Best Friends and True Love
Spring Break and the Lake
oOoOoOoOo
"Finally, Spring Break," I said as I woke up Saturday morning. It seemed normal. It was morning time, I felt well rested, light was coming in despite my curtains, and Winry was sitting at my desk eating a bowl of cereal.
Wait, that last part sounded weird. I looked at my desk again and she was still there eating cereal.
"Winry, what are you doing?"
"What?" she asked as she looked at me. "Oh, you're awake. I'm eating breakfast. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"It looks like you're here damn early in the morning again watching me sleep."
"Oops, I'm busted," she said sarcastically. "Come on Ed, did you forget?"
I sat up and scratched my head. "Forget what?"
She narrowed her eyes and stood up, putting her hands on her hips and looking pretty intimidating.
"You, me, today, the lake?"
Oh now I remembered.
"Oh, yeah. I remember now. Is it warm enough outside?"
She sat back down and picked her bowl up again.
"Yeah, unusually warm. By noon it'll be hot."
I swiped her bowl of cereal and dumped the rest of it into my mouth.
"Hey!" she said as she stood up, shocked.
"Hey, I have to eat, too," I told her calmly.
She crossed her arms over her chest.
"You get grossed out by me putting vampire teeth in my mouth that had been in your mouth but you have no problem eating or drinking after me? What's wrong with you?"
I rolled my eyes and left the room to go get ready.
Originally Al was supposed to come with us, but he'd caught a cold. He always caught a cold whenever the weather went from warm to cold and then back to warm.
I kind of felt sorry for him, but…not really.
When I was ready and came out of my room, which I'd chased her out of so I could get dressed, I found her in Al's room giving him a kiss on the forehead and handing him a Popsicle.
"Thank you Winry," he said weakly, which I knew he was faking to get some attention.
"Winry, are you gonna baby him all day or come with me?" I called from the staircase.
She hurried out of the room and grabbed my arm before running down the stairs.
We went to the garage and got into my red convertible. She was right. I was really warm today. At least we wouldn't be freezing in that water, then.
She must've already been to the garage since the stuff she'd brought was already in my car.
I laughed as I saw her put on a pair of black shades and let her hair down. She looked like one of those mysterious women in the movies who liked to drive fast in convertibles with shades on and their hair flowing behind them in the wind.
I guess that's the look she was going for.
I grabbed my shades, too, and I pulled out of the driveway. I knew today would be a nice day. Winry always managed to make things interesting, even in the middle of a boring class at school.
I drove for about thirty minutes before we reached the lake. It was blue and sparkling and looked inviting. Winry was so excited that she was hopping around in her seat.
I think she ate more than a bowl of cereal that morning. She must've had about five candy bars, too, or something…
"Winry, calm down," I said as I tugged on her arm. "It's just a lake."
She stuck her tongue out at me. "It's not just a lake it's the lake that only you take me to! It's special."
I took the keys out of the ignition and stuck them in my pocket. "Come on," I said as I got out of the car. "If you're that happy about it then you should be over there already."
She stood on the edge of the water and looked out at the lake. It really was a nice day. One of the things that was so special about this lake was the fact that we were the only two who knew about it. So I guess it was special.
When we'd discovered the place we promised each other that we would never go there with anybody else no matter what. However, we were planning on making an exception for Alphonse. Too bad for him he got sick.
There was a little cave off to the left of us where we kept an small boat. It was old, but it was still useable. We'd always used this boat when we came here.
"Come on," I said as we entered the cave. "Help me get it to the water."
We had it in the water in no time at all and Winry ran back to the car for a quick minute.
When she came back we hopped on the boat and I began to row us to the middle of the lake.
She'd brought a picnic basket with her. I was pretty hungry since all I got out of that bowl of cereal was the milk.
"Here," she said as she opened it and handed me a sandwich. She pulled herself out a piece of very dark, very burnt toast.
"Uh, how can you eat that?" I asked her in a disapproving tone.
"Oh come on Ed, dark toast is good!"
"No it's not. It tastes nasty. It's burnt."
"Just eat your sandwich," she said as she continued to eat her toast.
It wasn't just toast. She liked burnt popcorn, too, which is weird in my opinion.
She was eating a potato chip when all of a sudden she looked up.
"Hey, look at that," she said as she pointed at the sky. "That cloud looks like a bunny."
I looked up, turned my head, squinted my eyes, but I still didn't see a bunny.
"No it doesn't," I said as I continued to squint.
She threw a cupcake at my head.
"You have no imagination," she said.
I ate the cupcake. It was strawberry, my favorite, and it was good. I wondered if she baked them or bought them, but I didn't plan on asking her that.
"The light…it's too bright…it's blinding me!" she said as she shielded her eyes from the sun.
