A Bird on a Windowsill (8 page)

“Why do you call me
Eben
?”

She meets my gaze, and a smile starts to crawl across her sun-tanned face. “For Ebenezer.”

“No, I mean, but why not just call me Salem?”

“Because everyone needs a nickname.”

I push my cheek out with my tongue while I try not to smile. “But you’ve never called anyone but me by another name.”

Her head spins back toward me. There’s a look of surprise or shock or awe on her face—I can’t tell which.

“What? That’s not true.”

I shrug. “Not your sister. Not Tracy. Not Julain. Not Lindsay. Not even him.”

I watch her eyebrows knit together, as her attention goes back to that moonlight creeping up the creek.

She’s quiet for almost a whole minute.

“I...,” she starts but then stops. “I don’t know why I call you Eben.”

She looks back at me with a wide smile on her face. “And I don’t know how you know that no one else has a nickname.”

“Vannah.” I sit back and laugh. “I’ve been right here by your side all your life. Why wouldn’t I know that?”

Her top teeth press into her bottom lip, but she still doesn’t say a word.

“Well, why do
you
think I call you Eben?”

I look down at our feet and think about it.

“I think it’s because you like me.”

She finds my eyes.

“Salem Ebenezer!”

She pushes her shoulder into mine and then smiles and falls back against the concrete.

I carefully let a breath escape my lungs, and then I look back at her when she doesn’t sit back up. Her focus is on that black sky now, and she’s just smiling away.

We’ve been friends for a long time. And I know that’s hard to break. I just wonder if she’ll ever be able to see past it.

“Look at the stars with me,” she says, never taking her eyes off the sky.

I lean back, and after tossing a small rock out of the way, I fold my hands under my head and look up, too.

“You have two choices,” she says.

“Okay.”

“You can fly to the moon and see the stars up close, and you can look down and see the whole world and all its oceans and lights and people...”

Her words trail off.

“But?” I ask.

“But,” she starts, “you can’t come back.”

“Or?” I ask.

“Or, you can stay right here.”

I smile. “That’s easy.”

She turns her face my way.

“I’d stay right here,” I say.

“But you could see the world, literally.”

I shrug it off. She’s my world, but of course, those words never leave my mouth.

“Here is just fine,” I say, instead.

She looks at me with a half-questioning look, and then she leans my way and rests her head on my chest.

I almost stop breathing. I wasn’t expecting that. I try to calm myself as she wraps her arm around me.

“I’m glad you always forgot your lunch,” she whispers.

I smile into the gentle breeze. “I’m glad you always brought yours.”

I hear her laugh softly, as she nuzzles more into my chest. And I pray that she doesn’t hear my wild heartbeat. And I pray, too, that that full moon has a hard time finding the sun on the other side of the world—because I’m okay with this night lasting a little while longer.

E
ben:
You awake?

Vannah:
Yep

Eben:
Did you get in trouble with your parents?

Vannah:
No. They didn’t even notice.

Eben:
How? It’s 3 a.m.!

Vannah:
I said I was with you.

Eben:
I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about that.

Vannah:
Oh, don’t worry. They still think you’re sexy. They just trust you.

Eben:
That’s weird.

Vannah:
Lol!

Vannah:
I had fun tonight.

Eben:
Me too.

Vannah:
I can’t sleep. Will you tell me a story??

Eben:
About what?

Vannah:
Anything

Eben:
Okay

Eben:
Once upon a time, there was this boy, and one day, he met this beautiful girl, with long blond hair and a pretty nice butt.

Vannah:
:)

Eben:
And turns out, this girl could grant one wish to the boy.

Vannah:
A wish-granting girl? Like a genie?

Eben:
Yeah. But just one wish. Not three.

Vannah:
Eben??

Eben:
To be continued...

Vannah:
Okay, fine! Good night, E.

Eben:
Sweet dreams, V.

Chapter Ten

Savannah 

(Sixteen Years Old)

Day 4,028

“E
ben.”

I tap on his window. The room is completely dark, and his blinds are closed. I can’t see anything.

“Eben,” I whisper. I tap some more.

All of a sudden, the blinds lift, and there’s a dark figure in the window.

