one
All This TimeA/N: This fic will cover a very long time period, but they're young children for the entirety of this part.
Jessica’s aunt drops her off at her new kindergarten, gives her a pat on the head and is gone with a swish of skirt and click of heels. The teacher – Ms. Yoo – gives her a warm smile and calls her “Sooyeon” like her aunt had said, and Jessica doesn’t tell her that she prefers to be called Jessica.
“Okay, Sooyeon,” Ms. Yoo says kindly. “We’re still in playtime right now. Is there something you like doing?”
Jessica half-shakes her head. She likes playing with her dolls and dressing them up in different outfits, but she doesn’t have any of them with her. She misses the dollhouse her parents bought her, with its special furniture and her collection of dolls.
“Well, we have a lot of toys here. We have dolls and action figures and blocks and—yes, Miyoung?”
Jessica peeks through her bangs to see a girl in a pink dress with a pink bow in her black hair.
Miyoung is looking at her. “Do you want to play with me?”
Jessica looks at Ms. Yoo, who smiles at both of them. “Sooyeon, do you want to play with Miyoung? What are you playing with right now, Miyoung?”
“Barbie!” she exclaims happily.
“Do you like Barbies, Sooyeon?”
Jessica half-nods her head. Miyoung seems to take it as a yes and grabs Jessica’s hand, tugging her toward where she had been playing. She’s wearing a bracelet made of beads in different shades of pink and red, but more pink.
“Hi,” Miyoung says brightly. “Are you new here? I never see you before.”
Jessica nods.
“Are you going to staying?”
Jessica shrugs.
“Do you know how to talk?”
Jessica frowns. “Yes,” she says. “Of course I can talk.”
“That’s good! Friends talk to each other.”
Jessica wonders when they became friends.
“Some persons don’t know how to talk good,” Miyoung says. “My mommy told me everyone is unee—uni—everyone is special, like snowflakes.”
“I can talk,” Jessica says again. She just doesn’t always like to.
“Your name is Sooyeon? That’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you,” Jessica mumbles, like her mom always told her. “It’s not really my name though.”
Miyoung doesn’t look confused like Jessica had expected her to be. Instead, she wrinkles her nose. “Everyone calls me Miyoung but my name is Tiffany.”
“Tiffany,” Jessica repeats.
“Yeah!” Tiffany gives a wide, gap-toothed grin, her eyes closing and curving up. Jessica stares a little, because she’s never seen anyone’s eyes do that when they smile. “What’s your name?”
“Jessica.”
“What?” Tiffany’s voice is so loud.
She raises her voice a little. “Jessica.”
“Jessi?” Tiffany repeats.
It’s close enough, so Jessica nods.
“Hi, Jessi!” Tiffany’s smile is almost hard to look at. It’s just so…bright. Tiffany’s just so bright. It makes Jessica wants to cover her eyes but peek through the gaps between her fingers. “It’s nice to meet you!”
Tiffany says everything like she’s yelling, and Jessica doesn’t like yelling, especially not when her parents do it at each other, but it’s not so bad on Tiffany. Her yelling is…happy. Bright.
“You too,” Jessica says quietly, and means it.
When it’s snack time, Jessica wonders if she should read a book because neither of her parents had packed her a snack, but Tiffany gamely offers to share her cookie and apple with her.
“It’s chocolate chip. Do you like chocolate chip cookies?”
Jessica nods. It’s her favourite, actually, but only the soft kind.
This cookie is the crunchy kind, and Tiffany sprays them both with crumbs when she tries to break it in half. In the end, Ms. Yoo has to come help them and by then the snack is more crumb than cookie.
Tiffany looks sadly down at what remains of it. “Sorry,” she says, the quietest Jessica’s ever heard her.
Jessica grabs a handful of crumbs and stuffs them into . “This is yummy,” she says through a mouthful of disintegrated cookie, totally ignoring her mom’s long lectures of “don’t talk with your mouth full!”
