Friendship Promise ♥

Original writing from 2011 - one of the first stories I wrote about Chase and Avery

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The day that third grade ended and students ran from their classes, screaming with joy that it was finally summer, Chase and I spent the day sitting on my porch swing, licking popsicles, and counting cars that drove down the street.

It was an adventure day. I could feel it. Chase and my most favorite activity to do together was pretending. Making up stories. Changing from two eight-year-olds into a prince and princess, a deep-sea diver and a friendly dolphin, astronauts, explorers, fearless and brave, able to conquer anything.

Chase finished his lemon popsicle and wiped his hands on the seat of his jeans. He turned to me in excitement.

“Ave, guess what I just thought of?” he said, his eyes sparkling.

I chomped the last icy bit of my popsicle off the stick and laid it on the armrest of the white-washed swing.

“What?” I asked curiously, licking my fingers.

“We should go up to the treehouse and draw a map of the whole neighborhood,” he said, “and then find where the fairies and elves hid the treasure now.”

He nodded with a smile and beamed at me, waiting for my approval.

I thought for a bit.

“But we already found the treasure,” I pondered. “They hid it behind the sunflower patch, and how could they hide it again if we have it?” I pointed to the big yellow flowers, where just last week we had found a golden coin, which Momma said was a dollar coin.

His face fell.

“Hmm…” he quietly hummed.

“Hmm…” I said, copying him as he put his hand to his chin and thought hard.

I loved copying him.

“Well…” he finally said, “why don’t we…”

He trailed off and didn’t finish his sentence.

My smile fell too.

“Are we out of adventures, Chase?” I asked fearfully.

“No!” he exclaimed.

He jumped off the porch swing and ran around to the back of my house, to the garage. I quickly followed and found him on his tiptoes, getting the bucket of sidewalk chalk down from the fourth shelf.

“I don’t want to draw bubbles today,” I said, crossing my arms and puffing out my cheeks.

“We aren’t going to draw bubbles! We’re gonna do something different!” he said proudly.

He marched back out to the driveway with the bucket in hand and I followed, feeling very curious. He plunked himself down on the driveway and selected a bright blue piece of chalk from the red bucket.

“We’re gonna make a friendship promise!” he announced as he began to write on the driveway.

“A friendship promise?” I asked, cocking my head to watch. “What’s that?”

“A promise to be friends forever and ever and ever,” he replied, beaming.
“Ohhh,” I replied, continuing to watch.

He wrote for a bit more before finally slamming the chalk point into the pavement to create a big period. The chalk crumbled but Chase just gazed with admiration at his work. He had written in scrawly lettering:

My name is Chase James Walker and I promise to always be friends with Avery (Ave) Joy Nikleson forever and ever until I die, but I hope I don’t die until I am big.

He then signed his name and looked at me, smiling and holding the chalk out to me. I giggled and took it, signing my name as well.

“You spelled my last name wrong, silly,” I said, still giggling.

He frowned and looked at it.

Then he rubbed it out with his sneaker and replaced it with “Nickleson.”

“No!” I laughed and went to the garage.

I found a sponge used for washing the car and wet it with the hose. Then I came back and rubbed out my last name again. Taking up the chalk, I wrote “Nicholson” in choppy, blue letters.

“Aveeerrry!” I heard my Momma yell.

“Coming!” I yelled back and ran to the garage.

My Momma stood there, frowning.

“Did you leave the hose on?” she asked, pointing to the puddle of water forming in the grass.

“Oops, sorry Momma,” I said, turning off the water and laying the head of the hose back onto the coil. “I was using it to get the sponge wet so I could erase my name and fix it,” I explained, looking up at her.

“Your name?” she asked, looking confused.

I took her hand and led her out to the driveway where Chase was decorating the promise with flowers and hearts. My mom read it and smiled.

“Aww, that’s sweet,” she said, smiling. “And,” she added, turning to Chase, “I hope you don’t die until you’re big either, honey,” she told him, bending over to hug and tickle him.

He giggled and tried to cover his tummy. Chase had always been ticklish around his sides.

“Thank you, Mrs. Nicholson,” he said, his eyes dancing with joy.

“But a promise like this shouldn’t be written in chalk that will wash away!” she exclaimed. Stooping down and picking up the chalk bucket, she took my hand.

“Come on, let’s go write this down and keep it safe,” she said, beckoning to Chase, who followed.

She put the chalk back in the garage and took us inside, where she got out paper, crayons, and two glasses of milk with cookies, placing them all on the kitchen table. Chase and I eagerly started the task of rewriting the promise and decorating it, while we munched on the chocolate chip cookies and sipped the frothy white milk.

“Done!” Chase announced, his mouth full of cookie and his chin adorned with crumbs. I grinned as he held up our promise.

Ours.

Momma took it and put it through a machine she had, saying it would make it glossy and shiny, and protect the paper from bending or getting crumpled. I watched as the promise paper came out on the other side as Momma turned the handle. There it was, finished and perfect. Chase wiped his mouth and hands, and then held them out for the paper. Mom handed it to him and he gazed at it proudly.

“Let’s go hang it in the treehouse!” he exclaimed eagerly, as he wriggled down from his chair.

I nodded and ran out the front door to my treehouse. Climbing the ladder, a bunch of wooden boards hammered into the side of the tree, we entered the treehouse and looked around. The walls were arrayed with pictures Chase and I had drawn and colored together, as well as butterfly nets, jars for bugs, a box of dress-up clothes, a big pad of paper, and boxes of crayons. We found an extra push-pin in one of the boxes, and Chase pressed on it hard, driving it into the wall and the top of the promise paper.

There. It was hung.

We both stood there quietly, admiring it. Suddenly, Chase slipped his hand into mind. Shocked, I looked down at our two intertwined hands, before looking up to meet Chase’s eyes. Chase softly smiled, his big blue eyes glowing with a happiness I had never seen before.

“Ave, this is my promise to you. I will always be your best friend. I want to grow big with you, and I promise I’ll always be with you!”

I felt a joy bubble up in my chest, and I squeezed his hand.
“I will write my own promise to you,” I replied, smiling. “And I want the same, Chase. I want to always be with you! I want to keep pretending and going on adventures. Can we do that? Please?”

“Always,” he nodded. I noticed a sudden touch of sadness cloud up behind his eyes.

We stood there a little longer, still grasping each other’s hands, feeling the sun that filtered in through the slats of the treehouse warming our necks, and casting a golden glow on our entwined fingers.

“I...I got to go home now,” Chase said quietly.

He gently slipped his hand from mine and turned, beginning his descent down the ladder, jumping off the last few slats and thudding onto the grass. I stuck my head out of the window and watched as he ran across the street to his house, and I saw the sun was setting behind the rows of houses, the sky streaked with pink and orange. I silently look at my hand, which still felt warm, but empty. I felt a fuzziness rise within me, and I smiled, turning my attention back to the sunset.

A feeling, and a sunset, I would never forget.

A promise I would always remember.

A happiness that would come back to me, again and again.

♥

Image source: https://www.wattpad.com/322726485-mierda-me-estoy-enamorando-cap-44-alucinacion