Chapter 7
“Come
on, Cici. You can get higher than that!”
“Well,
probably…I don’t like that feeling up there.”
“Oh
come on. When you get up this high, you can jump! It’s like you’re flying!”
“And
break every bone in my fool body when I land. No thank you.”
“Wimp.”
“Show
off.”
Nick
shook his head at his chicken-hearted friend and pumped his body a few more
times to get to the peak of his swing. “Look out beloooooowwwwwwwww!!!!!!!”
Off he flew, landing perfectly on his feet, falling into a somersault and
jumping up in a victorious stance. “Come on, Cici…give
it a try. I can’t believe you’ve never done this.”
“Well,
I have, I just….I hate the landing, too.” She kept up her steady, easy pace on
the swing quite happy with her sheltered swinging skills. Not to be quelled
however, Nick ran behind her and started pushing her higher and higher. “Nick! Dammit, Nick! You are so lucky I’m afraid to jump or I’d
fly down there and break your scrawny little neck.”
“Mmm-hmmm…shut
up and enjoy the breeze.”
“Niiiiiiiiick!!!!!!! I feel like I’m gonna fall backwards.”
Nick
continued to push and giggle at her, hoping maybe with a little push, she’d try
something new. No one should have made it to age 17 without jumping out of a
flying swing. It just wasn’t right.
“Alright,
Ci, now on the count of three, let go and jump. It’s
slow enough, you can control your landing.”
“You’re
not gonna stop pushing ‘til I jump, are you?”
“Nope.
Here we go….”
“Godddddddddddd……”
“Quit
whining. One…”
“Niiiiiiiiick!!!!!!”
“Two………….”
“Oh
sweet Jesus, I’m gonna die.”
“THREE!”
She
let go. She couldn’t believe it, but she let go. And she flew, and it felt
good, and dammit, she even landed. No somersault, no
victorious showcase, but she landed. “Oh! Ha! Ha! I did it! I landed! On my
feet, no less!”
Nick
ran over to his friend and wrapped her up in a hug. “Yep, you did!” He pulled
back and looked in her eyes, watching them dance from the excitement of the
ride. “Wasn’t so bad was it?”
“Nope.
But don’t you EVER pull that shit on me again, Carter. I don’t like being out
of control like that.”
“Eh,
it’s good for you. Come on. Let’s take a walk. I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Oh
yeah? You’re gonna finally confess that you’re in love with me?”
They
stopped walking and he looked at her like she was nuts. “Yeah, that’s it. I’m
secretly in love with you and want to marry you. You need to tell that
boyfriend of yours to hit the road cuz Nicky’s here now.” He grabbed her arm
and started walking again. “You’re a riot.”
“Okay,
I’m sorry. I’ll stick with Pat I guess, even though he’ll always be second.”
She put her arm around the boy, amazed at how much he’d grown in the past year.
He was taller than her now, not that being taller than her was such a hard
thing to do. “Alright, Nick. What is it?”
“Well,
do you remember that last audition I was at? The one before Mr. Mahler passed
away?”
“Yep.
Sure do. Did something come of it?”
“Oh
yeah. I wish he was still here so I could tell him.”
“He
knows, I’m sure.”
“Yeah,
he probably does.”
“So,
cough it up, kid. What’s your new job?”
“Well,
we’ve met a few times since and have a name and all. It’s a singing group. In
“Wow,
Nick, that’s great. But, if it’s in
“Nope.
I won’t. I’m probably done at the home. I won’t be seeing as much of you and…”
He couldn’t continue. Didn’t want to cry for God’s sake, but, he really DID
like Ciara. Not like that but he liked being
with her. She made him feel special. Didn’t treat him like a kid.
She
saw his burgeoning tears and quickly looked away knowing he didn’t want to
spill. Trying to keep it positive, ruffled his hair and kept walking. “Yeah,
well, you really hoped this would come some day. That’s what you’ve been
working so hard for isn’t it?”
“Yeah,
it is. I even gave up the Mickey Mouse Club for it.”
“WHAT?
You gave up the Mouskateers for this unknown thing?”
“Yeah,
I did. I’m not sure why. I just…yeah, this felt right. Mom and I talked and…I
leave in two days.” He stopped and pulled her over to a nearby park bench.
“Two
days, huh? Wow.” She plopped down next to him, surprised at her own feelings in
the matter. He was a 12 year old kid. She was a 17 year old girl. But, yet,
their friendship was something she enjoyed. There was no peer pressure, no
expectations of being someone other than who she was. He’d helped her when she
got sick and never made her feel like she was less of a human for having some
physical problems. She was just “Cici.” And now…well,
no one knew. And it was not a good feeling.
“I’ll
come to the home tomorrow to say ‘goodbye’ to everyone, but I just wanted to be
with you today.”
“Aw,
Nicky. Thank you. Well, how about I take you out to lunch. To celebrate.”
“Okay,
yeah. I’m sure Mom will be okay with that. Besides I want to ride around in
your new car some more.”
“Oh,
I get it now. You don’t love me. You just love my car.”
“Yep.
That’s it. I’m using you for your wheels.”
“Oh
well, at least you’re honest with me.”
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
Ciara pulled into Nick’s driveway with an
amazing sense of grief. For such a young twerp, he sure had eked his way into
her heart this past year and a half and she was not looking forward to his
departure. “Well, kiddo. Here we are.”
“Yeah,
here we are. Thanks for lunch and the ride.”
“Anytime.
You’re not gonna stop talking to me when you become a big star now are you?”
“Cici. No. And this may amount to nothing. I really have no
idea. I just have a good feeling about it. You’ll always be my number one
girl.”
She
couldn’t help but smile and finally leaned over for a hug, sneaking a kiss to
his cheek on the way in. “You be good, okay? And do your best, and…”
“And
can I write you?”
“Yes.
Please. You’ll just be in
“Yeah…maybe
so.” They both feared those were empty words. Promises not to be kept.
“Let
me walk you to the door. I can’t hug you right here.”
***