Tiffany smiles at her, and Jessica thinks that she has to reconsider the yumminess of crunchy cookies.
Tiffany only has one tissue and she insists on ripping it in half to share with Jessica, even though there’s a box of tissues on Ms. Yoo’s desk.
“Here you go,” Tiffany says proudly, handing Jessica her ‘half,’ which is really a quarter because somehow Tiffany had ripped the tissue into four pieces.
“Thank you,” Jessica says, even though she barely has enough tissue to wipe with.
“You’re welcome! I’ll ask my mommy to pack two cookies for me tomorrow.”
“I can bring my own snack,” Jessica says, even though she doesn’t know if they have anything at home that she can bring. They have a huge bag of baby carrots and cucumbers, but she would rather starve than eat cucumbers.
“We’re friends and friends share,” Tiffany says insistently.
Jessica doesn’t know what to say to that, but she thinks that she likes having Tiffany as a friend. She gives Tiffany a shy smile, and Tiffany beams back.
Ms. Yoo calls them to the centre of the room for story time, and Tiffany takes Jessica’s hand again, pulling her along with her. Jessica trips over a Lego block on the way and falls heavily onto the ground.
Tiffany drops down next to Jessica instantly. “Jessi?” she says, her voice shooting higher in anxiety. “Are you okay?”
Jessica’s knee is throbbing, and she’s scared to try to answer because she might cry if she opens . She doesn’t want to be a crybaby anymore.
“Sooyeon?” Ms. Yoo is suddenly there, having rushed over. “Honey, let me see your knee.”
Jessica glances at Tiffany, who’s staring at her with huge, watery eyes. Why is Tiffany crying? Did she fall too?
“Jessi,” Tiffany says with a hiccup. “Does it hurt very bad?”
“No.” Jessica’s voice shakes embarrassingly. “It only hurts a little bad.”
“I’m going to take a look so we can treat it, okay?” Ms. Yoo says gently.
“Ms. Yoo is great at fixing oos,” Tiffany says solemnly. “I hurt my elbow before and she gave me a Dora Band-Aid.”
Jessica trusts Tiffany’s assessment and tries to straighten her leg so Ms. Yoo can see her knee. The resulting pain makes a whimper escape through her teeth.
“Be careful,” Ms. Yoo says. “Move your whole leg, not just the knee.”
Jessica can see her knee now; it’s scraped and there’s a tiny bit of blood that makes her jerk her eyes away. It doesn’t look that bad, not nearly as bad as when she had fallen off her bike and hurt it a few months ago. She had almost fainted that time from how much blood there was. Blood always makes Jessica’s stomach turn and feel queasy.
“Come on, Sooyeon,” Ms. Yoo says, putting an arm around her and half-carrying her as she leads her toward the back. Tiffany follows, almost running to keep up.
Ms. Yoo helps Jessica into a chair carefully so that she doesn’t hurt her knee even more. She takes out a white box that she calls a “first-aid kit” and takes out a few things from it. She tears open a small, white wrapper and pulls out a wipe. “This is going to sting, sweetie. I’m sorry about that, but we need to make sure the wound doesn’t get infected, okay?”
Jessica nods bravely, even though she doesn’t know what ‘infected’ means. It sounds scary and she tries not to be scared but she can’t help it, and that’s when a hand slips into her own. She looks up and sees Tiffany staring at her with a worried expression.
Tiffany gives a smile that’s nothing like her previous ones. “You can squeeze my hand really hard if it hurts bad.”
“I might break your hand,” Jessica says. “My dad says I’m really strong.”
Tiffany’s smile looks a little steadier. “Are you?”
“Mm hmm.”
“Can you open a bottle of water by yourself?”
“Well.” Jessica falters. “That’s—” Her knee stings like somebody had dunked it into lemon juice, and she cries out, her hand clamping down on Tiffany’s.
“I’m sorry, Sooyeon,” Ms. Yoo says apologetically. “It hurts, but it’ll help.”
