused for a moment and craned his neck, as if to see if anyone had followed us. I doubted it however; it was three in the morning—only an idiot would be walking the streets at this time of night. “A UFO landed in the park, and they wanted to play a simple game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.” I arched an eyebrow slightly, but laughed none the less. “Now, Keely, I’m begging you. Shut up, and follow me!”

Without so much of a warning, I felt a sharp, quick tug before being dragged towards the park for a second time. My feet got tangled in an awkward position for the first few steps, but I managed to straighten them out as I ‘followed’ my best friend.

I had this feeling that my shoulder was going to be extremely sore tomorrow. Stupid Jack. Stupid UFO. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“We’re almost there!” The hyper tone of my best friend greeted my ears, causing me to look up from the black pavement of the street. Sure enough, I could see the iron fence of the playground to the local elementary school. And past that, even in the dark, I could depict its yellow and red plastic jungle gym, its painted blue monkey bars, and its sad excuse of a swing set.

Although I was a teenager, I’d always be a kid at heart. Just seeing the playground made me want to force Jack to let of me so I could take of running, and, that’s exactly what I ended up doing.

“Last one to the monkey bars is a rotten egg!” I yelled out in a childish voice just as I grabbed Jack’s hand and pried it off if my wrist. Once free, I took off running my way through the empty street hoping to beat my best friend at this race. Knowing Jack, he was probably standing still a few feet behind me trying to process what was going on.

As soon as I reached the fence I stuck each foot into one of the openings and climbed up it, as if it were a ladder, until I got to the top and took a seat. Straining my neck, I looked around in hopes to find Jack, and, sure enough, he was just now beginning to grasp what had happened and took off at a mad dash to catch up to me.

“That’s not fair!”

“Life isn’t always fair, Barakat!” I shot back, and jumped off of the fence. Landing feet first on the mulch covered playground, I bent over to compose myself in hopes not to fall over. However, that small pause ended up costing me my prize. Jack had leaped over the iron fence and was heading towards the blue monkey bars at a leisurely pace. I seriously hated how long his legs were.

“Fucker! Now who isn’t being fair? It’s not normal to be so damn tall,” Defeated; I ran a hand through my bangs and took off walking towards my best friend with slouched shoulders.

“Life isn’t always fair,” Jack mocked as he turned to look at me from on top of the monkey bars, a genuine smile planted on his lips. “So, I believe, you’re the rotten egg. Sucks to be you, doesn’t it Keels?”

With a roll of my eyes, I made my way to where Jack was. Climbing up to the top of the ladder, I stood there for a while stuck. I was strong enough to pull myself up the top like Jack was. Even if the monkey bars were small enough for the elementary kids, there were some of them taller than I was.

“Jack,” I whined, with a small pout forming on my lips as I looked at him.

Leaning his face down so that it was right in front of mine, he smirked slightly before speaking. “Yes?”

“I need help,” I mumbled quietly, while avoiding eye contact and biting my lip. I always hated admitting stuff like that. Normally I was the type of person to do everything on my own, not ask others for help. So for this to be asked was a huge step for me.

Jack seemed to notice the reluctance I had used as I spoke. The smirk on his lips only seemed to increase. However, Jack wanted to make things difficult—like always.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you,” Sensing the teasing nature of it, I scowled at my best friend ever so slightly, this just wasn’t fair of him. “Did you say you needed kelp? Or wait… that wasn’t it,”

My best friend tapped his chin a few times as he pretended to think about what he has just said. I wasn’t enjoying just standing here on top of the ladder in the middle of the night.

“Jack,” I extended the ‘a’ in his name, as I whined for a second time. My eyes found their way to his hoping to try again. “I need help. Will you, please, help me?”

Extending his hands out to grab mine, Jack pulled me up so I was sitting next to him. But, I started falling in-between two of the bars. With a light laugh, my best friend lifted me up and sat me down in his lap. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it Keels?”

Leaning my head back onto his chest, I shook my head slowly. It felt nice sitting in his lap, even though I’d never be able to admit that out loud. Looking up into the sky, I let a sigh escape my lips. It really was peaceful out here in the morning… even if it was cold.

For a few moments it was quiet, the two of us sitting together in a comfortable silence. We didn’t need to say anything, it wasn’t awkward at all. Though, as I sat there, I gradually started to remember that Jack had brought me here for a reason. I got a nagging feeling in my chest, beginning to wonder what it was.

“So, the reason I brought you here…” Jack spoke softly and eventually trailed off as he went back into thought. Tilting my head back I looked at him upside down, trying to get him to continue without me having to say anything.

“I…” He tried for a second time, but ended up letting out a frustrated sigh.

It must have been serious, I figured, as I sat there still waiting for my best friend to find the right words. He always was honest with me, and knew when to say something and just how to say it. Hell, even when we were dating for a few months, he knew exactly what to say if he wanted to go out on a date with me or something. Jack was witty, smooth, and carefree. So, for him to be stuck on something…it had to be huge.

I knew my best friend, and right now this wasn’t him at all. A small frown took ahold of my features as I continued to silently urge him to go on. But, he didn’t seem to catch my drift. “Jack…just say it. Doesn’t matter how you word it, or what it is. I’ll always be here for you.”

His brown eyes fell down to look on my face. Then I saw it, that new found confidence. This was the Jack I knew. My best friend reached out to grab both of my hands and held them tightly, before letting out a small breath.

“Promise me something, okay Keelz?”

“Sure, anything Jacko,” I whisper using the nickname he honestly despised to be called. But, at the moment he shrugged it off.

“Promise me…that when the last of the two of us turns twenty-four, if we haven’t found the one we’re meant to spend the rest of our lives with…that the two of us will get married.” Jack finally let out, a soft smile forming on his lips.

This was what he wanted? To marry me? We dated, it didn’t work out. Sure, I loved him, but as a best friend. I close my eyes for a few moments just letting everything sink in. It wasn’t like it was guaranteed. We had eight years. I could find someone in that time…and so could he.

“I promise.”