Final Product

In my room, she slips the disc into the DVD and we wait for it to load. We're sitting beside one another on my rug. She stares at me, awaiting a reaction.

A swirl of goldfish cutouts flutter across the screen and everything goes orange and blue-green. There's footage of us sitting in Shay's tree, three against of legs swaying against the wind. I smile at the camera and she laughs from behind it. I'm glittery and there are orange bits in my sticky fingers. The café. The forest. A little goldfish in a fishbowl swimming around and around and around. An infinity loop. Then, everything is racing down the street where I live. There's cars and kids and dogs and life. "It's beautiful, Grace."

She smiles. A bit shy. "Do you think we'll get a good year mark?"

I stare at her. She a bit crazy, too. "Yes! I love it."

My words hang in the air, lopsided like dad's scones, floating goldfish within a loop of infinity. She nods, strawberry blonde curls unfurling and wrapping around her slight shoulders. She hugs me and it's warm and sincere. I hid my face in her shoulder, whimpering a bit. I can't help it. Only, she doesn't mind. She's teary, too.

"I'm glad that we're partners," she says.

"Me, too."