The pain comes quickly but fades quickly too. Jessica’s eyes instinctively find Tiffany’s, and she sees that Tiffany looks very pale.
“Sorry,” Jessica whispers when she realizes she had squeezed Tiffany’s hand like she was trying to crush it.
“You’re not strong at all,” Tiffany says with a faint smile. “I thought you were trying to tickle me.”
“I am strong,” Jessica huffs.
“Strong Sooyeon,” Ms. Yoo says. “Which Band-Aid do you want?” She holds out a colourful box full of them.
“Pick the Dora one so we match, Jessi!”
Jessica glances at Tiffany’s elbows, both of which are smooth and unmarked. “You don’t even have yours anymore.”
Tiffany sticks her arm out. “Can I have a Band-Aid too, Ms. Yoo?”
Ms. Yoo laughs. “I have to save the Band-Aids for when people get hurt, Miyoung.”
“But the box has so many.” Tiffany gives the best puppy dog eyes Jessica has ever seen, even better than the lab puppy she had begged her parents for. “And Jessi wants us to match. Don’t you, Jessi?” She turns to Jessica, the pleading expression still firmly in place.
“Yeah,” Jessica says. “Please, can we?”
“Well.” Ms. Yoo smiles. “Since you said please.”
There’s only one pink Dora Band-Aid left, and Jessica lets Tiffany have it, while she chooses a purple one for herself. She does feel a lot better now; Tiffany was right about Ms. Yoo’s oo-healing powers.
“Are you girls ready for story time?” Ms. Yoo asks. “Or do you want to just sit for a while?”
Tiffany looks at Jessica, who says, “Can we just sit for a while?”
“Of course,” Ms. Yoo says. “I’m just going to get you to sit closer to the middle of the room, so I can keep an eye on you, okay?”
They both nod and end up sitting sort of away from everyone else but still in Ms. Yoo’s view while she opens a book to tell a story to the rest of the class. Jessica loves it when her parents read stories to her, but they haven’t done that for a while and she doesn’t know a lot of the words in the books when she tries to read them herself.
“Jessi?”
Jessica turns away from looking at Ms. Yoo to Tiffany, who’s biting her bottom lip. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry,” Tiffany says in a small voice.
“What?” Jessica asks in surprise. “Why?”
“I shouldn’t have pulled you so hard.”
“It wasn’t that hard.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were coming with me.”
“You don’t have to pull me. I’d follow you anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Tiffany says sadly. “I won’t do it no more.”
“It’s okay.” Jessica takes Tiffany’s hand. “I like walking with you.”
She’s already seen Tiffany’s smile quite a few times, but she’s still not used to its brightness, like the sun is shining into her eyes.
“How does your oo feel now?” Tiffany asks.
“Better.”
Tiffany frowns. “Does it still hurt?”
“A little.”
“My mommy always kisses mine and then it doesn’t hurt at all.”
Jessica blinks. “At all?” Is Tiffany’s mom a fairy or something?
Tiffany nods. “Do you want to try?”
“…Okay.”
Tiffany slides off her chair and crouches in front of Jessica. She mouths something Jessica can’t hear before pressing to the front of the Band-Aid. Then she springs to her feet with a smile. “Did it work?”
Jessica nods dumbly.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore?”
Jessica shakes her head.
“At all?”
“At all,” Jessica says.
Tiffany beams and suddenly holds out her arm. “You have to kiss my oo better now.”
“You don’t even have a oo.”
“Yes, I do,” Tiffany insists. “It’s under this Band-Aid and it’s just like yours. I kissed yours better, so you have to kiss mine better.”
Jessica sighs. “It’s the other arm, silly.”
Tiffany pouts. “My mommy says you shouldn’t call people names.”
“Silly isn’t a bad word.”
“It means you think I’m dumb.”
“No, it means I think you’re cute.”
Tiffany’s eyes are shining. “You think I’m cute?”
Jessica looks away. “Maybe,” she mumbles. “Sorta.”
