“Me too.”
The mood between us seemed to turn melancholy as we walked down the path arm-in-arm, taking in the familiar surroundings in silence.
“You know what I’ll really miss?” Jackson asked, breaking the sober stillness. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he wanted to brighten things up.
“What?” I looked over at him expectantly.
He grinned. “I’m really going to miss Aunt Betty.”
“Oh.” I frowned, not expecting him to say that. “Who else are you going to miss?” I asked with a smile, playfully fishing for the answer I wanted to hear.
I watched his face twist as he thought about it. “Hmm. I can’t think of anyone else, actually.”
“Jerk.” I glared at him and slapped him across his hard chest with my free hand.
“What?” He gave me an innocent look of confusion. “It’s true. I feel like I’ve been spoiled by her cooking. I’m really going to miss her.” He paused to let out an exaggerated sigh. “You know? She’s the added perk in being your friend.” He stifled a chuckle as he looked away briefly. I could tell that he was only half-joking.
I snorted and tried to respond in a serious tone. “Well, I must have gotten the short end of the stick then, because there’s no added perk in being your friend.”
“Ouch!” Jackson gripped his chest like he was in physical pain. But within seconds, he exploded in laughter, causing me to lose my own composure and I joined him in a fit of laughter.
After several minutes, we finally calmed down from the outburst. Then I remembered something I’d wanted to try. I turned to Jackson without saying a word.
I could tell he was confused by my actions but he didn’t question me at first.
I looked into his eyes and held his gaze in silence. For some reason, I suddenly felt my skin prickle with nerves, which wasn’t something I’d expected or planned for.
He studied me, his lips curled into boyish grin. “What?” His eyes darted to his left and then to his right before returning back to my gaze. I could tell he was a little nervous.
“Nothing,” I whispered and flashed him a coy smile. I held back the urge to laugh. He looked so cute right then, squirming and feeling uneasy.
“Okay….” He paused and frowned. “T—then why are you staring me like that?”
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I started to giggle. “You know you can be so adorable when you get nervous.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re an ass, you know that?” he teased. “Pippi Longstocking.”
“Hey!” I punched him playfully on the chest. “You know I don’t like to be called that. Be nice!”
He laughed. “Only if you will.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Okay. Okay. You’re so sensitive.” I huffed sarcastically.
“So why were you staring at me without blinking?”
I giggled. “Fine, I’ll tell you. So I read this science article this morning—”
“Nerd,” he cut me off with a snicker before I could finish.
“Takes one to know one,” I shot back. “Hater.”
“I just speak the truth.” His boyish grin returned on his face. “Nerd.”
I pushed him playfully. “For your information, you’re not automatically a nerd if you read.” Jackson loved to tease me for how much I enjoyed reading.
“That’s what nerds like you say to try to convince people they’re not one.” He chuckled.
“You’re annoying.” I began to pout, feeling a little agitated by his persistent teasing.
As if sensing my growing impatience, his expression softened. “Come on, don’t be like that. You know I was just teasing.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Well, sometimes you go too far and it can get annoying.”
“You’re right. Sometimes I get carried away in the back and forth teasing that I don’t know when to stop.” He shrugged innocently. “I’m sorry.”
It was hard to be upset with Jax for too long. I knew he had a good heart and never meant to make me upset. “It’s all right.”
“So what did you read in the science article?”
“Oh, right.” For a moment there, I had forgotten all about the article. “Well the article said that people who love each other can sync up their heart rates by staring into each other’s eyes. I thought that was pretty cool and wanted to try it.” When I heard my explanation out loud, I realized how stupid it must have sounded.
“Oh.” Jackson looked taken aback by my comments. There was an expression on his face that I couldn’t read, and I immediately felt a wave of panic prickle down my spine.
“Yeah,” I hastily added, “so I wanted to see if it’d work for people who didn’t love each other.” I wasn’t sure why I blurted out my last comment, but somehow, I couldn’t help myself.
“Right.” That was all he said in response before we fell into another period of silence as we continued to walk along the path.
As I began to get lost in my own thoughts, I was hit with a powerful sense of nostalgia.
“Jax?” My voice was close to a whisper.
He turned his head to look at me. “Yeah?”
“Promise me we’ll stay in touch.” I turned to meet his warm gaze.
“Don’t be silly, Clo. Of course we’ll stay in touch.”
“Just promise me,” I insisted.
He smiled. “Okay. I promise you that not only will we stay in touch, but we’ll stay best friends. Don’t be a worry-wart, Clo. Why would you even think that we wouldn’t?” I could detect a hint of concern in his voice.
I looked away, pretending I had some dust in my eyes as I wiped away the tears that had collected there.
It took me a few moments before I was able to respond without fear of losing it in front of him. “It’s just that the people who are the most important to me—or should be the most important to me—either were never in my life, or they end up leaving me behind and never returning.” I was thinking of my dad and mom.
“Come on, Clo. You know I won’t leave you behind.”
“Yeah.” I looked away again, trying to work through my feelings. I knew I was being melodramatic and silly, and maybe a tad morbid, but it felt like an end of an era for Jackson and me. I was worried that when we both actually left for college, things would change—
we
would change—and everything about our friendship would just be memories, intangible parts of ourselves, figments of our past that we might be able to recall, but could never return back to.
“Don’t think like that, Clo.” Jackson squeezed my hand as he slowed to a stop. He smiled down at me when our eyes met.
