The Anniversary

My vision of the perfect anniversary.

 

Anniversary

 

            Leah woke with a smile on her face. She snuggled up against Justin, putting both arms around him and pulling him close. But something felt wrong, like he was almost… spongy. She opened her eyes and screamed. There was a giant purple monkey staring her in the face. She jumped back, rolling off of the bed and smacking the hardwood floor.

            A voice came from the kitchen, “Baby, you okay in there?”

            Leah started to pull her self back onto the bed. “I’m okay,” she moaned.

            Justin walked into the bedroom. He was wearing a chef’s hat and holding a frying pan. “Good morning sunshine,” he stopped mid-stride. “Hey, why are all the covers on the floor?”

            “Because I grabbed them when I fell off the bed,” said Leah, blowing a tuft of orange hair from her freckled face. Her tone was less than pleasant.

            “Oh, poor thing. How’d you fall?”

            Leah held up the stuffed purple monstrosity. “You tell me.”

            “Babe, Walter is filled with stuffing. He has no muscles for pushing. You’re so silly.” He pinched her cheeks.  “Just be more careful from now on, okay?”

            Leah opened her mouth to speak, but Justin was already gone. She growled instead.

            From the kitchen, “Breakfast is almost ready.”

            Leah punched Walter in the face. “Stupid monkey.”

            Justin came back in, this time holding a box covered with bright yellow paper. He sat down beside Leah and placed the present on her lap. “Happy anniversary princess.” He kissed her forehead.

            “What is it?” she asked, shaking the box and listening for clues.

            “Why don’t you find out?”

            She tore into the paper and ripped open the folds of the box. Leah looked inside, and then she looked back at Justin, confused. She held the box upside down and shook it, pouting. The box was empty.

            “I don’t get it.”

            Justin hugged her tight. “It’s filled with love.”

            Leah made a face. “Oh. Love… Yay.”

            “And there’s more! Wait till you see what I made for breakfast.”

            Leah sighed and crossed her fingers, hoping the house wouldn’t catch on fire. Justin had attempted, and failed, to prepare canned soup on more than one occasion. Peanut butter and jelly was barely with in his power.

            He walked back into the bedroom carrying a plate of heart-shaped pancakes. Leah eyed them suspiciously and leaned forward to sniff for poison. “Is that a fly?” she said, picking at a pancake.

“No, that’s a blueberry.”

“I like cherries better.”

“Well, aren’t you just a little grumpy butt today. Come here you.”

Justin pulled Leah onto his lap, squeezed her middle, and rumpled her hair.

“You’re gonna mess it up!” said Leah, starting to pout.

“Don’t worry little girl, I know just how to cheer you up.”

“I wouldn’t need to be cheered up if you hadn’t attacked me with that stupid monkey,” she mumbled.

“What’s that honey?”

“I said I love you.”

“Oh, I love you too, but listen. I want you to close your eyes. Now think of the one thing you want most in the whole wide world. Now wish for it. Open your eyes.”

She did. Justin was holding a Hershey bar.

“Did you wish for chocolate?” he asked.

Leah shook her head, but smiled.

“Was it flowers? I can get flowers if it was flowers.”

Leah shook her head, and this time touched his face.

“Money?”

No.

“Um, how about… a story?”

Leah thought for a moment. “Sure, why not.”

            “Once upon a time there lived a little girl who was a grumpy butt.”

            “This girl’s name better not have been Leah.”

            “Oh course not. Her name was Leanne.”

            “Oh, her name was Leanne? That’s interesting.”

            “Anyway, Leanne was a grumpy butt, but it wasn’t her fault.”

            “Oh yeah? Why not?”

            “Yeah. You see, any time she had ever trusted someone, she had only been hurt. So that made her afraid to trust, which made her afraid to love, which is a very unhappy way to be.”

            “This sounds like a sad story.”

            “It is, kind of, but it has a happy ending.”

            “Then skip to the ending, I don’t want to hear the rest.”

            “Fine, but on one condition.”

            “What?”

            “You have to tell me what you wished for.”

            “No. If I tell you it won’t come true.

            “Alright then, I guess we’ll hear the rest of the story.”

            “Wait. Fine. I’ll tell you. But you tell me the ending first.”

            “The ending is easy. And they lived happily ever after. I thought even you would know that.”

            Leah smiled and put her arms around Justin’s neck.

            “Now tell me what you wished for.”

            Leah didn’t say anything, she just looked into his eyes, pulled him close, and kissed his lips.

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Author's Note

All comments and stuff are appreciated!