Page 1 of Happy Ending

Drew

W hen I get to the playground, Laine is already sitting

on one of the swings. It’s dark outside, but I could recognize her chestnut waves anywhere.

She’s wearing sweatpants and a baggy off-the-shoulder shirt, her hair straggly.

My chest pounds at the sight of her, and nerves overtake my body, considering the fact that we haven’t exactly spoken to each other since the incident in the mountains.

The swing beside her is biting cold as I sit down, the chains even chillier. Neither of us says anything, and for the first time since she’s moved back, the silence is beyond awkward.

“I’m not coming back to school next semester.

” Laine blurts out, fidgeting with a piece of woodchip in her hands.

“What?” My stomach sinks at the thought of losing her again when I’ve only just got her back.

“Are you moving back to California?” “No, it’s not that…

” Her eyes are plastered to the ground, increasingly watering.

“What do you mean you’re not coming back, Laine?

” “My mother is moving me to catholic school.” The silence turns heavy as tension spreads through the air.

“Oh,” is all I can muster up. Is this why she was so distant that last night at the cabin?

Did she know all along that we would end up distanced by proximity anyway, so she just decided to do it herself early?

Anger boils inside me as I think up all the possible scenarios in which she could have betrayed me.

“I’m sorry.” She whispers, but I don’t bother asking what for this time.

Despite being mad at her right now, the fear of losing her overcomes me.

I rack my brain, trying to think of all the things I could say to make her stay.

At this point, I’m desperate, and if telling her what happened with my dad could possibly change her mind, then it’s worth a shot.

I could show her that we really are the same, and whatever she’s going through right now with her dad, I can relate.

If I open up to her—really open up—she’d be bound to me by word, right?

“My parents were high school sweethearts. They won every couples-themed high school superlative, and people placed bets on their imminent marriage.” I start, not caring that this probably sounds completely irrelevant to her right now.

“They went on to get their bachelor's degrees together, and eventually got through law school together too. They even started their own firm.” Picking up a wood chip myself, I nervously trace infinity signs over my thigh as I tell my parents’ story.

“They were doing well financially and lived pretty happy lives together until they struggled to conceive.” My eyes glance over at Laine only to find her already looking at me, listening intensely.

“Their fertility journey was long and strenuous, but the struggle only made them stronger together. Eventually, they put in their application for international adoption, got approved within the next two years, flew to China, and adopted me. “We were the perfect family, and everyone from their high school looked up to them as an example of how to be and praised them for being white saviors to a colored orphan. My parents ignored them, and we were happy and financially stable. Until one day, when I was about eight, maybe, my dad just up and left us. Being very young at the time, I didn’t understand what happened. I just thought he didn’t want us anymore.

” Laine leans over and rubs my arm, her eyes soft with sympathy.

“Once I got older and my mom told me what really happened, the sadness turned to anger. Angry that someone I thought I knew so well and looked up to turned out to be someone I didn’t even everything he ever wanted—or at wanted. recognize. He had least I thought he

“He had a stable job, a loving wife, and a kid he had waited for so long to bring into his family. But he changed. He threw all of that away on a whim. A whim of a rocky career in real estate—something he showed no interest in before. It’s like he was having a midlife crisis or something, stuck on the things he didn’t do instead of appreciating and cherishing the things he did. ”

“Wow.” Laine breathes out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry.

” “I mean, it’s fine now. I have my mom, and she always tries her best to make up for everything I lost when he left.

” The air feels crisper, and I wish more than anything right now that I could pull Laine in for warmth just like she did so casually at the cabin.

The wood chips pierce my bottom as I move to the ground, curling up in a ball with my knees pulled up to my chin and my arms tucked around them.

Surprisingly, Laine joins me on the ground, scooting close to me and resting her head on my shoulder.

“You know, I was a wreck this morning when I found out my mother had put in the deposit for Holy Trinity Catholic School of Excellence.” She says softly.

Wait. “This morning?” I turn to her, suddenly feeling awful that I just trauma dumped on her in an attempt to manipulate her into fighting against a choice that wasn’t hers to make in the first place.

“I know, right? She told me over breakfast that witch!” Laine pulls her head off my shoulder to look at me.

Holy shit. This changes everything, and immediately I realize that instead of grieving the friendship as a whole, I should be grieving the loss of time we’ll have together.

“We’ll still be friends, Laine. We’ll talk every day and hang out as much as we can.

” I reassure her, even though I’m just as scared for us as she is.

“Pinky promise?” She extends her freezing purple pinky out to me, and I wrap mine around it, smiling harder than I should be right now, given the circumstances.

Laine and I became such close friends in such a short amount of time, it felt unbreakable before.

But now that this wrench has gotten thrown at us, our friendship feels so fragile.

Like one day of not talking could lead to the rest of our days not talking.

The few days we spent apart after the cabin felt like an eternity in hell; I can’t imagine an actual eternity.

“I started tracing my project on canvas,” Laine says softly, looking at me for my reaction.

“That’s amazing!” I smile gently at her, reaching out my arm and brushing my fingers through her hair.

My stomach settles, finally feeling comfortable with her again, the way that had become so familiar in the past few months with her.

“I couldn't finish it, though. I got to the hips and just couldn’t get the curve right.” She looks down at the ground, picking up more wood chips and fiddling with them in her hands.

“Oh.” I'm not sure what the correct things to say to a struggling artist are, so I just continue playing with her hair as I watch her face fall, waiting for the spark to reignite in her eyes as she talks more about the thing she loves most. “I couldn't do it because the only hips I memorized the dip of were yours.” My heart skips a beat, taking in her words as an arrow shot straight to the chest. “And I didn't want to draw you because I thought I messed up with you. I thought I scared you away.” “You could never scare me away, Laine.” The comfortable silence returns, and now her eyes are piercing mine back, her hazel swirls pulling me in and locking me into a trance-like state.

The air feels warm now in her emotional embrace, and she's making me feel like everything is going to be okay again. “You know, I think you're my best friend.” She breaks the silence, keeping eye contact. I take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze, my face feeling warmer by the minute. I know I don't need to say it back for her to know. I know she can feel it through my touch. We spend the rest of the evening sitting in front of the swings, discussing her thoughts on my favorite Disney movies, her and Thom’s shared ancestors, and planning winter activities to do together before school starts again. After tonight, I’m confident that her switching schools won’t distance us.

Our bond is far too strong to be broken by proximity.

******

On the short walk home from the playground, my mind replays everything Laine told me and everything I felt at the moment.

About how I was her muse, and about how she considers me her best friend.

About how I crumbled and told her everything that happened with my dad out of pure fear of losing her.

About what that meant for me and my feelings about her.

About how I told her things I'd never told anybody else, just to stay in her presence a little longer.

My thoughts are interrupted as my eyes cut to the local late-night ice cream parlor a block or two away from my house.

Thom is behind the counter, smiling as he hands a little boy a small chocolate cone drowned in sprinkles.

He catches my eye from inside the shop and grins widely, gesturing toward the tubs of ice cream in front of him.

Despite his reputation at school, he seems to be important to Laine, which makes him important to me, so I go in.

“I didn’t know you worked at Starry Scoops.”