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The dim, rising sun cast an orange hue over the neighborhood. The birds had begun their morning songs a while ago but now their harmony was in full swing. The chill morning breeze rustled the trees and leaves were beginning to spew off the branches with the coming autumn. The pinwheel flowers twirled alongside one another with each sweep of air.
Kel felt his heart pounding in his chest–or maybe that was his stomach, he didn’t know. He didn’t know what was making him so nervous about standing on the front steps to Sunny’s house alone. They were best friends, weren’t they? Or maybe that was what he was scared of. There was something unappealing about asking Sunny to hang out with him as friends, because if they were friends, so were Basil and Aubrey and Hero and Mari. Hanging out with Sunny alone felt more appropriate, but wouldn’t Sunny want to hang out with all his friends too? What was so selfish about wanting to just be alone? Whatever. Whatever he told himself. It didn’t matter.
The tips of his fingers brushed against his palm with the curl of his knuckles. He stretched his hand up and knocked lightly on the door. There was shuffling inside before the door swung open to him. Kel’s hands fell to his sides and he shut his eyes. “Hey, Sunny–” He started, but when his eyes opened he was only met with the smiling face of Mari.
“Hello, Kel! I didn’t expect to see you up this early.” She whisked her hands together in a clasping motion. Her face was overjoyed for a moment. “Sunny left a moment ago with Mom to shop for new school clothes as she’d been nagging him for weeks.” She glanced back towards her kitchen and then back at Kel. “It is such a lovely surprise to see you today! Is anyone else with you–Aubrey, Basil–or Hero, maybe?” Her eyes twinkled with her words.
“It’s just me.” Kel rubbed his fingers over his hand. “I just wanted to see if Sunny wanted to hang out…but if he’s not here I can come back later.”
Mari fluttered hair that fell into her eyes. “Oh!” She stepped aside. “Sunny should be back soon. I was just going to make breakfast if you want to stick around until then.”
“Oh,” Kel bit his lip. He couldn’t refuse free food–especially not when Mari was the one who was making it. “Yeah–yeah! That sounds good. I rushed out of my house so I didn’t have time to eat breakfast yet.” He admitted with a small laugh. “What are you making?”
Mari twirled towards the kitchen. Her black hair flowing in strands behind her. Her lips parted into a cheerful hum. “I was going to make eggs and toast.” She bent down and opened a cabinet below the counter, her hands bumping around inside until she came back up with a frying pan. “But if you’d like I can make you something else.”
Kel shut the door behind him. “Anything you make is delicious.” He shifted his weight in his spot. “Hero really likes your cooking too. He wants to be as good as you. He keeps talking about it.”
Mari’s cheeks lifted as the corners of her lips curled. Her eyes flicked away from the eggs she was cracking and over to Kel. “Does he now?” There was something mischievous about the way she spoke. “He wants to become a chef?”
“I don’t think he’d put much thought into it until you told him to but, yeah, probably.” Kel shrugged.
Mari giggled. “How just like him.” She looked back at her hands. Her voice was soft, a whisper under her breath that Kel wasn’t sure if he’d heard correctly. “Charmingly adorable.”
Kel’s fingers tensed and ran along the edges of his shirt. Mari looked back over at him. “Are you thirsty? There's fruit punch in the fridge.”
Kel swallowed and realized how dry his throat was now. “Oh yeah, I am, thanks Mari!” He strode over to the kitchen and swung open the fridge. He pulled out the juice and set it on the counter. He knew Sunny’s house like the back of his hand so he knew where the cups were kept.
Kel poured his glass and looked back at Mari who’d already plated the eggs and set them on the counter as she waited for the toast to pop up. Kel leaned against the counter as his mouth stretched into a slow yawn. Mari looked over to him. “You seem tired. Do you always wake up early on Saturdays? I never took you as the type to.” Kel looked down at his feet. There was that weird feeling again.
“Ah, no…I just thought it’d be nice to see Sunny today.”
“Mmm.” Mari hummed. The toast popped up beside her and she twisted over to grab it. She set it on their plates and then walked to the table to set them down.
Kel took his seat across from Mari’s as she handed him a fork. “Thank you.” He scraped it against the plate before picking up some of the scrambled eggs and stuffing them into his mouth. It was a bad decision. He had severely misjudged the temperature of the eggs. His mouth opened and he hastily spit them back onto the plate. “Aah-ah-ahhh.” His realization came as a muffled noise with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. His hands were by his face furiously attempting to fan away the heat.
“Kel,” Mari giggled. “You have to wait until it cools down!”
Kel chugged half of his glass of fruit punch and looked back up at Mari. “But it looked so good!” He whined.
“It’ll look good in a few minutes too…” Mari let out an amused sigh.
Kel’s shoulders slouched. He grabbed his fork and tapped it on his plate for a few seconds. He kicked and swung his feet under the table. Even though Mari was more talkative and lively between the two of them, the house just felt empty without Sunny around.
