Page 40 of Back to Willow

I am distracted by my work thoughts until something stops me in my tracks. From a small doctor’s office, a wailing sound travels to the hallway.

As curiosity gets the best of me, I notice a paediatric doctor and a woman in her early thirties. She seems amused by something, and when I follow her line of sight, I see two kids. They both look like they’re around five years old, and if it weren’t for the extensive physical differences between them, I’d have thought they were siblings or something.

The girl is crying—hiccups and all—about something, and I deduce that she must be the one that needed the visit to the doctor while the boy, slightly taller than her with caramel brown hair and bright blue eyes, comforts her. A wave of foreign feelings overwhelms me, and I come a little bit closer to listen to what they’re saying.

I don’t know why this need is taking over, though. The need to listen and to take a better look. The boy looks oddly familiar—from where, I have no idea—but when I see better how he cares for the scared girl, I shrug it off knowingly. What’s drawing me in is their closeness, how they interact, and their age.

The same age I was when Willow and I became friends.

“Thank god mum had work, and I could stay with you guys for the last days. Imagine having Abby here at the doctor by herself,” he complains. “She’s such a scaredy cat.”

The doctor and the woman accompanying them chuckle at the same time. I can’t stop the snort coming out of me.

Quite a pretentious kid, eh.

“She’s not alone, Dylan. I am here with her. Her mother, you know?” The lady playfully narrows her eyes at the kid, who I now know is called Dylan.

But he doesn’t seem fazed. Again, he looks so oddly familiar. I can’t shake it away.

“Besides, she’s only here to have her eyes checked because she might need glasses.”

“I don’t want to,” the girl whines.

The kid, Dylan, turns to her and grabs her cheeks.

“Abby, I’ve done it before, too, when I came with my mum. It doesn’t hurt; you’ll only see some bright lights, and then try to see with glass in front of your eyes, I think to see if you need help or not,” he explains, and I am surprised at how much older the kid seems by talking in this way. “Come on, you are so brave, Abby. Go do it,” he encourages her.

She nods and stands up with her mother by her side. The boy follows closely behind as they walk to the room right next to the one they were in. This time around, the door is closed, but it doesn’t take long until they are all returning to the original office.

“Thank you, Dylan. You’re such a good friend to Abby,” the mother whispers when they sit down.

He smiles, proudly, making me grin automatically as well.

“I am her best friend, and I will be forever,” he claims, and my chest clenches at the sound of those words, giving me the push I need to walk away from this office and head to the locker room, while still taking my mind back in time to when we were fourteen...

“Get out of here, freak!!” a girl screamed, making me turn back to see Stacey yell at Willow.

I knew this would happen if I brought Willow along. But I had promised Willow we’d spend the day together, and Daniel was adamant that I had to come for a football game with the boys. In Willow-style, she just smiled and said it was fine, that she’d tag along and just sit by the fence to watch me play.

Daniel didn’t seem to mind Willow; he was used to me bringing her along to pretty much everything, but other kids were not as understanding. Especially Stacey.

She had been quite clingy to me since school started that year. I tried to ignore her the best I could, but it seemed as if it wasn’t enough because she hadn’t gotten the memo. She also knew Willow was my best friend and we were always together. She should have known that to be my friend, she’d have to treat Willow kindly, and yet all she’d ever done was the opposite. If she thought I was going to be her friend when she treated Lo like shit, she was damn well wrong.

I quickly passed the ball to Daniel right then and there and motioned to him that I was going to leave the match. With a glance to where the girls were sitting, he seemed to understand and nodded, calling one of the kids that were on the bench waiting for a turn to enter our game here on the field by the park.

As I headed toward the fence separating us from the people watching our small game, I saw Stacey grabbing Willow’s arm and pulling her out of her seat, pushing her forward before sitting down where she was, and red took over my vision as I stomped toward them.

Of course, Willow said nothing and straightened as if nothing had happened, leaving without standing up for herself. Except, one of Stacey’s friends stuck her foot out, making Willow trip and fall on her face.

Oh, hell no!

I ran out, seething. By the time I got there, she was already on her knees, cleaning her hands the best she could while those vicious girls laughed like hideous hyenas.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I growled, helping her up.

The girls gasped in shock as if they weren't expecting me to catch them red-handed, bullying my best friend.

“I am so sorry, Liam; you know how clumsy she is.” Stacey pouted, feigning innocence. “She fell on her own, and we couldn’t hold the laughter.”