Love and dances - Joel Dawson

For yourself

Dear Joel,

It was lovely to see you again. You still remind me of that same enthusiastic young boy from fifth grade - in the best way possible.

Maple pulled the door open, her eyes widening when she had to duck instantly, barely avoiding being hit by a plastic arrow that stuck to the wall behind her with its suction cup. Rolling her eyes, Maple smiled, turning around to pull the arrow from the wall of the hallway before stepping inside her apartment, giving the toy back to her sister when she rushed over to her.

"Thanks." Minnow smiled, grabbing her arrow from Maple as the older girl struggled a little to lock the door after her with everything she was still holding. "Hey, did you go to that cafe down the street? Did you bring me something?"

At her question, Maple winced, realizing that she had totally forgotten about Minnow and how much she loved the cupcakes they sold there as she had been occupied with Joel instead. Biting her lip, Maple placed her binder on the kitchen table and threw her empty coffee cup away before turning around to look at her expectant little sister with a fake smile.

"I have a third of a croissant?" She offered, as Minnow cut her eyes at her.

"You didn't buy it for me, did you?" She asked, as Maple sighed.

"No, bug, sorry." She smiled a little when Minnow pouted at her, the plastic bow in her hand dropping to rest on her side as she stomped her foot against the floor. "But you can eat this, if you want?"

"Oh, how nice of you, offering me the part of your croissant you didn't want." Minnow mumbled, sarcastic as ever as Maple rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Why didn't you buy me anything? You always buy me something when you go to the cafe."

"I know, Minnow." Maple admitted. "I just... I forgot. I was distracted, okay? Do you want the croissant or not?"

Minnow huffed, still annoyed with her sister, but she wasn't one to deny any type of food so, stomping her little feet toward her, the eight-year-old girl snatched the croissant from her sister and took a look at it.

"Ham?" She pouted. "It's not even chocolate?"

"No, it's not chocolate." Maple chuckled. "But all the better. We'll be having dinner in a few hours, anyway, so..."

"Oh, you're boring." Minnow scoffed, taking a big bite of her croissant as Maple shook her head fondly at her and messed with her hair as she always did. "Stop it, Maple!"

"My bad. Can't resist it." She winked at the girl who stuck her tongue out at her and walked out of the kitchen, standing again in front of the door where she had been practicing, as it seemed, shooting her plastic arrows at a picture of Simon Cowell that she had tapped to the back of their front door. When Minnow managed to stick one of her arrows right in the middle of his forehead before taking a big bite of the croissant and cheering loudly, Maple laughed, spinning around in her heels to look over at the man sitting on the other end of the kitchen table. "Was everything okay today? Minnow behaved okay?"

"Yes!" Minnow called from the hallway, her voice muffled due to the food in her mouth.

"Don't speak with your mouth full!" She chastised, as Minnow just mumbled something in response. Turning back to the man, Maple sighed, flopping down in the chair nearby as the man across from her just smiled at her. "Was everything okay?"

"Everything was fine, Maple. It always is." Clyde assured. "She's a great girl."

At that, Maple smiled, her soft eyes turning around to look at her sister as she pouted a little when her next arrow missed the target, but went over to the door to retrieve it and try again, already a little more loose now that she was finally done with her croissant. Turning back around to look at Clyde, Maple pulled out one of the hair ties she always had wrapped around her wrist to pull her dark curls into a loose ponytail.