to ron; a memory flood

i

you might think i'm weird, but the first things i noticed about you were your lashes.

long, elegant, and just... so very difficult to stop staring at.

what a lucky boy you are, to have such beautiful lashes.

i got to know you because you liked my best friend. i can understand that, though - she was the prettiest in our class back then.

and i thought, hey, he's actually quite a gentleman.

you were different from all of the males in our class of eighteen people. you were quiet, but of course there's also those very boyish sides of yours.

you're so very playful.

so much of a tease.

and i thought, what the hell, ron. you're such a complexity. what the hell is up with you?

we hung out, and we were basically what you would call best bros.

i remember that one christmas party, when the both of us thought that the end was at five in the evening - but actually at three.

we stayed at the playground, because to the elementary students that we were, that was the best place to be.

we got on the swings, side-by-side.

do you remember that? i'm not making that up. i swear, if you don't remember, your memory must be terrible.

we waited for two hours. every other student had gone home, and we made sure of that. we even checked who went in and went out of the school.

that evening was fun.

but as the playful person that you are, even after that fateful evening, you never talked to me again.

i don't know what happened. have i been mean? was i being too violent? because in all honesty, i can't remember how many punches and slaps i have thrown your way.

but eventually, you talked to me again. it was a nice feeling, of course.

and before the school year finally ended, our school (being generous because we're the first batch of graduates from it) threw us a graduation ball.

of course, since we were children, it wasn't like a promenade. no 'dates' or whatever. our teachers would assign who we're going to dance with.

another fateful turn- we became partners.

i remember very clearly that ms. jeneth winked at me, after pairing me up with you.

i still haven't thanked her for that.

i remember that you wore purple and i wore blue-green. that was also the only time i wore three-inch wedges.

i was already a bit taller than you, so the wedges just boosted me up even more. you didn't mind, though.

how handsome you were that night.

soon, though, graduation day came.

my best friend and i had a fight a few days after we graduated. everyone felt involved with it. i felt ashamed and hid myself.

your feelings for said best friend were never reciprocated, as far as i know.

so high school came. peacefully, i would say. we were still classmates, though not as close as before.

we still tease, we provoke each other, we joke, we interact. that's good, that's good.

then, surprise! new seating arrangements, designed by our class adviser.