Mari seemed to notice Kel’s behavior and her head tilted at him. “Are you alright? You seem distracted.”
“Oh, um, I’m fine Mari.” Kel pricked the eggs with his fork and put them into his mouth, this time slower.
“Is it about Sunny?” The question itself made Kel tense up. “He’ll be here soon, don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to spend with him today.”
Kel chewed with his mouth open, which earned him another look from Mari. He swallowed the food in his mouth and ran his heel along his leg. “Yeah. I know.”
Mari was about to take a bite of her toast when there was a loud mewling sound from beneath the table. At the same instant, the little black kitten jumped up onto the table and knocked over Mari’s glass of water with her impact. Her tail swished and whacked against Kel’s glass which he thankfully leaned in and clutched with both hands before it fell over. Mari’s eyes widened. “Mewo!” She exclaimed. Mari stood up and whisked the kitten into her arms, pressed a kiss right on her nose and said: “I told you to stop jumping on the table!” In a child-like scolding voice as if she could never be mad at her antics. She let the kitten jump back onto the floor and turned her attention towards cleaning up the mess she’d made. “I always tell Sunny not to let her on the table but he does it anyway. He puts her right beside him when he does his homework.” Her voice sounded exasperated. “But who could be mad at either of them? Ah…anyway–sorry about that, Kel. I’ll clean this up.”
Kel felt Mewo rubbing against his legs. He reached down and set a hand on her head. “No worries, Mari!” He could feel the vibrations of Mewo's motorboat-like purring against his hand. He looked down at Mewo and grinned widely. “Who’s a cute kitty?” He cooed.
“Cute and spoiled.” Mari looked back at him. “Don’t tell Sunny I said it, but, sometimes I feel like him and Mewo are closer to siblings than me and him.”
“Wow.” Kel continued scratching Mewo’s head. “I’m actually not that surprised.”
Mari came back to the table after pouring herself a new glass of water. She pulled out her chair and sat down, seconds later, Mewo found herself snuggling right onto Mari’s lap. Mari placed a hand on her head and Mewo let out a small meow before her purring overwhelmed any of her other noises of happiness.
“She really likes you.” Kel pointed out as if it wasn’t obvious already.
“She’s a sweet kitten. She likes anyone…well, except for Basil, but we’re working on that. Aren’t we Mewo?” Mewo looked up at Mari. “She also likes Sunny more than me. Don't you?” She booped Mewo’s nose before going on. “It’s probably because she feels he’s closer to her kind. Birds of a feather flock together, isn’t that what they say?”
“Yeah.” Kel looked at his plate of food. It’d gone cold by now. His eyes flicked over to his glass of fruit punch. “Hey, um, Mari? I want to ask you…something…” His words were quiet. With each second they fell away into silence.
“Oh, hmm?” Mari’s head pulled up to look at him.
Kel wrapped his fingers around his glass. He could feel them pulsing with his rising anxiety. “You know Sunny the best…um, what does he like?”
Mari blinked. She appeared too stunned to speak for a moment before her lips pursed. “Oh, well, what do you mean?”
“Um…” Kel took a sip of the fruit punch. “Like…gifts? And stuff. What would he want?” Now he was just stalling.
“Ohhh!” Mari smiled at him. “Are you thinking of a gift for Christmas? Or for his birthday?”
“Just…in general.” Kel shrugged. “Just a gift.”
“Hmm.” Mari hummed in tune with Mewo’s purring. “I’m not sure, Kel.” There was a smirk on her face that made Kel uncertain of whether or not he believed her.
“Okay.” Kel let out a huff of air.
Mari stared at him for a moment before her voice broke the silence. “You could get him flowers.”
If there was ever a moment when Kel’s whole face would have gone red, it was that one right there. His fingers fell from his glass he’d forgotten he was clutching. “Why would I do that!?” He stammered out as if the idea was appalling to him and not what the kind of answer he’d wanted in the first place.
“He likes you.” Mari brushed off the question as if it were nothing. “He’d like anything you give him. He won’t say much out loud because he tries to hide it, but you can see it in his eyes when he’s really happy. Don’t tell him that either, though, or else he’ll get embarrassed.”
Kel felt his heart pounding in his chest. Before he even thought about what he was going to say it slipped through his lips. “How do you tell if you’re in love?”
“Oh?” Mari’s eyes seemed to twinkle at that confession. “That’s quite an unexpected question, especially from you, Kel.”
He wanted to slither under the table now. “Um…I’m just curious about it. That’s all.” It was a bold-faced lie, but Mari would take it.
“Love is wonderful.” Mari sighed. “You feel happy. Like there’s thousands of little butterflies inside of you because your whole body is a cocoon waiting to find someone to hatch for. When you’re in love, you act with your heart instead of with your brain.”
