Silver Linings

Chapter 6

6

I got to go home later that day, being told to drink a lot of water and Gatorade. My dad was told to keep me in bed and get some sleep. But I wasn't tired. So I stayed up crossed legged on my bed practicing Kiss Me. I really loved this song. I wasn't always a huge fan of it but just listening to the lyrics and the notes made me happy in a way. A slow song made me happy. It was weird. But I always made the connection of Shawn and I when I heard it. I was weird like that. Suddenly, I heard nonsense coming from outside. I got up and headed onto the porch.

"Ohhhhh Erika I'm so very sorika that you almost drownikad in my poolika! But you're okaika so I was wonderingiaka if you wanna go on a dataka on Saturdayaka please Erika." At this point I was laughing so hard.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm trying to ask you on a date if it's not obvious."

"By serenading me using made up words?"

"Yep." He spoke smiling goofily.

"Mendes, you should be glad you're cute because I would find you freakin' creepy if you weren't." I laughed as he headed up the stairs.

"Would you still think I was creepy if I did this?" He spoke tilting my chin up softly and pressing his lips to mine. He pulled away smiling down at me.

"Not at all."

He chuckled and I let him in. We headed down to the basement only to discover that there were boxes everywhere. So I opened the first one and smiled pulling out the Nerf gun and turning to the tall boy and shooting him with a dart. He cursed and rubbed the back of his head. "Where did you even get that?" He asked picking up the fallen dart off the floor.

"They're in this box." I stated grabbing one and throwing him it. We ended up having a huge battle between the two of us, using the boxes in the basement as barricades for a real life multiplayer game. I was laughing so hard at some of the actions Shawn did, rolling behind the next box and acting like a 6 year old playing James Bond. Soon enough we ran out of darts and Shawn started rapid firing what was left at me. "I surrender! I surrender!" I laughed rolling onto my back as he stood above me.

"Ha. I win. Like always." He chuckled with a smirk.

"Okay, so you won." I laughed getting up with his help. I set the gun down on a box, only to pick it back up to read the label. "Oh my god!" I cheered, looking for a box opener.

"What?" Shawn asked confused.

"That box has all of the pictures of me and my childhood artwork in it." I stated still searching. Soon enough I heard the sound of tape being cut. I turned around and saw Shawn using a pocketknife to open the cardboard. "That works." I stated with a shrug. I jogged back over to him as he opened the box. I pulled out the first photo box and sat on the concrete floor of the unfinished basement starting to open it. "Oh god." I laughed.

"Lemme see!" Shawn stated snatching the photo from me. "Oh my god, you were Tigger for Halloween?" He asked with a giggle.

"I was two, are you seriously going to judge me?" I asked with a laugh.

"No, I think it's adorable." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes and started paging through the photos, as Shawn went through another box. "Who's this kid?" He asked pointing to the boy I stood next to an arm around each other with a wide smile on both of our faces.

"That's my brother." I stated looking back at the photos.

"Wait, you have a brother?" I nodded.

"He's my fraternal twin." I explained. Shawn's eyes widened at this.

"You're a twin?"

"We've been through this." I laughed, nodding again.

"Which one of you is older?" I sighed and looked at him.

"He is. By an hour." I laughed starting to put the photos back. "I miss him. A lot. He was my best friend." I sighed.

"I'm sorry. Is he with your mom?" I nodded and stood up putting the box back in the moving box.

"Yeah. They split us apart in the divorce. Which frustrates me because I really didn't want to live in a separate house." I sighed. Shawn simply nodded, not adding anything on and following me up the steps and turning out the lights behind us.