December 27, 2014
C A L U M
I look around for that very familiar looking girl I saw in the audience.... or crowd.... I don't really know what to call people who come to weddings. But I saw her and she looks very familiar. I know I know her, or I've met her before sonehwere, I just can't seem to remember. The thing that caught my eye though was that she was wearing a black dress and a flannel. Who wears black to a wedding, let alone a flannel...
"Earth to Calum."
"Calum, you there?"
I hear my friends say all at once as we get food at the long table resting against the wall. I've already gotten a plate so I've been waiting for them to get their food and I guess I didn't notice they were now waiting for me.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm right here." I chuckle and continue walking with them to the round white cloth covered table that we were picked to sit at.
We all start eating immediately, being hungry teenage boys. I don't even pay attention to the pointless conversation that goes on around me because the food from the catering company is so good. I feel a tap on my shoulder just as I was about to take another bite of pasta and I turn around to see my dad.
"Hey, Mr. Hood." Ashton, a polite curly dirty blonde that giggles like a school girl, says to my dad.
"Hi, Ashton. I'm glad you could all make it." He smiles and sits in the one of the empty seats next to me. "Do you know who's here?"
"Who?" I ask and take the bite of pasta I was waiting for.
"Little Aspen."
Aspen, as in my childhood best friend Aspen? The Aspen that I would talk to for hours and would hang out with everyday? The Aspen that was- still is- a girl and would play sports and stuff with me?
I know its that Aspen.
"Aspen? She's here? Where?" I repeat.
"Yeah. She's over at that table. I just had a little chat with her father." I follow my dad's eyes to another round table. I see a gorgeous blonde with tanned skin. Chloe. Then I see the girl with the flannel and black dress. I squint my eyes to look more closely at her and see that she has a peircing, a little silver loop in her nose.
"That's Aspen?" I ask. She looks so different then she did years back.
Wow. All I could remember looking back is my girl best friend, the one who would play soccer with me. The memories of me and her playing together rush through my head, and I don't know whether to feel sad or happy. In seventh grade, we'd sit under the playground at the elementary school because we thought we were cool kids... I can't believe that's Aspen. Puberty hit her and it hit her like a fucking truck.
"Yeah, crazy huh? She's currently living with her sister in an apartment somewhere here in Sydney." Dad says and pats my shoulder before saying goodbye to me and my friends and leaving.
"Is Aspen the blonde?" Michael, a dyed-red headed with an eyebrow peircing, asks. I guess they couldn't not listen in to me and my father's conversation.
"Yeah, I like the blonde." Luke nods.
"No, she's the brunette. We were best friends until she changed schools because-" I remember the reason that she changed schools. That shouldn't be shared no matter what. Even if these guys are my best mates, they don't need to know.
"Because why?" Luke asks.
"Because she moved out of the school district." I lie. Well, she did move out of the school district but the reason behind why she moved is still heart breaking to me and shouldn't ever be mentioned.
