“Justin, come on! Let’s go play with the ball!” four year old Cassidy yelled at her best friend, Justin.
“Aww, c’mon Cassidy! I wanna go play on the swings!” Justin said, gesturing for her to go with him.
“Okay, fine, but can we play with the ball later?” Cassidy asked, hopeful.
“Sure, c’mon I’ll go push you on the swings,” he said.
It was a warm day in the middle of June; the Sullivans were holding a picnic at the park for friends and family at the park. It was beautiful, big puffy clouds were scattered all over the bright blue sky, lilies and roses were blooming just along the perimeter of where the grass met the stone border, adding a mixture of different colors, there was a large chestnut tree on the far side of the park next to the bridge that arched over the flowing water of the pond, just the sound of the burgers and franks sizzling on the grill was enough to make your mouth water, the sign of happiness written on familiar faces.
Making sure she was securely in the seat, Justin began to push Cassidy on the swing.
“Higher Justin, push me higher!” Cassidy yelled with excitement.
“Alright Cass, you asked for it!” Justin gave Cassidy his hardest push and almost made her fall off, but she obviously didn’t care.
“Would you look at that?” Simone said to Sadie. “Those cutie pies really enjoy each others company, don’t you think?”
“Tell me about it,” she responded chuckling, “I remember when Justin was sleeping over at my house all he talked about was Cassidy and how he wished she were in his kindergarten class so he can show her to all his friends and see her more often.”
The tune of Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” came floating through the crowd and people began to dance. The two women glanced over at Lynn and Randy who were swaying with one another to the song.
“I’m glad Lynn finally found someone to be with. Randy is a good man. I remember when she was a little girl, she used to always dream about finding someone special.” Sadie said, smiling proudly.
“I felt the same about Joyce. She’s the youngest of my ten kids and I’m just so used to babying her, but she’s a grown woman now. I was crying so much on her wedding day because it felt like I was giving away my little girl. But she found the man of her dreams, I’m sure when Cassidy grows up Joyce will feel the same.” Simone said, sighing.
Jim, who was filming Lynn and Randy dancing, approached Sadie and Simone.
“Hey Sadie, hey Ma. Do you both wanna go eat now? I know some of the food isn’t good for your health but it’s really delicious.”
“Thank Jim, we’ll be eating pretty soon.” Sadie said.
“Alright. Do you happen to know where Cassidy and Justin are? I haven’t seen either of them for hours.” Jim said, searching around the park.
“Oh they’re right over there on the swings, dear,” Simone said pointing.
“Figures. Alright well, if you talk to them can ya’ll tell them to eat?” he said.
“Sure thing. Although, I don’t think that eating is on either of their minds right now,” Simone said, winking at Sadie, then stood up and followed Jim to the picnic table.
“Hey, is it alright if I swing myself now?” Justin said.
“Sure. I bet I can swing higher!” Cassidy challenged him.
Justin sat on the swing and began to motion back and forth until he caught up to how high Cassidy was swinging. Taking notice of this, Cassidy started to pump her legs harder, causing the swing to go a little higher. The two toddlers began to swing higher and faster.
“I’m winning,” Justin said, bragging.
“Nuh-uh, I’m winning!” Cassidy said, the wind making her golden hair swish and sway.
The adrenaline rush was taking over as she pumped her legs harder, desperately wanting to show Justin that she could swing higher. She felt like she was a bird, soaring so high that you could feel the clouds brushing across your cheeks.
“Wow! Cassidy, you’re swinging pretty high!” Justin said looking over at her.
“I know, and I’m still beating you!” she said, sticking her tongue out. “Try and catch up if you can, Jus-”
Suddenly, Cassidy slipped off the seat of the swing and landed hard on her side in the sand. Justin hopped off his seat and ran to her.
“Cass! Cass, are you okay?” He asked worried, then checked if she was bleeding, she had some scratches down her arm.
Tears were spilling out of her eyes as she said, “Justin, go get my mom, hurry!”
Justin checked one last time if she was really alright, before leaving her to get Joyce.
“Mama Joyce! Mama Joyce!” He yelled.
“Justin, what’s the matter honey?” Joyce asked.
“It’s Cassidy, she… we were on the swing playing… and we were trying to see who could swing higher… I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand… but we were just swinging and then she fell and now she’s crying and she told me to get you and I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” He said, in what seemed like one breath.
“Wait, slow down, what happened?” Joyce said, confused.
