[interesting]

I got off the bus at two in the afternoon in the small town of St-Etienne. My friend, Paul, was coming to pick me up and we were going to head for his place. I had last seen him the year before that. School and other activities had kept us apart. I felt we were drifting away from each other and our interests were diverging. I was going on seventeen in a few months; he was a year younger than me. That meant Danielle was twelve or thirteen. I kept thinking of that as his parents' car pulled up. I packed my bag and my guitar in the trunk and sat in the back.

"Hey Frank. Long time."
"Yeah. Good to see you, buddy."

On the way to his home, we talked a little. His mother inquired about my studies. I answered her questions politely and without detail. We were at their home before we knew it.

"You brought your guitar."
"Yeah. I figured we could play some music together. You told me you're learning bass?"
"Yeap. I have a whole setup for recording. Maybe we can record ourselves."
"That'd be cool."

We got into the house. It was always a big place. The entryway led into the living room, a large screen television, gaming systems. The couches were the same as those they'd had when we just met. That led into a smaller dining room and an even smaller kitchen. The bedrooms were to the right at the end of the corridor; there was a staircase leading up; his parents and Danielle had their rooms there. And of course, to the left, the gigantic (at least to my tastes) indoor swimming pool, their once-prized possession.

We moved my stuff to his room, where I'd be staying. I unpacked my stuff. He lived in the woods so we went for a walk outside. We talked stories. We were both very much into imagination; we'd created this shared virtual world where our characters coexisted. Sometimes, we played out these stories, especially when we were younger; getting older, we had a tendency to write them down, in correspondance. We always tried to outdo one another, to come up with plot twists which the other hadn't conceived. It was my favorite part of our relationship, its creationist approach. I still miss it now and then.

Supper rolled around, and with it came his parents, his younger brother and of course Danielle, looking very much like a teenager now. She was definitely thirteen. She practically ignored me for the entire duration. His father inquired about my parents, their jobs. My father had just been laid off and was going through some difficulties. I really didn't want to talk about it too much.

We ended up watching the original Star Wars trilogy that night; we filled in the blanks while talking about our stories and our characters again. He'd called shotgun on the character of Luke, and since I wanted to have a Jedi as well, we'd decided that Luke and Leia had another brother, and his name was John. So I was John Skywalker, and he was Luke. We joked about it a lot; being older, we saw the many different ways we could have solved our dilemma, but we'd come up with the idea in grade five.

As midnight rolled around, we decided we'd head for bed. I had practically not seen nor thought about Danielle the entire time; yet as my head hit the pillow, my mind drifted back to that pool of his... and Danielle in her swimsuit. All of the times I had seen her there, from those first innocent glances to the improper thoughts of a growing boy becoming a man through all the angst required.

I rolled to the side and tried to get some sleep. I was to be there for three whole days. It was best not to dwell on the impossible. After all, chances were I wouldn't see that much of her anyway. Besides, she was thirteen, I was going on seventeen; it wasn't proper of me to try anything, especially since she was my best friends' sister.

As it would turn out, things wouldn't be so simple. But I'd find that out in the morning.