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Midnight JasmineI woke up from a dream of cherry blossom petals dancing around me like it was some sacred ritual that only time would unfold the reason, to be confronted with the fragile features of my grandmother. She grinned, muttering a good morning, profoundly displaying her wrinkles around her eyes and mouth; she lived a life of joy. She rose me into a sitting position, tisking me for sleeping through the alarm and ordered me to the kitchen immediately. It was the first day of summer and also the seventy-sixth birthday of my grandfather.
"Can we make pancakes, Grams?" I whipped around with my hands under my chin, begging with the puppy-dog eyes that could have someone wrapped around my finger.
"Fine, fine," she shooed my expression with a wave of her hand. "But only because you're my favorite granddaughter." Her cracked and rough hands- they were a sign of comfort to me, ever since I was younger she would pinch my cheeks- cupped my face.
"Wait, aren't I your only grandchild?"
She shot me a smirk, then we both bursted out in giggles as we descended the stairs. I have been raised by my grandparents, I never complained, due to the fact of my parent's crucial divorce that led the majority to tears and broken hearts. They seperated because of me, they couldn't purchase the things that the three of us required so their two options were to hand me to adoption or my grandparents; they gladly accepted me into their abode and treated me like I was their own child. They were my structure and base, without them I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
Once we reached the kitchen, my grandmother had already set up the shrine- surrounded by fresh fruits that were in season and flowers blooming with the touch of the golden light from the window- of my other guardian, my grandfather. He passed away with leukemia, it was worsening by the second and we knew that his breath would cease for an eternity of the peace he deserved.
"Blueberry or chocolate chips?" She questioned.
"Chocolate chips." I said with a meek smile that was directed to myself but this old bat (I say with affection) had eyes in the back of her head. She caught everything that I did. Once, in my earlier college days, I attempted to sneak in the house without stirring my grandparents awake because I was out studying, she caught me dead in my tracks and burned the back of my skull with her scolding.
"You know when your grandfather and I first met, he was a total flirt," she stated while placing a plate in front of me.
"Really?"
"You wouldn't believe it! He had girls squealing left and right for him but honestly, he wasn't that good looking at first glance."
I pointed an accusing finger, "Grandma!"
"What?"
"When you love someone, it automatically makes them like a million times more attractive."
"I guess that was what happened," she cackled. "I'm just kidding. I loved him more than anything, even though when we first met he was an ."
I finished up my breakfest, scrubbing my dishes clean from the syrup, then rushing upstairs to get dressed for the day. Today was going to be spent in laughter with my two best friends, Kou and Jay, and consuming food like nobody was watching. Now, these two idiots and I went all the way back in middle school. We three weren't considered social so we just kind of drifted together like drawn magnets, to this day we still did everything together like we were bound at the hip.
"Done!" I beamed, strutting down the stairs and spinning around so she could get a could glimpse of what I was wearing out; comic book hero T-Shirt with white shorts and accompanied with my favorite sneakers.
"Approved," she gave me a thumbs up, tossed my keys and shooed me away. She also threatened me if I wasn't home at certain deadline she would crawl on her hands and knees to search for me. I patted her back while we were in a brief embrace, assuring her that I was going to be perfectly safe.
Just as we planned, the others were patiently waiting for me so we could hit the road. We were headed to the local library, our typical hang out where we would run off to in the wee hours that the night had left to vent out steam and frustrations from teacher's assignments or projects. The windows of the car were rolled down and the convertable top exposed the late morning's sky, dewy blues blended with the emerald of the trees passing in a blurry mess. Jay cranked the radio, he was driving, as we sang along the lines of a song that belonged to those who have been heartbroken yet we were singing them in bliss and sad expressions that we all resulted in laughter.
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