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"Got any sevens?"
"Go fish"
Henrold drew a card from the draw pile and a smile crept across his face. Henrold set down the last of his cards, a full set of sevens.
"I win," he declared.
"You always win," David teased. He playfully tossed his remaining cards at Henrold.
"Of course I do," Henrold laughed. "I'm sorry but you suck at go fish."
"Shut up," David said, but he wasn't actually mad.
Henrold tossed his cards back at David, inciting a frenzy of card tossing between the two boys.
They giggled as the cards flew through the air, and Henrold felt like nothing could go wrong so long as David was by his side.
"That's it," Henrold shouted after a king of hearts to the face. Henrold grabbed David's wrists and pinned him to the floor. It took Henrold a second to realize what he had done.
The silent moment stretched out between them as they stared into each other's eyes. Henrold could barely breathe for fear of disrupting this moment. He could feel David's rapid heartbeat through his wrists.
A knock sounded at Henrold's bedroom door and they quickly moved apart from one another.
"Henrold?" his mother called from outside the door. "Are you awake? I heard laughter coming from your room."
"David," Henrold whispered. His parents didn't approve of his friendship with David. Henrold quickly glanced at the clock. It was too late for David to be here. Time had gotten away from them. "You have to leave."
David scrambled to open up the window.
"I'm fine mom," Henrold called, "Just uh- watching some tv."
"It's getting late, Henrold, you need need to go to bed," his mom called back.
Henrold caught David's eye. David gave him a small smile then swung his legs out the window and dropped to the ground.
David sprinted away and Henrold watched his best friend's bald head reflect the street lights until he finally disappeared into the darkness.
"Henrold?" his mom asked.
Henrold closed his window and sat down on the edge of his bed.
"Ok, Mom. I'll go to bed now."
"Goodnight honey," said Henrold's mother.
Henrold was still staring out the window.
"Goodnight," he said quietly.
Henrold heard Mrs. Henrold's Mom's footsteps walk back down the hall, but he could only think about the footsteps of the boy who always ended up running away.