Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this story! I think my brain's been trying to pull this one together for a while. Fair warning- there is a lot of building up in this and it may be considered quite long for one coupling but I think it is worth it! Please feel free to comment, thank you and enjoy!
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Shanna stretched out her legs. They were sore from sitting criss-cross and from sitting on the hard surface below her. She felt her knee click just slightly. She turned her neck to the side to try and stop the small ache there. Sitting on the dirty, peeling wood floor of a half-shack was not the most comfortable thing in the entire world.
They came there often. She, Todd, and Simon (also called Fish by his two buddies.)
Simon looked out at the river just over the hill crest, down into the darkness of the trees, skeletal now, but soon to be revived as warmer weather was peeking its head out.
Simon was a self-inflicted philosophizer, with blue eyes like pools, so deep and yet so clear that to stare too long into them might cause one to want to step a toe in. Unfortunately none really had. None had really reached his heart. He often felt like a beverage additive, mixed in, hoping that no one noticed the taste was off.
He was oblivious however, because Shanna was so deeply in love with Simon that she feared she'd never be able to say it. His every move, the way he smiled a little smile when someone said something he knew to be incorrect but was too polite to fight them on it. She loved his blonde hair. Some people have blonde hair such as his when they're kids, so blonde it's almost white, but many of them outgrow it and their hair turns darker, seemingly year by year. His never did. To Shanna, it was like he existed in this world, but he didn't. It scared her sometimes. Sometimes he looked at her and she felt like she was grasping for a feather that was already being taken by the wind.
"Dudes!" Todd yelled from just beyond their makeshift 'hut,' "Someone left a frisbee out here!"
He bent to pick it up and, with a big smile, shook off the dead grass and dirt from the found treasure. "Should we?" He asked.
Simon looked at Shanna, a shared glance they had developed over the years. It was a look that communicated, at the speed of light, how much they appreciated the goofiness of their shared friend, but also how much they worried for him, with his tendency toward impulsivity. He was always after a good time. They had saved him from many precarious situations. They'd drive well into the night, talking about nothing, or not talking at all, while Todd slept against the window in the back, safely strapped in by them.
"Sure," Shanna said, standing slowly and smiling Todd's way.
"Okay," Simon replied, watching Shanna and then making his way over to Todd.
The trio walked to the larger expanse of grass beside them. The wind was warm, not violent or whipping, but enough to feel it wrap around them and then leave them.
"Just one frisbee?" Shanna laughed.
"Yeah just one," Todd laughed along. "It's like the most neon green I've ever seen!"
It was spectacularly green, verging on garish.
Simon felt as if he were watching his friends, and himself frankly, from a bird's eye view. Everything they said, everything they did, it was all so familiar. They had come here a thousand times, adding things to their little home away from home, where they would spend hours outside doing nothing at all, doing something that would last in their memories forever, cherished, or doing something completely stupid that probably should have been avoided in the first place.
That was then, though, when summer meant more freedom. Now that college had started it was all so very, very different. They had all stayed in state but had chosen different paths. Todd was going for a Marketing degree at a school hours away. Shanna was here; she was not enrolled in college yet. If she ever would, none of them really knew. She worked at a thrift shop and worked some hours caring for the elderly. Simon was enrolled in state college. It had become a misery for him. His roommate was an obnoxious asshole. He was nothing like the two friends he had beside him. Said roommate had girl after girl over. Simon could hardly enter the room at all despite his protests, let alone do his work or rest. So, a lot of his time was spent meandering around campus, eating whatever campus had to offer, drinking lots of coffee, and staring out at the manicured lawns.
This was supposed to be the best time of his life. So far it hadn't been. He found it ironic that some say high school is the best time of your life, and yet, so is college. He thought, Those are the people who aren't like me- those are the people that feel happy all the time, or if not happy all the time, they don't feel like I do, kind of empty, kind of like tv static walking around and taking up space.
"Let's play," Simon said, somewhat authoritatively.
The way he spoke didn't sit well with Shanna. Something was different about Simon, she could feel it in her bones like an ache, like a mineral deficiency. Watching as his eyes seemed to soften into some kind of dull resolve, she decided that she had to do it. She had to speak to Simon; otherwise her greatest fear may come true - she could lose Simon to the wind.
"Yeah! Let's play. Form a triangle. We'll try our best not to drop it," Shanna says. She nudges Simon with her shoulder in a playful way, something she's done a million times before. Simon knew what it meant. It said, come on, play, and stop being so serious goddammit.
They did so. It wasn't a large triangle. This was to be an easy and casual game.
Todd gave the first toss, gently sailing it effortlessly through the air as if he were an ultimate pro. Shannon caught it, but just. She smiled. This was fun. Fun. That was something she didn't get enough of. Between the boredom of sitting and waiting to check people out at the thrift store, casually inspecting their found items, and caring for her two elderly patients Thursday and Friday, she didn't do much else. She loved visiting Al and Betsy. They were both kind, and had a million and a half stories. Some were interesting, others not as much. But caring for them, making sure they had what they needed, being someone to talk to, it made her feel better.
Besides that, she was at home. Still living with Mom and Dad had its perks, as well as its downsides. Her parents were good parents. She felt lucky in that respect, and was happy for them that they'd found each other. They were still so in love after all these years that she sometimes felt like a third wheel. They weren't often home, having jobs of their own. When they were home, sometimes they'd have dinner together, often not. They went about their lives with ease.
Shanna tossed the frisbee to Simon, rather pathetically. It drifted and then, as a frisbee does, seemed to be warped by the wind, landing proudly a couple feet from Simon's.
"Good try," Simon teased jokingly. He tossed it toward Todd. It was a low-sloping toss but Todd dipped to catch it.
"You're down one Shanna!" Todd calls.
"Hey, give me a break! You guys know I'm no good at this!" This is so fun, Shanna thought. She could feel the breeze against her skin, moving her clothes just slightly against her body and messing her hair about.