“Vannah?”

“Shh.”

“What are you doing?” He acts as if he’s whispering this time, but I can’t really hear him. I can only read his lips.

“Hold on,” he mouths.

He leaves the window, and a few moments later, I hear his front door squeak open.

I shimmy out of the peony bushes and head to the front porch. But I stop when I see him.

He’s just standing there. He’s barefoot, shirtless. The only thing clinging to his skin is an old pair of black sweatpants.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

His laughter breaks my concentration on his shirtless self. And I must be giving him a funny look because now he’s wearing a playful smile.

“What?”

“You’re cute.” I just say it, matter-of-fact.

He smiles. It’s bashful, but I expected that.

“Okay...thanks?”

I nod and smile, too.

“Vannah, it’s midnight.”

“Yeah, but it’s Saturday.”

He seems to think about it and then nods. “Okay, yeah, you’ve got a point.”

We stand there for a moment, staring at each other. I think he’s waiting on me to tell him the plan for tonight. But I don’t really have a plan. And the longer we stand here, the more I think he realizes that.

“Come to the dock with me.”

He lowers his head. I can tell he’s trying not to laugh. “All right.”

He turns back and closes the door and then makes his way down the porch steps, still barefoot, still shirtless.

“Do you really think I’m cute?”

I nod. “Yeah. I think so.”

His soft chuckle fills the space between us.

“You
think
so?”

“I know so.”

I laugh, partially because he has this new air of confidence, all of a sudden.

“I mean, I see you every day, and I see...you,” I say. “I just think I rarely stop to see what body you’re in.”

“So, I’m in a good body?”

“Yeah. You’re in a good body.”

He smiles proudly.

We get to the dock and walk to the end of it, and then we both just stop and stare out into the water.

“You think they’ll have docks like this in South Carolina?”

He nods. “Yeah, I reckon they do. Only instead of lakes, they’ve got an ocean. So, it’ll be better than this dock.”

I look up at him. “I don’t think so.”

I sit down and dangle my feet off the edge, and seconds later, he does, too.

“I don’t think anything can be better than this,” I say.

The water is dark, like black diamonds, glistening in the moonlight.

“Plus, there are no Ebens on those boat docks in South Carolina.”

He smiles. “You don’t think?”

“Probably not,” I say, shaking my head.

“You could always stay. You could stay here...with me. You know, Mom wouldn’t mind.”

“I know, but mine would. I’ve got to go, Eben.”

He lets out a long, defeated sigh. “I know. I know you do.”

I find his eyes. They’re warm and light. They feel like sunrays and look like the color of sand. And the way he’s looking at me now, I know he wants to kiss me. I can see it, but more so, I can feel it. And I want to kiss him back. But where would that leave us?

I feel a little piece of my heart tearing for us...for him...for me. I’ve always had a thing for Salem Ebenezer. But when I was little, I didn’t know what it meant, and when I was old enough to know what it meant, I feared he didn’t feel the same way. And now... And now, it doesn’t matter anymore.

He puts his arm around me, and I breathe in the smell of his bedsheets. I’m going to miss the smell of his bed...and his room—his dumb, boy room, with its old Spiderman comforter and drum set and boy things. It reminds me of all those long nights we would spend holed up in there, eating chicken and dumplings and trying to make it across the Oregon Trail without one of us getting dysentery.

I’m going to miss it all. But mostly, I’m going to miss him.

I love him.

I always have.

V
annah:
Thanks for walking me home.

Eben:
Thanks for rescuing my Saturday night.

Vannah:
:)

Vannah:
Can you tell me some more of the story?

Eben:
Okay

Eben:
So, the boy thought about what he wanted his one wish to be. There were so many things he wanted: a dirt bike, a four-wheeler, a new lawn mower. Hell, maybe even wings to fly or superhuman strength or x-ray vision.

Vannah:
What would he use x-ray vision for?

Eben:
Don’t worry about it.

Vannah:
Lol!

Eben:
Anyway, he thought real hard about it, and then it came to him.

Vannah:
What did he pick?

Eben:
To be continued...

Vannah:
Eben!

Eben:
Good night, V.

Vannah:
Sweet dreams, E.