ELEVEN YEARS LATER
“It’s gonna be different.” Dove pouted.
“No, it won’t.”
“I’m not ready for you to go, Reigh.”
“What’s gonna make this time any different, Dove?”
“I don’t know. It just will.” She pouted as she picked the toenail polish off her big toe.
She hadn’t been happy when she selected the color anyway.
Her other best friend, Kandi Grace, told her that the pale pink was pretty against her skin.
She hated it. She hated summers, end of the school year, new beginnings, and transitions; she hated everything.
Reighvyn nudged her shoulder and smiled at her. “We’ll still be in touch, girl.”
“Why couldn’t we go to the same college?” she asked.
“Because we weren’t accepted at the same college.”
“We applied for the same ones.”
He turned his lips down. “Yeah, I know. It just wasn’t meant to be, you know. You’ll have Myracle and Kandi Grace,” he said of her other two best friends. She had met them the year after meeting him.
“You’re gonna go to college and forget about me.”
“Have I done that in all the years that we’ve been knowing each other?” He scowled at her.
“It feels different.”
“How?” he asked, taking her hand into his.
“You know how. All those times, you were going back home to your mama across town. This time, you’re going to the other side of the country.”
“No different really. I could have not come back all those times. We could have lost touch, and it would have been out of our hands. We’re adults now basically. We can choose to keep in touch or not.”
Dove looked at him. Between the two of them, they both knew after he returned to the Reeds the second time that he would never stay with their mother permanently.
By the time they turned ten, they both had a basic understanding of what schizophrenia was, and they knew enough to know that his mother wasn’t emotionally stable and never would be.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know what you’re thinking. Yeah, we knew that I would be in and out of foster care, but it didn’t mean I was coming back to the Reeds. On two occasions, I didn’t.”
“Yeah. I know. Still, this feels like I’m losing you.”
They had always planned to go to the same colleges. Dove’s last two years had derailed those plans, and she was angry with the world. She had always been popular throughout school. In her junior and senior years, she had become the most popular girl in school and on their side of town.
Parties, boys, and having fun had become more important than her studies.
She had gone from all A’s and one B to mostly B’s with a couple of C’s thrown in.
Her social life paired with her constantly worrying about whether her curves made her look fat or not had caused her to lose focus on their plans and dreams.
“You’re going to go to college, Dove, and you’ll have so much fun that you’ll forget all about me, especially when you pledge.”
“Not doing that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s just not for me.”
“That’s all you talked about last year.”
She pulled her hand free of his. “Yeah, well, that was last year’s me. This is this year’s me, and I’m different. People change, and you will too.”
He chuckled at her pouting, and he shook his head before he grabbed her fingers and stopped her from peeling her toenail polish off. “Hey, you won’t lose me. I’ll always be here,” he declared.
“Promise me that we’ll always be best friends,” she demanded.
“You’d better not let Myracle and Kandi Grace hear you say that, especially Myracle.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. They know what you mean to me. All three of you are my best friends. You’re like family to me.”
He snorted and draped an arm around her. He leaned into her and gave her shoulders a little reassuring squeeze. “I promise that we won’t lose touch. No matter where life takes us, I’ll never be more than a phone call away.”
“Pinky promise?” she asked, extending her pinky.
He laughed. “Don’t you think we’re too old for that?”
“Never!” She looked disturbed by the insinuation that they could outgrow something as crucial as that, something that bonded them when they were seven and through the years.
He extended his pinky toward hers, and they shook.
“Pinky promise, Dove. Matter of fact, I promise that I’ll be at your wedding when you get married.”
“And I’ll be at yours too,” she decreed.
“Dove, are you ready?” Dove’s mother, Mrs. Sharon Flowers, asked as she and Dove’s father, Mr. Quinton Flowers, stepped onto the front porch.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Did you get everything out of your room that you wanted to take with you?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” she replied solemnly.
“Make sure. Once your sister comes out of the house and closes the door, it’s locked,” her father stated.
“I’m sure, Dad.” She groaned in irritation under her breath.
“All right. Tell Reigh bye for now,” her mother stated, patting Reighvyn on the shoulder as she and her husband stepped past them and headed for the car.
“Come on, Dove,” Ivy, her little sister, commanded, running out of the house and toward the car.
“Shut up! I’m coming,” Dove argued, rolling her eyes at her little sister.
He hated seeing the tears well in Dove’s eyes as they stood to say their goodbyes. He hugged her tightly, and she squeezed him.
“Quit crying, Dove. Tears mean you won’t see me again, and you will. You’ll get to school and so will I, and time will fly. Before you know it, we’ll be back home for the holidays, catching each other up on everything that’s been happening.”
She pulled back and smiled at him as she tugged at her short, frayed denim shorts. “You’re right. Then before you know it, we’ll be graduating,” she declared, wiping her nose with the back of her arm.
“Yep. Take care, girl. Don’t forget to write and call.”
“I won’t, but you’d better not forget, too, Reigh. I’m not playing. I’ll come to that school and beat your butt.”
He laughed, and they exchanged one final hug and goodbye before he kissed the top of her head.
“Come on. I swear you two act like an old married couple,” Mr. Flowers joked with a broad smile.
Reighvyn shook his head and jogged down the steps along with Dove. He stood in their yard, watching and waving as she climbed into the back beside Ivy and buckled her seat belt.
“Bye, Dove!” he yelled as they pulled out of the driveway
“Bye, Reigh-Reigh,” she cried out of the window.
He ran into the middle of the street and kept waving as she turned around in the back seat and waved goodbye. When she could see him no more, she allowed the tears to fall.
“I knew it! Told you that you liked him,” Ivy gleefully stated.
“Shut up,” Dove hissed.
“You should’ve just told him you wanted him to be your boyfriend,” Ivy whispered.
Dove rolled her eyes. Reighvyn would be leaving for college tomorrow, and she was sure he would have his selection of girlfriends to choose from. Dove prayed the time would pass quickly until she saw her best friend again.