“Cassidy fell off the swing and I think she’s hurt!” he exclaimed.
“Oh no! Where is she! C’mon hun, bring me to her!” she said taking Justin’s hand.
When they finally reached Cassidy, she was still crying, clutching onto her left arm.
“Baby, mommy’s here. What happened? Are you alright?” Joyce asked, scooping her daughter into her arms.
“Ouch, I don’t know. My arm hurts real bad.” The little girl said, gripping her arm tighter.
Joyce glanced down to inspect her daughter’s arm; there were little scrapes and cuts, but no signs of broken bones.
“Alright, how about we have Dr.Richards look at your arm? You’re lucky he showed up today.” She said, carrying her to the party, leaving Justin there.
Justin felt the tears forming in his bright blue eyes; he felt that the accident was his fault. Hands clenched into fists, he ran to the playground and hid underneath the bright yellow slide.
“I’m so stupid. I shouldn’t have told her to go on the swings, we should have just played with the ball like she wanted to.” He said, wiping the tears from his eyes.
Justin just sat there for a few moments sniffling; he rested his head against the pole next to him and closed his eyes.
Cassidy sat on the wooden bench under the shade as Dr.Richards checked her arm.
“Well, Cassidy, your arm just hurts from when you fell on it. It seems that you have some boo boos here and there, but you’ll be fine. Alright?” he said, as he handed her a couple of lollipops. “But I think you should sit here and rest your arm for a while.”
“Okay, Dr.Richards,” she said, wiping away the last of her tears. She opened the wrapper of the red lollipop and stuck the green one into her dress pocket to save for Justin later. The image of Justin suddenly popped into her mind, where was he?
Justin didn’t know how long he was there, taking a little nap under the slide, but he was woken up by a familiar voice.
“Hey Justin, there you are!” the voice said.
Justin opened his eyes and rubbed them to clear his vision. When he finally focused on who it was, he was surprised.
“Trace? What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming to the picnic?” he asked.
Trace was one of Justin’s good friends from school. Cassidy was Justin’s best friend, but Trace was the one who Justin could be really boyish around.
“Yeah but my mom said we were just gonna stay for a little bit.” He said.
“Oh.” Was all Justin could say.
“So what are you doing underneath here? I was looking for you and your mom said you might be somewhere around here.” Trace said.
“Well… me and Cassidy were playing on the swings and we were trying to see who could swing higher and then all of a sudden she fell off. I think she hurt her arm but I don’t know because I was too mad at myself so I ran over here and hid because I think Cassidy is mad at me.” Justin said, trying hard to be strong in front of Trace and not cry.
“Oh, ouch. Well I saw Cassidy when I got here. She was sitting on the bench eating an ice cream cone, kind of crying. She was wondering where you were so I don’t think she’s mad at you. Maybe her boo boo hurts still.” He said.
“I’m too scared to see her. I don’t like seeing her cry. I think it’s my fault that she got hurt.” Justin said, sadly.
“So what? She’s a girl and girls cry all the time, don’t worry about it.” Trace said, not meaning to make it sound the way it did.
“Shut up Trace!” Justin was angry.
“I’m sorry Justin. I didn’t mean to make you more mad,” he apologized. When Justin didn’t say anything, he said, “Why don’t we just go over there and talk to her?”
“Are you sure?” Justin said, thinking about it.
“Yeah, c’mon, let’s go,” Trace said, gesturing for Justin to follow him.
The sky was a bit darker than it was when Justin first hid under the slide, but the sun was still out. He was walking right behind Trace, too embarrassed to be face to face with Cassidy. He was ready to turn around and back out, but as soon as he saw her there, sitting on the bench wearing a pretty pink dress and white sandals with her hair flowing down, he felt his legs move faster.
The two locked eyes for a few moments, his blue eyes showing obvious signs of crying while her own blue beauties were just staring at him.
Trace nudged Justin, bringing him back from his daze. “Uh.. h-hi, Cass.” He said, shyly.
“Hey Justin. Where were you?” she asked, still looking at him.
“I, uh.. I.. I was underneath the slide over there.” He looked down and fidgeted with his tiny fingers, “how’s your arm?”
“It’s alright. Dr.Richards said nothing’s brokened, so that’s good.” When he didn’t say anything she reached into her pocket, “I saved a lollipop for you. Here.”
He was hesitant to take it from her, but his fingers brushed against hers and he said, “Thanks.”
