The Willow Tree Kiss

Hi, I’m Anna Daniels and my childhood was all sunshine and rainbows. With my best friend, Jonathan Tylers. Jonathan was kind, sweet, smart, prudent, and quiet. We’ve known each other since kindergarten and we’ve always played outside together. He was my only best friend. The one that understood my personality. The one that understood my toughness. The one that understood me overall. Being 26 and being married is great and all, but I think that my story needs a better conclusion, I miss Jonathan. I haven’t heard from him since he moved away before fifth grade started. Before middle school started. I was mostly a loner in fifth grade and all of middle school. No one liked me. I never made any friends, except Pepper Stern, who understood my personality, but not as much as Jonathan. My first kiss also happened with him and I’ll never forget it.

The Summer of 2005

Jonathan and I watched the clock in Mrs. Peters’ fourth grade class. That would mean another summer of playing in the mud, tackling each other while playing football, and eating chocolate ice cream cones in the sun. The room was hot, since it was already summer. It was the second day of summer already, but it was a Wednesday. The middle of the week. We’ve already planned the whole summer out and had our graduation ceremony the day before. My mom made me wear a dress. I don’t like dresses or skirts. I was more of a tomboy. I liked hoodies, overalls, jeans, shorts, and shirts. Not the ones with poodles, dolls, or teenage girls dressed in nice fashion. I liked the ones with darker colors with no girly pictures on it or with pictures, but it was more boyish. I’d also liked more boyish activities. From sports to tackling and belching with no mercy. I always thought that I was like that, because of my seven brothers. Anywho, the clock was going to ring at any second. I started to count down in my head. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. As the bell rang, everyone ran out.

“Okay, everyone,” shouted Mrs Peters. “Have a wonderful summer!”

“We will, Mrs Peters!” I shouted as I ran to the front doors. “Come on Jonathan, I’ll race ya.”

We giggled and started to run to the doors. He won. “You cheater!” I teased, punching him on the arm. “You had a head start. No fair!”

“Well, you should have run faster, slow poke!”

He sped off past me. I caught up to him and started tackling him on Mrs. Tylers’ flowers. “Anna! Get off of my flowers!” I got up. The flowers were all wilted.

“Oops, sorry, Mrs. Tylers,” I apologized. 

She sighed. “Anna, sometimes I don’t understand you, why can’t you act more like a young lady?” 

 I never liked Mrs. Tylers as much as Mr. Tylers. Mrs. Tylers was uptight, prudent, and never wanted to have any fun with us. She always said that I should act more like a lady. Why the hell did I want to be a young lady at age ten? Being a lady is boring, I thought. Mr. Tylers, on the other hand, likes to have fun. He was young and reckless like a kid. Jonathan was born when they were both fifteen. They were only twenty-five at the time. I had to help Mrs Tylers and Jonathan replant her prized flowers. Boring! I wanted to play in the mud, already, or eat chocolate ice cream cones in the sun! After we were done replanting, Mrs Tylers instructed me to go home to change while her and Jonathan had a little chat. I went home and quickly dressed up in new clothes. I couldn’t wait to play with Jonathan. I ran out of my room and ran out of the house. Across the street, he looked like he didn’t want to play with anyone. What did Mrs Tylers say to him? I wanted to see what the problem was.

“Hey Jonathan,” I greeted. I took a seat next to him on the step. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to summer camp, Anna. I won’t be around as much.”

“Oh, well, at least we’ll start middle school together, and we’ll--”

“I’m not going to that school!” he exclaimed, interrupting. “I’m moving down to Texas at the end of August because my dad got a new job down there. I’ll be going to school, down there. And plus, my Aunt Lottie is sick. She needs my mother’s care.”

I felt sorry for him. He had to go to summer camp and I won’t see him again after August. That means no eating chocolate ice cream cones in the sun, tackling each other at football, or playing in the mud. “I mean, we can still do those things if you negotiate with your mother and I’ll be happy and--”

“JUST STOP,” he said, in a stern voice. He stood up. “Anna, you don’t understand. I’m happy to go to summer camp. You only care about yourself and your happiness. Plus, it’ll give me time to mature and grow. I’m tired of all of the childish things that we’ve done over the years. The stuff you like. Playing in the mud, tackling each other at football, and having belching wars after eating chocolate ice cream cones are in the past. Why not try something new, Anna?"

“But I’m not ready to grow up,” I admitted. “Summer camp is lame. I’ve been there and you won’t have a good time, trust me.”

Jonathan groaned and slammed the door on me, without even saying goodbye. I was upset. What has gotten into him? Walking away, I couldn’t do anything, but think about him. At dinner, I kept looking at his house.

“Anna, you didn’t eat your steak, honey,” said my mother. “What’s the problem?”

