Sitting by the City Fountain

“Would you stop playing that damned thing?!” Suzette cried, all tough uncaring exterior cracked from the weight of her annoyance.

“Suzie,” The other girl said, her smile widening as Suzette reacted to her hated nickname. “if I don’t practice, however will I get better?”

“Get better for what?” She exclaimed. “Is it even possible to get better at playing kazoo?”

“Yes,” She answered matter-of-factly. “it is. And I will go to Julliard with my amazing kazoo playing skills and I will become a legend.” She twirled as she spoke, punctuating each idea with a buzz from her small plastic instrument. “I’ll entertain thousands with my beautiful music and they will ask ‘Oh dear, magnificent Lila McQueen, who helped you achieve your dream of being a brilliant kazoo-er?’. ‘Not Suzie,’ I’ll tell them ‘but she is pretty and always has an umbrella handy so I've kept her around anyway.”

“Is that why?” Suzette asked dryly. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, I cannot resist your charm, even if you don’t recognize talent. We’ll find you a job where you don’t have to. And we’ll retire when you’re 45 and I’m 44 and we’ll sleep too late and I’ll lose my figure and you’ll have to love me anyway.”

A smile she didn't know she’d even had slipped off of Suzette’s lips. Lila stopped twirling.

“Lila,’ Suzette said, looking at the love of her life and trying not to think about what she was about to say. “what if I don’t live to 45?”

The other girl’s eyes were wide and shining, and her short gingery hair stuck up like a hysterical four year old’s. Her carefree expression was now clouded, but she was still dressed in naive innocence.

“Don’t be silly, Suzette,” She said, ridding the idea from her.

“You’ll just have to retire without me,” She tried to say without sadness. “You can still sleep too late and lose your figure.”

“No,” She replied with no hesitation. “I shan't. I decided years ago there’s no point in life after twenty-nine. I’m only living it for you, silly girl. If you aren't there, I won’t be either, and you simply cannot change my mind.”

Suzette opened her mouth to argue, but stopped before she started. The other girl stood confidently in front of her, looking as if she had been in a small tornado that had gotten to know her and gently set her down. She reached out and smoothed down Lilia’s rumbled light blue dress, and almost by themselves, her hands pushed the other girl closer, until she was firmly within her arms.