"Here," I said as I reached into my pocket and took out my shades before putting them on her. "You shouldn't have left your shades in the car.
"Thanks," she said as she adjusted them and sat back.
"Hey, lets play cards," I said as I took a deck out of my other pocket.
We'd played "Go Fish", her favorite card game, for about thirty minutes before we moved on to Old Maid.
"No fair!" she said as I pulled the eight of diamonds instead of the Jack we were using as the Maid. "How come you keep winning game after game after game?!"
I loved it when she got frustrated, it was pretty funny.
"I'm just that good," I told her after I took a drink of soda. "Nobody can beat me."
I avoided pulling the card again and she glared at me.
After about five games of losing, she threw her cards at me.
"I'm never playing cards with you again!" she said as she pouted.
I laughed.
"Okay I guess I'll tell you how I won. I could see the reflection of your cards in the shades."
"What?" she said before yanking the shades off and looking at them. After that she threw them at my head. "Ed, you cheated!"
I laughed again. It wasn't my fault that she fell for it. I expected her to throw something at me but I didn't expect for her to shove me and when she shoved me and fell out of the boat.
"Oh no! Ed, I'm so sorry!" she said as she rushed to the side of the boat. "Here, let me help you."
She reached her hand out to me.
"No, let me help you," I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled her in.
She screamed as she landed up the water.
"Ed! How could you?! I didn't even get to put my bathing suit on!"
"Hey, you're the one who pushed me in!"
"But that was an accident!"
"Well I just pulled you in and that wasn't an accident, so what?"
She splashed water in my face and took off swimming fast.
"Oh no you don't!" I said as I went after her and grabbed her leg.
She kicked me in the jaw and disappeared beneath the water.
I had no idea where she was until she resurfaced behind me and pushed my head completely under water!
But since my hands were free I grabbed her by the waist and yanked her under the water, too.
She let go of me and I let go of her.
When we both resurfaced we were gasping for air. Then we began to laugh.
"What would you do if you drowned me?" I asked her as I laid back in the water, looking up at the sky.
"Hmm? Oh, I think I'd probably chain your dead leg to a huge piece of concrete and let your body sink to the bottom of the lake. Since we're the only ones who know about this pace, nobody will ever find you."
She swam around for a few minutes before she laid back, too, spotting another cloud. "That one looks like a heart…"
As I followed her gaze I saw the cloud, too. "Hey, it actually does. You're not hallucinating this time."
"Or maybe," she said as she looked at me out of the corner of her eyes, "you have an imagination after all."
By noon it had gotten hot. I was happy that we were in the water, otherwise we'd both be dying from the heat.
It was only spring yet it felt like mid summer.
I saw Winry look at her hand and frown. We'd both been in there for so long that our skin had gotten wrinkly.
She looked reluctant to say what was on her mind, that we should go, so I finally broke the silence.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me toward the boat. "Come on. I heard that girls don't like wrinkles. It's time to go."
"Aw," she said in protest. "Okay, just as long as you promise to bring me back here before Spring Break is over with."
We reached the boat and got back inside it. "If it's a warm day, I will," I told her.
"Yay!" she said as she reached for the oars.
"Hey, wait. Are you sure you want to row the boat this time?"
"Do you think I'm not strong enough or something, Ed?"
"I never said that, but now that you mention it…"
She stuck her tongue out at me and took us back to shore. I was impressed by her endurance though I knew she had to be tired.
But Winry was too proud to admit she couldn't do it so I just sat back and relaxed, enjoying the sunshine, the breeze, and her struggling.
We were both soaking wet. I had an extra change of clothes in the car. The only thing she'd brought along was the bathing suit she'd been planning to wear.
I changed my clothes quickly enough and saw her standing there, looking at me expectantly. I tossed my long red coat at her, which I'd left in the backseat a few days before.
"You're kidding, right?" she said as she looked at the coat in her hands.
That's the best I can do for you right now. Take it or leave it. You know I hate getting the inside of my car wet so if you choose to leave it, I'll be leaving you here."
"You wouldn't leave me," she said with a laugh before she went to the cave to change.
She had the coat wrapped securely around herself and the wet clothes in her arms.
"I swear, if you try to pull anything with me, I'll…"
It was my turn to laugh this time.
"Yeah right! Just get in the car," I said as I hopped into the driver's seat and started the car.
By the time we got home it was three o'clock, in the afternoon of course. I saw Al open his curtain and look at the both of us in avid interest. I'd definitely have to explain this one to him.
"Um…I'll wash your coat and give it back to you later or tomorrow," she told me as she hurried up the front steps of her house. "See ya."
I'd always liked that coat and I'd seen her wear it a bunch of times. However, seeing her walk into her house wearing nothing but that coat of mine only made me love it even more.