“She misses her boyfriend,” teased my brother, Loki, who’s fourteen. “Look at her, she’s turning red.” My other six brothers teased me about it as well.

I was turning red, because I really liked him, but he didn’t know that yet. What made matters worse was my mother. She said, “Loki, don’t tease your sister. Having crushes are normal and they are a part of life.”

“I don’t have a crush!” I shouted and I left the table. This summer was going to be the worst. Mind you, he was away at camp for the week and on the weekends, he’d never come over to play. I was forced to play with my brothers. THE SIX OF THEM. There was also Bryce, Brian, Rob, Kyle, Samuel, and Andrew. Sure, they were fun, but not as fun as Jonathan was or cute as he was. I’d sure missed him. July wasn’t that much fun, either. We went to the beach for a week and went to the July fair that happens every year. Jonathan and his family would always join us. It wasn’t until the middle of August when I realized that I wanted to be with him.

Middle of August

One night, I was in bed, thinking about Jonathan. I had a lot of thoughts. What would happen if I married him? Could I stay with my best friend forever? My mother came in.

“You’re still up, honey?”

“Yes, Mom,” I paused for a second. “Mom? Did you ever marry your best friend or wanted to marry him?”

“Why’d you ask that question, honey?”

That’s when I had to tell her about my secret crush on my best friend. “I like Jonathan and I want to marry him, so we can stay together.”

“Oh, I get it, now. You have a little crush on him. Listen, Anna, if you have anything to say to him, you might as well do it tomorrow before he leaves.”

“He’s leaving tomorrow?” I exclaimed. “Tomorrow?”

I thought he was leaving at the end of August. “Why did he have to leave now? Why not at the end of August?”

“Oh, honey, his Aunt Lottie is getting sicker by the minute and they need to leave as early as 12:30pm.”

I didn’t want that to happen. I went to bed early, but I couldn’t sleep. Mom sang my baby's sleepy song. I thought that I would never get a crush on any stupid boy. I guess I really am maturing. I woke up early in the morning and got ready to visit him. They were packing up boxes and putting them in the back of the truck.

“Hey Anna,” greeted Mr Tylers, carrying a box. “Why don’t you help us with these boxes?”

“Sure. Okay,” I agreed. I wanted to help carry boxes. That was the last moment I’d ever spent with my best friend. “Anna, you’re here? I haven’t seen you all summer!”

“Me either!” We both hugged each other for ten seconds. “So how was camp?”

“Lame,” he admitted. “It was full of girls and boys, who were in their teens and they were kissing.”

“Eww…”

“Yeah, I know right?” he said, disgusted. “I guess I wasn’t ready to mature. I’ll just stay the same.”

“Then you don’t mind if I do this!” I tackled him to the ground and we taggled in the grass, laughing. 

“Hey!” shouted Mrs Tylers. “You kids help us with these boxes and stop roughhousing like horses!”

I got off of Jonathan and we raced to the house to get the packed boxes in the truck. We did this all morning. Until it was 12:10. It was lunchtime. For lunch, it was tuna fish sandwiches with apple juice. Delicious! This was the perfect time to tell him.

“Umm, Jonathan,” I started. He looked at me with his brown eyes. “Have you ever wanted to marry a girl that was your best friend?”

“If that girl was as smart and as beautiful as you then yes.”

I blushed. We looked away for a minute. “Well, let’s go get married underneath that willow tree in your backyard before you have to go.”

Sneaking in the backyard, I chewed some spearmint gum before kissing him. I didn’t want my breath to stink. “So what can we use as rings?”

I shrugged. “Here, you might need this before kissing,” I said, handing him some gum. “It’ll freshen your breath.”

He chewed it. Then spit it out after chewing for a couple of minutes. I found ring pops in my front pockets. “Look, I found ring pops.”

I gave him the watermelon one and I had the one that tastes like cherry. I put the watermelon one on his ring finger and he did the same. My heart was beating. It skipped a couple of beats. I leaned in and kissed him with my eyes closed. It felt great to marry him before he left. The kissing stopped for about eight seconds. Suddenly, I heard a car, honking.

“Oh, sorry Anna, I have to go,” he said, discouraged. “Good luck in middle school.”

“Thanks, Jonathan, I hope your Aunt Lottie gets better.”

He smiled and kissed me on the cheek again. I stood in his old backyard after he left, looking at the willow tree.

Sixteen Years Later

I forgot about him after the start of fifth grade and we never saw each other again, but I never forgot that kiss or that willow tree in his backyard. I went on Discord one day and I got a message from this guy that I was talking to for a while.

Unknown_Sword: Hey. Are you still thinking about that kiss under the huge Willow tree?

Willow_Tree_Lover: Yes, my first kiss was under that Willow tree in that backyard when I was ten.

Unknown_Sword: Cool, so was mine, too.

To this day, who is Unknown_Sword? I never got to know who he truly was.