CHAPTER FOUR

The fourth chapter of "Phoenix Parker"

4  

I ended up knocking him down and landed on top of him. “Whoa there Brownie, slow your roll.” Danny wraps his arms around me, and I’m surrounded by his familiar scent. Apollo Axe spray and Old Spice deodorant, the same scent he’s been using since middle school, “I missed you too but not enough to body slam you on the concrete like that!” He rolls his eyes and smiles. “Well, maybe.” He was in Napa Valley visiting - guess who? - Eve! He finally got up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend right before we graduated. Now they’re doing the whole long-distance thing. 

Danny called me “Brownie” simply because of my eyes, which are hazel, but they look closer to brown with a few specks of green. They pair well with my wavy, light brown, blondish hair. But also because of my extreme love of brownies. 

I got up; panic was written all over my face. Danny gets up too and looks around. He knows that I’m worried Elizabeth’s goons are after me. (Elizabeth’s long for Lizzy) A worried expression painted his face. “C’mon Phe, let’s go. We’re closer to my house, so let's go there.” 

“Okay,” I say. My eyes dart back and forth while walking up the road to his house. I try to keep my cool. “Dan, it’s not like I'm scared or nothing-” I cling onto his arm as we walk back. “Which I'm totally not . . . but I’m really glad you’re such a good fighter, just in case someone tries to jump out of the woods and pop me.” 

Yeah, that’s another thing that made us the shiz back in high school. Yes, Daniel was a sweet guy to many people, but if you piss him off and make him mad, well, he has this rule don’t start nothing, there won’t be nothing and I won’t hit anyone unless they take a swing at me, then, they’re out. Danny was such a good guy. A good fighter. An amazing best friend. He’s the bestest friend you could have. (I know “bestest” isn’t a word but for him, it’s appropriate.)

“Of course,” he flashed his pearly whites at me, “Always and forever,” He holds out his pinky and we link pinkies.

That’s something we came up with when we were little kids, maybe six or seven years old when we were sitting in a treehouse that used to be in my backyard. Some kid was picking on me back when we were in first grade and Danny comes up to us and says, “Hey freckles, leave my friend alone.” This kid was a bit taller than me, had red hair, a faceful of freckles, and was quite round.

“Oh, yeah? You don’t want me picking on your girlfriend!” He sang loud enough for the whole class to hear. “OOOOOOOOOOOH,” our entire first-grade class was making kissy faces and pointing and laughing. “What you gonna do about it, huuuuhhh?” Danny’s face turned red and he took the kid to the ground. So he didn’t have his rule back then, so what? He was six.

“She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just my friend!” His voice was strained trying to hold the round boy down, other kids in our class gathered around and chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Mrs. Belle pulled Danny off of freckles and sent them both to the principal’s office.

We went up to my treehouse that afternoon and talked about it.

“What’d Principal Boswell say?” I asked.

“He said I got detention for a week.” He slumped his shoulders and looked at me, then perked back up. “But I’ll always protect you, Brownie.” He grinned. “Always and forever.” And he kissed me.

I looked at him in surprise, we both wiped our mouth at the same time and said, “Yuck!” and laughed. “Let’s seal it with a pinkie swear instead,” I proposed.

Young Danny laughed and agreed. “That’s just something I’ve seen Mommy and Daddy do sometimes, and I thought it would be good, but I was wrong.” He smiled. “Always and forever?” He held out his pinky.

“Always and forever.” I linked our pinkies and grinned.

That’s when our best friendship started.

* * *

We walked into his house, the one his parents gave him. “It’s a really nice house, Danny,” I tell him for the gazillionth time. It really was. It was a six-bedroom house with five bathrooms! It used to be his dad’s house, but he moved into a smaller house down the street. Danny’s dad still lived in a nice house, but it only has two bedrooms. We live in a really nice neighborhood. Our dads were best friends back in high school, so I guess we’ve always known each other. Our dads even had a double wedding, we were even born in the same month. Me and Danny, not me and my dad. Ha-ha. Danny was older than me by twenty-nine days, and can you guess when my birthday was?   

October thirty-first, Halloween. I don’t even celebrate it anymore, on account of all the serious stuff happening. My parents, my Maw Maw, the day Elizabeth went missing. Well, I guess that last one didn’t really hurt me as much as the others, but I suppose it’s still a sad thing . . . For. Other. People.  

Reviews

[Franky]

I see this is developing. Added info on characters great job of that! I can relate since I've been there. All of us had high school and friends there. ..and some who betrayed us so this story sounds familiar to my own situation I guess

[millennial leo]

I think your brand of humor is really on display in this chapter and it is a lot of fun. The gift to Danny is quite generous! I believe you mentioned Phoenix's birthday in a previous chapter, so this inclusion might be redundant.