“Do I have a penis?” she asked, tapping her foot on the ground.
Smiling sweetly at her, I said, “I’d still love you just as much if you did.”
Stomping her foot down, she snapped, “Don’t distract me by being sweet, I’m trying to edu-man-cate you. But just so you know, I’d totally do you if I did.”
Bursting out laughing, I dropped down to my ass on the ground and leaned back to get a different angle of the vase for the photos.
“So, your point is that he’s interested because he’s doing more than what he should be? FYI, I don’t believe you. I think Jinx is just a really nice guy, and he’s showering me with that niceness so that I have more than just one friend here.”
“You’ll see,” she said smugly, helping me up when I lifted my arm in the air.
“Being close to thirty sucks balls,” I muttered when my knees cracked and protested. “Remember when we used to be able to squat and jump without it sounding like a breadstick being cracked in half?”
“It’s a blast. When I’m dealing with a patient at work and it happens to them, I’m like, ‘bruh, I feel your pain.’ They’re usually eighty or ninety years old, though, and that makes me worry.”
Throwing my head back, I burst out laughing, not realizing my whole body was moving until I lost my balance. It took a while, but when it left me and I lifted my head back up, it was to see Maddie watching me with tears.
“What? What’s happened?”
Wiping her cheek, she swallowed harshly. “You used to do that all the time when we were in middle school, laugh until you lost your balance. I haven’t seen it since a long time before the incident. Your parents told me they missed hearing you laugh, and I just wish I could have recorded it.”
I had to think long and hard about it because I was pretty sure I did it a lot, but I couldn’t be certain because I didn’t pay attention to things like that. I knew Jinx had made me laugh a lot recently, some of it to the point I couldn’t hold my head up, too, but hadn’t I also done that with other people?
“You don’t even remember the last time, do you?” she asked softly, more tears falling.
Shaking my head, I looked around us, like I was gauging where’d be best to shoot the next photo, when it was because I just couldn’t look at her when I answered her question. What I was about to say would make her even more determined that Jinx liked me more than a friend, but it was pertinent.
“He makes me laugh all the time. It hits me sometimes that I haven’t had the feelings laughter normally gives people when I’ve laughed over the last eleven years. I just didn’t realize it was as bad as that until you said what you did just now.”
Closing the distance between us, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in for a bear hug. Maddie might be petite, but she was definitely fierce and strong. “Honey, there’s nothing wrong with finally being able to do it and to let go. When your parents find out, it’ll be like every Christmas present hitting them at once.”
I wanted to give them that, so I was going to look for more things to laugh at and enjoy in life. I was also becoming slightly addicted to how laughing made me feel, like I didn’t have a worry in the world, so I had selfish reasons for it, too.
Once I was done taking the photos, the two of us carried the vase through to the bedroom that had stuff I’d listed to sell in it. More made it into the scaredy-cat one, but the ones in here were unique, beautiful, sometimes crazy, and packed a punch according to Maddie and some of the reviews on my page.
Looking over them all, they definitely packed a punch for me. They were pieces I’d be proud to display for the rest of my life and that I’d die knowing they’d get passed on to my kids and grandkids who’d feel the same way about them. That’s what I aimed to do each time I started a piece.
“Oh,” she squealed, dancing over to some boxes. “You finally got your customized packaging for it all.” Then, leaning in, she pulled out some tape with the logo of my company on it. “I freaking love this. Can you wrap my Christmas presents up with it?”
“Mads, that’s over seven months away,” I reminded her dryly, grinning when she pulled out the pink straw I’d ordered to protect things. It was only one bag, but I wanted to get an idea of it and make sure it wasn’t a waste of money.