Best Friends with Benefits

22

Amari
10 Years Ago
3rd Grade

"Mom, isn't this beautiful?" I asked spinning around in my new fancy dress.

"It's beautiful, baby." Mom smiled at me. "It'll look even better once you let me do your hair."

I sat in front of Mom and she began to do my hair as Daddy sat beside me and we watched cartoons.

"Are you going to dance?" Daddy asked.

"Yeah." I smiled. "I'm gonna spin and everything!"

"Who are you going to dance with? No boys, though!" He poked my arm and I giggled.

"I'm gonna dance with Polly and Kenya and Tyler..." Daddy cut me off.

"Tyler is a boy." He said.

"Yeah, but not really." I shrugged.

"Oooh, does Amari have a crush on Tyler?" Mom instigated the conversation.

"No." I giggled. "What's a crush?"

"It's when you like someone, baby." Mom laughed.

"Oh, I like Tyler! He's my best friend!" I clapped my hands.

"Yeah, but do you think he's cute?" Mom asked.

"You better not." Daddy laughed.

"Tyler's okay." I shrugged. "He likes to run around in the dirt and sometimes after he finishes washing his dog, he smells like wet dog."

"Is that good or bad?" Daddy asked.

"I don't know." I said. "Depends on who you ask."

"All done!" Mom smiled.

"Go look at yourself, beautiful." Daddy chuckled patting my back.

Tyler

"Mom..." I groaned as she combed through my hair for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Sorry. You just have a lot of flyaways!" She laughed.

"Mommy!" Hunter screamed running into the bathroom. "Dad ate my chicken nugget!"

"Okay baby." Mom nodded. "Lewis, stop eating his chicken nuggets!"

"They were just sitting on the counter." Dad said walking into the bathroom. "You're still not done? Maya, it's just a dance."