“Why did we stop here?” I asked as I looked around. We had walked up one of the small metal bridges that arched across a narrow section of the lake.
Instead of answering me, he grinned and followed my question with a question of his own.
“Do you remember the first day you were nice to me?”
“You mean the first day you were nice
to me
?” I corrected him, knowing he was referring to my first day of school during first grade.
“Let’s agree to disagree on that point.” He laughed. “Well, that was the first day you took my hand when I helped you up from the cafeteria floor.”
“So?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with his question.
“Well, when you took my hand, it meant you trusted me, and I somehow knew that from that day forward we’d be best friends.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked at him dubiously. “You knew all that from just me taking your hand?”
“Well, the way I see it, the moment you decided to take my hand was the moment I knew you trusted me.” He then paused and gazed into my eyes. “I know you’re worried about the future, Clo. I am, too. So I’m asking you now to close your eyes and take my hand again.”
I looked at him suspiciously, unsure what he had planned.
“Come on, Clo. Show me you trust me. Close your eyes and take my hand.”
“Okay, Jax, but no funny business. Don’t you dare push me in the lake,” I warned before I closed my eyes.
He chuckled. “That wasn’t what I was thinking…
but
thanks for putting that thought in my head.” The playfulness in his voice eased my nerves as I kept my eyes closed and reached my hands out in front of me.
I felt his warm hands touch mine and an intense sensation rushed through me. Before I could figure out what the feeling meant, Jackson turned my hands around and positioned my opened palms together so that my hands formed a bowl shape. Seconds later I felt him place a cool, metal object in between my hands.
“This is the surprise I had for you.” From the sound of his low, hushed voice, I could sense how surprisingly close he was to me.
“This is what you got for me?” I asked in confusion.
It feels like a lock—maybe a padlock, but why would he be getting me a lock?
“Open your eyes.”
I opened my eyes and saw him looking at me with a twinkle of eager excitement in his eyes. I forced myself to pull my gaze from his warm emerald eyes and looked down at the object in my palms.
To my surprise, I was right. It was a padlock.
But it wasn’t like the padlock I’d used for my locker in school. This lock was painted red and was in the shape of a heart.
“What is it?” I looked back at Jackson expectantly.
He beamed at me. “It’s a love lock.”
“A love lock?” My stomach flipped when I heard his words.
“Do you remember that pact we made when we were thirteen?”
My eyes grew wide. I was too surprised to respond verbally, so I just nodded.
Of course I remembered the night we made the pact. I remembered it perfectly like it’d happened just yesterday. I could still see the glow of the soft, colorful lights that moved across my bedroom ceiling that Jackson had created to mimic the Northern Lights. I remembered the things he’d said to me, the promises he’d made me, and the unforgettable kiss we’d shared. But for some reason, after that night, we’d never talked about the pact again—or that kiss we’d shared. After a while, I’d convinced myself that Jackson had forgotten about the pact and the kiss—or worse, he had regretted it and wanted me to forget about them.
So to hear him bring up the pact we’d made that night five years ago paralyzed me with shock.
“Well,” he continued, “I know you’ve been nervous about going to different colleges and how that’d affect our friendship. I know you’re scared about being alone. I just want to let you know that I have those same feelings. And that is why I had this made for you—for us. I wanted to remind you of our pact and my promise to you. Even though we haven’t talked about it since we first agreed to it five years ago, I meant every word I said. If we’re both single by the time we’re thirty, I promise to marry you.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked into his eyes. “Oh, Jax. I meant it, too,” I whispered. “You’re my best friend, and I can’t imagine being happier than when I’m with you.”
“I feel the same way. So I heard about this tradition with love locks recently where two people will lock a padlock against the railing of a bridge or gate and then throw away the keys. It’s supposed to symbolize unbreakable love.” He moved closer to me, leaving only a few inches between us. “I got this love lock for us because I wanted to let you know that I’ll always be here for you, and you don’t ever need to worry about being lonely.”
He reached for the red heart-shaped lock in my hands and turned it over. “I had it inscribed for us. Take a look.”
Completely blown away by his touching gesture, I was speechless as I looked down at the lock and saw the inscription etched on the back:
Jax & Clo
June 2003
Unbreakable Friendship & Love.
Promise to Marry in 2014.
“Jax, this is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever given me.” Tears blinded me as I threw my arms around him, burying my face into his neck and inhaling his inviting scent.
“Clo,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m so happy that you like it.”
I pulled away to look up at him and smiled. “Like it? Jax, I
love
it. I’ve been so worried about how things will change with our friendship when college starts. This is exactly the type of reassurance I needed.”
He beamed at me. “So does that mean you still agree to the pact?” He looked at me hopefully.
I giggled, surprised that he’d even think that I could possibly say no. “Of course, silly.” I looked down at the love lock. “So what exactly are we supposed to do?”
He took the lock from me and we walked up to the edge of the bridge where the railing was. Then he held my hands with his and looked into my eyes.
“Clo, you’ve been my best friend for the past eleven years, and I know you’ll be my best friend for the rest of my life. I don’t know where life will take us, but I know that we will always be by each other’s sides. We made a pact when we were thirteen to marry each other if we are both single when we turn thirty. Today, we’re going to seal that pact with this love lock, which will symbolize our unbreakable friendship, love, and promise to marry each other.”
He handed me the love lock. “Do you want to do the honors?”