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."

"Not just a dance. A cotillion." Mom said fixing my suit.

"I want to go to the cat-a-million." Hunter sounded out the word and still managed to get it wrong.

"When you're in third grade, baby." Mom patted his head.

"And can say the word." I laughed.

"Mom! Tyler's making fun of me!" Hunter snitched.

"Tyler stop making fun of Hunter." Mom said.

"Exactly. That's called bullying!" Hunter nodded.

"Come on. Let's go play Mario carts." Dad picked Hunter up and threw him over his shoulder.

"You always cheat!" Hunter yelled as he was carried out of the bathroom.

"I should've had a girl. At least one." Mom sighed running a hand through her hair. "What're you most excited for?"

"Nothing." I mumbled. "It all seems dumb to me. Especially the slow dance. Why would I purposely want to dance slow?"

Is that how all dances were? You absolutely had to slow dance with someone? Was it supposed to be the best part of the dance? I remember how excited Ms. Roberts has gotten when she was teaching us to slow dance. I just don't get it.

"It isn't for everyone." Mom laughed. "But you're still young and haven't done it yet. You may not like the concept, but once you actually do it, you may just fall in love with it." I saw her smile to herself in the mirror. "Okay! Look at yourself in the mirror."

She excitedly pulled me in front of the full length mirror and I looked at my reflection.

Amari
At The Dance

I twirled into the room dancing with Daddy as Mom walked behind us.

"Char!" Tyler's Mom ran over to us. "Where's Amari?"

"I'm right here!" I ran over to them.

"You look stunning!" She gasped kneeling down.

"Where's Tyler?" Mom asked.

"He's right...." She looked around.

"Here." Tyler said walking into the room.

"How handsome!" Mom clapped her hands excitedly.

"Where are your shoes?" Mrs. Brooks asked.

"She won't wear the heels. She says they ruin her spins." Mom laughed.

"Makes sense." Mrs. Brooks nodded. "I hate shoes too!"

"Okay!" Daddy said walking over to us. "Have fun children. We'll be back to get you before the night is over."

He kissed my cheek and high fives Tyler before ushering our Moms out of the ballroom.

"Let's dance!" I squealed grabbing onto Tyler and pulling him onto the dance floor.

Later That Night

Tyler

I watched Amari jump around and dance. She was a terrible dancer, but she loved to do it anyway. She had the type of energy that made everyone around her want to be happy. It made everyone around her want to dance with her.

"Kids! We're going to dance just like we practiced!" Ms. Roberts, our teacher, said into the mic. "Everyone grab your friend and let's slow dance!"

"Come on Tyler!" Amari grabbed my hand.

I sighed and held onto Amari as she held onto me and we swayed to the music. She was so happy and I couldn't figure out why. Was I the only one who thought this didn't make sense? Amari pulled me closer to her and I listened to her hum the song we had practiced to all week. The song I was tired of hearing until I heard it from her.

"Thanks for dancing with me. I know you don't like to dance very much." She whispered.

"It's okay." I whispered back.

Dancing with her felt different. She made it fun and I never wanted it to end. I wanted to jump around the dance floor all night if it meant I could hear her hum the music as she stared at her feet and tried to dance perfectly. Maybe the concept was dumb, but if you were to dance with the right person, you could actually learn to like it.

Present Time

I played with the zipper on Amari's jacket as she sat in my lap staring at the tv, but not actually paying any attention to it.

"Why do we keep doing this?" Amari asked softly as she grabbed onto my hand. "Why do you keep doing this?"

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Pushing me away then letting me back in." She sighed. "That doesn't feel good."

"I don't want to do that, but I know it's for the best." I sighed. "Jake's a good match for you. I still have a lot of things to work through before I can get to you. You know that."

"So? I'll help you work through them. I've never been an outsider before so don't treat me like one now." She sat up.

"I know." I nodded. "But I don't want you to get hurt in the process, Amari."

Amari

What do I say to that? He's already been hurting me, but I wouldn't mind getting hurt a few more times if it meant I got him in the end. Did he really just try to push me to Jake? Just a few months ago he was trying to push Jake out of my life!

"It was easier when we were just friends." Tyler mumbled.

He's right.

"You're right." I said. "We should go back to that."

"Huh?" He asked.

"We should just be friends again." I shrugged standing up. "We should forget everything that happened these past few months and pretend like nothing changed. Nothing has to change."

Tyler stood up and stared down at me with squinted eyes.

"We don't have to be together and we don't have to hate each other's boyfriend or girlfriend. We can just be friends again." I nodded. "Buddies."

I lifted my hand for a high five and Tyler grabbed it before pulling me to him and kissing my lips. I held onto his face and kissed him back before he pulled away.

"Don't say anymore dumb shit like that." He shook his head and kissed me again.

He was so confusing! Did he want me or not? I get that he wanted to be alone during this time, but when would he finally be mines? Did I even care at this point? I just wanted him to hold onto me. Pathetic? I know.

—————————

I know! This chapter is a big cliche, but I thought it would've been cute.

Blame the execution, not the idea. Lmao.

But Winter Break is here and I'm excited to have some downtime to work on this book!

I have so many plans laid out for this book!