“Oh…okay.” Kel noted that. “Thanks, Mari.”
The front door swung open before Mari could say anything else. All pairs of eyes shot over to see Sunny’s mom holding two plastic bags of clothes followed by Sunny stepping into the house.
Mewo let out a mewl of excitement, scrambling off Mari’s lap and over to Sunny where she rubbed against his legs until he picked her up. Sunny’s mom headed into the kitchen, her eyes meeting with Kel’s and she smiled at him. “Now why might you be here so early?”
“I came here to see Sunny…Mari and I were just talking.” Kel saw Mari smirking, if only for a few seconds, but when his eyes flashed over to her she had the same expression on her face and he wondered if he imagined it.
Sunny walked over to the kitchen with Mewo purring and nestling in his arms. He glanced from his mom to Mari before his eyes finally landed on Kel.
“Hi, Sunny!” Kel waved to him.
“Hi.” Sunny said back to him.
Mari clasped her hands together as she swiftly stood up. The action startled Mewo who’s claws unsheathed and scratched up the fabric of Sunny’s shirt as she clung to him. She scrambled up his torso until she was halfway over his shoulder. Her head nuzzled against his cheek.
Mari laughed. “Oh–Mewo!” She gave the kitten a pat on the head, in response Mewo let out a little grumble.
Sunny’s mom smiled at Kel. “Why don’t you and Sunny head up to his room and hang out? He needs to put all his new clothes away too.”
“Okay!” Kel grabbed the bags in one hand and Sunny’s hand in the other and the two of them ran upstairs. He glanced backwards and saw Mari giving him a certain look from the bottom of the stairs.
They pulled open the door to Sunny’s room and Kel set the bags down on Sunny’s bed. “What kinds of clothes did you get anyway?”
“Just clothes.” Sunny shrugged at him. “How long have you been here?”
Kel’s face flushed. “Err–for a while, actually.” He admitted. “Hehe. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Sunny looked away. “Oh.” He fiddled with the bags of clothes before pulling them open and beginning to fold the laundry.
Kel wasn’t good at folding laundry either, but Sunny seemed way, way worse. “Have you ever folded laundry before?” Kel joked.
Sunny shook his head. “Usually…Mari does it…she likes it to be perfect.”
Kel walked to his side and leaned over. His hands brushed against Sunny’s as he clutched the fabric. “Okay, take this end and put it here–no, wait, is it this end? No. It’s that one.” He folded the shirt on Sunny’s bed. It was entirely uneven and the corners of the sleeves were sticking out. “Yeah. Looks great!” He grinned proudly. Sunny giggled at him.
Kel turned to face Sunny, they were only inches apart. His cheeks went red. He could hear Sunny’s breathing.
“Hey.” Kel’s voice came out with a gentle breath. “Sunny?”
Sunny blinked. Totally silent.
“Um…you know…how Hero and Mari…are like…” His words trailed off. His heart was pounding. He was sure Sunny could hear it.
Sunny nodded and looked away. His eyes locked on the floor.
“I think…I think I like you. Sunny…I think I want to…be like them…I feel that way…for you.”
Sunny’s expression was unchanging.
Kel stared at him for a few more seconds before his breath sped up. “Um… Sunny…” He swallowed the thick saliva sticking in the back of his throat.
There was nothing but silence from the other boy. Kel wasn’t sure if Sunny’s cheeks were red or not before he turned further away. His hair fell into his face.
Kel ran his tongue along his dry lips. His hands were shaking.
“Can you…”
.
..
...
..
.
“...please answer..”
His hand fell off the door. There was nothing on the other side other than static silence.
"I...miss you..."
His cheeks were red and puffy as he exhaled. The chilly weather formed his breath into white mist in the air.
Kel rubbed his hands together. His fingers were red and numb from the cold. He should have worn gloves.
He stared blankly at the door for another few seconds.
He felt the stinging numb pain in the tips of his ears. His whole body was shaking from the cold now. He’d been standing in the same spot for so long his footprints had nearly vanished from the wind that picked up all the loose snow and spread it around until they were covered.
“Okay.” Kel sighed, watching his breath in the air. “I’m sorry, Sunny…I hope you come out soon…” He stepped back from the door. In the corner of his eye he saw movement.
From Sunny’s window, there was the flickering of a curtain. It had been moved seconds ago.
Kel stared at the window. His mind felt empty.
He took a deep breath and walked away. Down Sunny’s lawn and away from his house.
He walked to his front door, peeking one last glance towards Sunny’s house, everything inside had stilled. It’d only been a few months since Mari…
He hoped Sunny was okay. He was the baby of the group.
This must have ravaged him.
Yeah, something like that would devour him whole.
Kel stepped into his house. The air inside was warm against his skin. He let out another breath as he closed the door behind him.
Maybe he’d try again tomorrow.
And maybe Sunny would come out then.