She raced up the stairs after him, stopping him before he got to the door. "Hi," she said in between pants. "I'm Roxanne."
He stared at her, blinking several times. His eyes kept returning back to her green-hair. "I'm Donovan," he replied, still unsure what to do about her.
"I like your hair. It's a pretty color."
"I like yours too. I've never seen anyone with hair like that."
"Same here."
"...Do you want to do homework together?"
"Sure."
Roxanne wasn't used to having such a long table with only two chairs at it. She didn't like how far away it put her from Donovan. She wanted to sit closer, get to know him, and she couldn't do that with a giant piece of wood and glass in between them.
"So do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked him.
"No," Donovan said quickly. "My dad just remarried someone, and she doesn't want kids."
"What happened to your mom?"
"I don't know. It's always been me and my dad. When he's not working, that is."
"What does your dad do?"
"He owns a big business. I'm gonna run it when I'm all grown up."
"That's cool! You know what you wanna do when you grow up!"
"Yeah, what do you wanna do?"
Roxanne was quiet. She had never thought about that. Her parents had always encouraged her to do whatever she had wanted, yet she had never once considered being a grown up and what that would entail. "Something cool. Something different. Something that makes a difference."
It was late when Roxanne headed home, still thinking about what Donovan had said as she left. "You wanna do homework again tomorrow?" It hadn't been much, but it was enough to Roxanne that she started to feel closer to him. Befriending someone always took time, but she felt like today had been especially successful.
The next day, Roxanne's class went downtown for a field trip. As exciting as it was to leave the classroom, she kept hoping another class would join hers.
But Donovan wasn't there. Why was she so concerned with him being there? Why did she keep thinking about him? Was she in love? Or did she just want to spend more time with him because he was so much like her? Two little kids with crazy colored hair in the same town couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
"Dad?" Roxanne asked one night as he was reading her favorite bedtime story. "What was it like when you and Mom fell in love?"
Clive chuckled. "Babe, why are you worried about that? You're not even old enough to be falling in love with boys!"
"I know, Dad, but I wanna know. What does love feel like? I mean, all the stories say you know when it's the one, but is that how it really is?"
"You know, it didn't start out as that lovey-dovey stuff. It started out slow. We were in college when we met, and I loved the way she made me laugh."
"So that's the only reason you liked her? What about her hair and eyes? Didn't you look at those too?"
Clive stopped a little bit, looking at his daughter's hair for a long while. "I did, but physical features aren't what make a person, sweetie. You know that. But personality is what's important. Our personalities just fit together. And the funniest thing happened: she changed me. And I changed her too."
"But what if I don't want to change, Dad?"
He stroked her hair and she laid down, pulling the sheets in closer. "You will," he said softly. "It'll be so small you won't even notice until you look back." He kissed her forehead. "Good-night, sweetie."
"G'night, daddy," Roxanne mumbled.
Sorry! Forgot to turn off headline effects again!
When Roxanne heard that Donovan had never had a sleep-over before, Roxanne threw one that Friday, inviting all her friends over. She hadn't changed into her pajamas yet, but she watched Donovan's awkward smile turn into a more relaxed one as he continued to interact with the other kids. Roxanne loved having so many people in her house. It felt like having siblings.
But once again, the dream ended and Roxanne was back alone in her room, sleeping alone.
"Roxanne," Donovan said, caught off guard by the hug he was caught in. "You called me over and you sounded worried out of your mind! You okay?"
"I'm fine." Roxanne smiled at him. "I came up with a nickname for you."
"Wait, a nickname?"
"Donovan is such a mouthful. So from now on, I'm calling you Donny."
He laughed. "You called me over just to give me a nickname?"
"Well, you wanna give me one?"
"Don't you already have one, Roxy?"
"Yeah, but only Mom and Dad call me that...unless you want to as well..."
"Okay. Roxy it is then."
"Donny, you're my best friend!"
He hugged her this time. She couldn't how Donny was smiling at her, like he had just found the world's greatest treasure chest and it was all his. But she could feel it in his hug.
"Hey, Mom?" Roxanne asked one evening in between daydreaming about jumping out of the swing and into the stars.
"Yeah?" Anita said, holding the swing back so she could hear her daughter better.
"When is Dad gonna let me drive his motorcycle? It's so cool!"
"Over his dead body." She dropped the swing, listening in delight as her daughter screamed first in fear, then in laughter as she resumed swinging.
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