A Moment of the Past

Kaylee isn’t smiling anymore. At the beginning, she was. The night had been young and she had been eager- how could she not have been? The museum had a new work up for show, a Degas from Chicago, proudly hung in the prime lighting spot. Ripe for the masses to take in. 

But the day had gone on, and the hoards of demanding visitors had broken her spirit a bit. Even the wonderful artwork of Degas could not cheer her up. Not to mention the three elementary schools that had come for tours today. Three groups of fifth graders, four groups of kindergarteners, and two groups of second graders. 

Now, as the sun sank low in the sky, Kaylee and her favorite coworker, Faith, both leaned against their individual podiums, exhausted. 

“I’m never having children. Ever. Too sticky,” Faith remarked with disgust. 

Kaylee let out a light laugh. “How many of them tried to touch a painting?”

“Seven!”

“Ha! I got you beat!” Kaylee exclaimed. “Twelve!”

Faith stuck out her tongue, then rapidly turned her head as she spotted a group entering. Two of the group were holding hands, as the third trailed awkwardly behind, brochure in hand. Faith made her way towards the group of three, giving the usual speech for the museum. The group listened with no real interest, before kindly dismissing her and walking towards the Post-Impressionism galley. 

“You’re welcome,” Faith remarked, as she made her way back towards her abandoned coworker. 

“I could have done it if you didn’t want to.”

Faith shrugged, then sunk her head into the cool wood of the podium. Kaylee smiled a little in sympathy and turned back to the newest painting. The dancers appeared to be stretching on long, twin pieces of circular wood. Barres? That’s what they were called, right?

“Faith!”

The curly-haired woman’s head snapped up in response to her name, eyes wide and a tiny bit of drool slipping out of her mouth. 

Ms. Windum, the elderly woman in charge and known holder of harsh grudges, was waiting, tapping her foot impatiently. She gave off the distinct air of an annoyed mother waiting for her playful, but ignorant child. 

Faith immediately darted to the woman, but Ms. Windum was already heading down the hall, far too important to wait for an employee to catch up. 

Faith turned to shoot a look that pleaded for help, but before Kaylee could even give the proper response of shrugging her shoulders helplessly, she had turned the corner and was out of sight. 

The painting. It caught her eye again, magnificent in its beauty. The light pastel colors of the girls’ dresses seemed to swirl and twirl around them. The light from an unseen window, lay evenly across the floor. How long had they been dancing? Were they tired from the hours of practice, or were they just getting started? Had the exhaustion already weaved itself into their bones? Were they excited? They looked young. How old were t-

“Kaylee?”

An uncertain voice broke the cacophony of ponderings. 

Her eyes were forced from the masterpiece to the red-headed man who stood nervously in front of her, a brunette woman waiting a little off his shoulder. The man was rubbing his forearm with his hand, and was drawing small circles with the pad of his shoe. He had the beginnings of a beard starting from his chin and oh my god.

“Liam?!?”

The man broke into a wide smile. “Yeah! Oh thank god, I thought it was you, but then you didn’t seem to recognize me, so I thought I was wrong and that would’ve been really embarrassing.” 

Kaylee wrapped him in a tight hug, only pulling apart when he seemed to be struggling to breathe. She grinned at him, so happy to see him that she missed her. 

The woman cleared her throat.

 Kaylee turned to face her, a bout of irritation flooding her face until-

“Elizabeth!”

She jumped into her awaiting arms and then, like children, they began bouncing in a circle, still wrapped around each other. 

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked, unable to keep the broad smile from her face.

“We’re on a date,” Elizabeth said, as Liam blushed. 

Kaylee’s mouth fell open. “I called it!” She exclaimed. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”

Elizabeth let out a hearty laugh. “Yeah, yeah. You and the rest of the Try Not To Die club.”

“The TNTD! It’s been forever since we hung out. I mean I haven’t talked to anyone from there…. probably since I moved. Dang.”

The room filled with quiet. 

“It’s weird,” Liam started. “We were always there for each other, especially when we had no one else. We were a family, you know? Our family wasn’t supposed to split up.”

Elizabeth squeezed his arm in comfort and Kaylee took to studying the floor. 

The lull ended as Elizabeth launched into a story on the disaster of moving into her first apartment.

It was wonderful. Talking to them again, seeing them again. It reminded her of the days she spent at university, when she had been arm-in-arm against the world with her closest friends. 

They had thought time was endless, then. They had imagined themselves as infinite and limitless, unaware of the world that closed in on them. Unaware of the way the real world would soon tear at the bonds of their friendship till they forgot they were there at all. 

But the memories still lurked. Moments of sobbing horror and unbridled joy. Chugging coffee to stay awake for finals and jumping into the fountain with all their clothes on. They were always together in some capacity. Trying to survive college. Trying not to die. 

When the time for closing drew near, the couple said their goodbyes and took their leave. 

And Kaylee watched them go. And she smiled. 

She turned to the painting. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promised. 

They were still a family. They always would be. Just a little different then before.