No Pulp

Sitting in a cafe. Not alone of course. Across from my best friend, Jenna. The sun is shining through the window, right next to the stool we are sitting at. Truly, she looks amazing. Her taffy hair is gleaming in the warm sunlight, her eyes twinkle as she spins, and spins and spins her multi-colored straw. Then she takes a sip from her orange juice, with pulp. Suddenly, she looks at me and I quickly avert my eyes. "Hey, Jenna I got to-" I'm cut off short by her sharp red nails puncturing my pale skin. She's grasped them on my chin and got me looking straight into her lily pad green eyes. "Um, Jenna, could you let go by a small chance? I've got to go get prepared for a-" as I try to finish my sentence to avoid this awkward situation, and the fact that I have a party for my mom's boss, she once again, silences me. A playful smile arrives on her face. Gosh, she looks so good smiling. Heat rushes to my face as I look at my best friend. "You can't go, we're just starting a new story! I was gonna talk about Bruno the cat, you're favorite character. Plus, I got an extra straw." I look at the extra straw she picked out when she ordered her orange juice. "But, I don't like pulp in orange juice, plus I can't be late for this-" and once again. Silenced. " I sucked out all the pulp so we can both drink it! SEE!" She slides the glass of juice over and I closely examine it, looking for remains of pulp. But to my surprise, she sipped it CLEAN. She pushes the new straw in my direction. She waits till I slip my fresh straw into the "no pulp" orange juice and I sip. I feel a bump against my head and Jenna has her forehead on mine and started sipping from the orange juice. I smile and she winks and in 30 seconds flat, we finish it together. I slump back against my chair and her chatter fills the air again. I want to leave, but I’m too happy too. Then, as her words blur together, a certain word pops out. "Breck" I suddenly come back to reality and I ask, "Are you guys dating?" trying not to let my hints of worry slip in. She looks at me strangely and laughs. I'm sitting there looking at her seriously while she laughs. Then she sees my face, "Oh your serious?" I nod sternly and she wraps her soft hands around mine and she looks me in the eyes, somehow matching my serious eyes. I feel like it's a duel. "I could never like him, the one for me is so close, but so far." I sorta smile, thinking in an optimistic way it could be me. "Ok but seriously I got to go before my mom kills me for not being there." Jenna looks at me and then her watch, "You've got time, it's at 8, and it's 5. WHAT ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT?!" She pulls me up from my chair, by my wrist and she puts down a 20 dollar bill and shouts "KEEP THE CHANGE!~" She picks up our backpacks and we head out, well actually I forcefully head out with her. "Where are we going?!" Jenna pulls me along to the park and we sit down on a blue bench. Then she stands up again to pull down her neon yellow skirt. Let me rephrase that. Mini-skirt, there, better. "What are we doing at the park?", I look at her with curiosity. "We should spend the time you have left before you go, right here! In the park!" Jenna has a warm smile on her face and it brightens up the world. I have to go, but, I don't want to. Jenna sees the desire, and then, she pulls them. "Stay with me, Leah! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" She gets her sad puppy eyes out and stares right into the depths of my soul. All I can do is blush. So red. I sit down casually, trying to not look flustered.

"Why the park?" She looks at me like I'm crazy and she rolls her eyes, playfully. "This is where we met, don't you remember?" I look at the name of the park and I remember. I was walking through here once, and I had my favorite Linkin Park song blasting in my headphones and didn't notice my 7th grade bullies creeping up on me. When I least expected, they crept on me and attacked me, they cupped their hands over my mouth so I couldn’t scream. And they started kicking me, over. And over. And over. The world became a big blur but before I passed out, I heard the bullies' screams and taffy hair. That day, Jenna saved me from further injuries. I’m lucky

that she came, or I could've had terminal scars. That day, I swore I would pay her back, and that's how we became friends. Jenna is my best friend and, my crush. Being in this park is like going through a time machine to the past. I look at Jenna and she looks at me closely and I look down at her wrist, towards her silver watch. The time says 5:30, still got a while till that party. "Hey, Leah I've got something to tell you." She's playing with her hair, this means she's nervous. "Yeah sure, shoot" Now she's getting me nervous. "Well, for a while, I've been meaning to say this to you. Please don't get angry at me for this," She's hyperventilating, very unusual. "You know, you can leave I can tell you later-" "No" I'm surprised with myself, as much as Jenna is. "You can tell me, anything. I'll still be your friend. No matter what." I smile and she smiles back, she takes a quick breath in and continues. "I like you, that's it." She shields her face because I assume it's as red as mine. She beings stuttering a bit and her words are mushed together as she searches for her backpack. I grab her arm and say "I like you too Jenna!!" Leaving is not an option anymore, it never really was.