“Trace, let’s get going now. Say bye to your friends.” Mrs.Ayala said, walking over to her son. “Oh, Justin sweetheart there you are. How are you?”
“I’m okay. How have you been?” Justin asked. He was always taught to be polite when talking to an adult, especially a lady.
“Good, good. Well Trace, c’mon, let’s go now. Goodbye Justin, goodbye Cassidy. Take care, the both of you.” Mrs. Ayala said, leaving.
“I gotta go now. I’ll see you on Monday Justin. Bye Cassidy, I hope your arm gets better.” He said.
“See you on Monday,” Justin said.
“Thanks, bye Trace.” She smiled at him as he began walking to his father.
After Trace left, there was an awkward silence. Cassidy was the first to speak.
“Hey Justin, are you okay?” she asked.
Justin’s eyes looked back down at the floor, “I guess. Kind of.”
Not believing him, she asked, “Do you wanna go sit over there by the big tree?”
“Okay,” he said, then walked with her in silence to the tree.
Justin sat down crossed-leg and picked at the grass.
“Hey Cass, are you mad at me for getting your arm hurt?” He asked her.
“Huh? Of course I’m not mad at you Justin. It wasn’t your fault,” she said patting his arm.
“Really?” he said, a little too loud, “I mean. Really, you’re not mad?”
“No way could I be mad at you. Is that why you were hiding under the slide for so long?”
“I guess. Well, yeah. I was scared you wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.”
“Are you crazy? Of course I still wanna be friends with you. You’re my best friend, I can’t think of anyone else who I would rather make mud pies with, or sit on my couch drinking apple juice and eating cookies with.”
“You really mean that, Cass?”
“Duhh.” She smiled at him, “You wanna go walk on the bridge? Mama said it gets really pretty when the sun is about to go down, it makes the water look like a rainbow.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Justin said taking her hand and lifting her off the ground.
They stopped right in the middle of the bridge and looked out over the pond.
“You’re mom was right Cass,” Justin said, “it really does get pretty out here.”
The sun was setting and cast off different shades of oranges, yellows, purples, and reds all across the sky as if the sky were blushing. The breeze would pass by and chill your cheeks for a brief moment. The sound of the trickling water moving was so soothing, and if you closed your eyes, you can picture yourself as a bird, soaring above the ocean aimlessly with no specific destination.
Though they were both too young to understand much, they had taken notice of the beauty of nature. Justin tried to lighten the mood up by telling some “knock, knock” jokes that his friends from school told him, and even if they were sort of dumb, Cassidy would laugh. Cassidy pointed out in his reflection in the water, Justin’s ears looked bigger, making him laugh. The made funny faces at the water, and talked about what it would be like to live in the water. Cassidy told him if she could, she would love to be a dolphin and swim with all her dolphin friends forever. They smiled at each other, and Justin got an idea.
“Wait here,” he told her, “close your eyes until I tell you to open them again. No peeking.”
Confused by his words, she still obeyed. She could hear him moving around in the grass and heard some strange snapping noises. A few minutes passed by, and temptation of taking just a little peek was getting the best of her.
She was about to open her eyes when as if on cue Justin’s voice came from another direction, “Remember, no peeking, Cassidy. Hold on a few more minutes, I have a surprise.”
“Justin,” she whined. But he ignored it.
Finally, after what seemed like such a long wait, Cassidy felt Justin’s weight on the bridge.
“Alright, open your eyes.” He said.
Cassidy eagerly opened her eyes to find Justin holding out a beautiful bouquet of multiple colored lilies and daises tied with what seemed to be the ribbon of a balloon.
“Justin, how did you get these?” she asked smiling, taking them from him.
“I picked them for you. I just wanted to show you how sorry I really am about your arm. I know it was an accident but I feel bad. When I have a boo boo, my mom kisses it. Whenever my dad wants to cheer my mom up, he gives her flowers,” he said, putting his hands behind his back, “do you like them?”
“I love them. This is the first time anyone has given me flowers. Thanks Justin,” she began to blush.
“Your welcome.” He said, feeling happy that she liked his gift. Silence fell over them again. But not because there was something awkward in the air, but because they were both feeling something they had never felt towards each other before.
“Hey Justin, it’s getting kind of dark. I think we should go back before-” Cassidy tried to say, but couldn’t finish her sentence.
Justin had leaned over and kissed her briefly just as the sun was going down.
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