Lisa looked up while she was tying her shoe, and saw a 5'6 blond boy running toward her. He grinned and called out,
"Hi Lisa, are we working on that school thing?"
"You mean working on that bear habitat, Nicky?" Lisa asked teasingly.
"You know what I mean," the boy whined.
"Fine Nick," Lisa said grinning.
"What are you grinning about?" Nick asked.
Lisa thought, 'Man, Nick can't you see how much I love you.'
"Oh nothing, just about rumors at school. You know all those girls dying to go out with you cause of that movie you starred in." Lisa saw Nick blush and felt a lump in her throat.
Nick muttered, "Oh."
Lisa looked into Nick's blue eyes wishing he felt the same way she did.
"Aren't you going out with Trisha Morrison?"
Nick blushed again and said, "Yeah."
Lisa felt a pang of jealousy. After all this years since kindergarten, she had been friends with Nick, she felt like his sister. But this year she had fallen in love hard. She felt it strongly and deeply and took all her power not to show it. She knew if she told him how she felt, they might lose their relationship. And she wanted Nick to be happy. If he wants to go out with that airhead Trisha, she'll be there for him. Lisa had always been popular, but Nick wasn't until recently because of him starring in that movie. They had lived across the street as long as Nick lived there.
Couple of days later, Nick rushed in said that he was asked to join a band. Lisa told him that was cool. Then Nick said he was going to New York next week. Lisa's green eyes lost their sparkle. Nick asked,
"What's wrong?"
Lisa thought, "You never had him, so it doesn't matter if he goes away forever."
Lisa smiled and said, "Just thinking about how I'm going to miss you, because then I can't beat you again in basketball."
Nick said, "Don't worry, I'll be back. But you got to write."
The day before he was going, Nick came over, when Lisa was playing basketball.
"Hi Lisa," he said.
"Hey Nick," Lisa said turning around.
"You want to pay our last game for awhile?" Nick asked.
Lisa said, "You're on."
They played for awhile and Nick won the game. He looked over his shoulder and saw Lisa pick up a garden hose.
"I'm going to get you!" Lisa yelled. Lisa chased him around with a garden hose until he took it out of her hand and drenched her.
Lisa's mom called out, "What's all that commotion?"
Lisa called back, "Nothing Mom!"
Lisa and Nick looked at each other and started laughing. They were soaking wet. Then Lisa didn't know what happen, but she rolled on top of Nick. He leaned forward and brushed her hair out of her face. When their lips were almost touching, Lisa's mom told Nick his mom was calling him. As they got up, Lisa thought, "There went a chance." Nick blushed and waked slowly home. He was confused. "Could Lisa and I have been more than friends?" he said out loud.
The next day she hugged Nick at the airport. As she waved goodbye, she finally understood she would miss Nick terribly not as a crush because of him being there for her. Years passed and Nick's band had gotten world recognition. She loved to see Nick's picture across all those magazines, because she believed in him. And she lost those deep love feelings about him. Nick did visit the neighborhood, but Lisa ignored him then or just went out of town. Not wanting to have those feelings rise again. But she always wrote to him.