Tiffany giggles. “I think you’re cute too, Jessi.” She shoves her other arm practically in Jessica’s face and taps the Band-Aid on her elbow. If she really did have a oo, it would probably hurt to poke it like that.
Jessica hesitantly brushes her lips against the Band-Aid.
“That was too light,” Tiffany says. “I didn’t even feel it.”
“What?”
“You have to do it like you mean it. Like you want me to get better.”
“You’re not even—”
“I did it for you,” Tiffany says, sounding hurt.
Jessica sighs and does it again, firmer this time. It feels weird, but then Tiffany smiles at her like she’s a hero and maybe it’s not so bad.
“There,” Jessica says. “Better?”
“Better than better,” Tiffany says. “Um, what’s that word again?”
“Best?”
“Best,” Tiffany repeats. “You give the best oo kisses, Jessi.”
Jessica can’t help a smile. “Thanks, Tiff.”
“That sounds a lot better than silly,” Tiffany tells her.
“Silly Tiff,” Jessica tries, and that earns her a sullen glare. She just smiles back.
“Do you want to play Lego?” Jessica asks, when they have free playtime again.
“No!” Tiffany scowls. “It made you trip and hurt your knee,” she says angrily, like the Lego block had come to life and attacked Jessica.
Jessica laughs. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at it.”
“I am,” Tiffany huffs.
Jessica smiles. “What do you want to play then?”
Tiffany perks up. “Let’s play House!”
“House? How do you play that?”
“You never play it before?” Tiffany asks, like she’s shocked.
Jessica shakes her head. “Is that bad?”
Tiffany fervently shakes her head. “No, course not. I’ll teach you!” She takes Jessica’s hand and starts pulling her along, but suddenly freezes.
“Tiff?” Jessica asks, when Tiffany just stands there without moving.
“I shouldn’t pull you hard again,” Tiffany says with a frown. “What if you fall again? There aren’t no more Dora Band-Aids.”
Jessica blinks, and then smiles. “I won’t fall again.”
Tiffany’s frown doesn’t ease. “How do you know?”
Jessica squeezes her hand. “You won’t let me, right?”
Tiffany’s frown finally gives way to a smile, a brilliant one. “Right!” she exclaims, and sets off with Jessica, not pulling or pushing her but walking with her.
They stop at a play kitchen set Jessica had vaguely noticed before. She’s not very fond of those. One time she had eaten a cookie from one that turned out to be made of play dough, and she didn’t want to go near one again for a very long time.
“When you play House,” Tiffany starts explaining, “you play a family. There’s a mommy and daddy and baby. The daddy goes to work and the mommy stays home and takes care of the baby.”
Jessica frowns. “Always?”
“Or the mommy can go to work and the daddy can take care of the baby, but I think mommies are better at taking care of the baby.”
Jessica’s not a baby anymore, but either way, neither of her parents seems particularly keen to take care of her.
“And we pretend to be either the mommy or daddy or baby,” Tiffany adds.
“There are only two of us though,” Jessica points out. “Do we have to get someone else?” She doesn’t want to; she wants to just play with Tiffany.
“No, it’s okay. We can use this.” Tiffany picks up a plastic baby and dangles it by the ankle. Jessica’s pretty sure you shouldn’t hold babies like that. “I want to be the mommy.”
“I don’t want to be the daddy.”
“But you have to be.” Tiffany chews her bottom lip. “All families need a mommy and daddy.”
“But.” Jessica doesn’t know how to refute this. “I don’t want to be the daddy,” she repeats in a small voice. “Can’t we both be mommies?”
Tiffany’s brow furrows, her face scrunching up. Jessica doesn’t like that look on her face. Tiffany has a face that’s meant for smiling. As if reading Jessica’s mind, Tiffany’s overcast expression clears up into sunny sky.
“Sure,” she says brightly, “but I bet I’ll be the better mommy.”
Jessica snorts. “You wish.” She points to the plastic baby now being held in a choke hold by Tiffany. “You’re killing the baby.”
Tiffany hurriedly lets go and the toy falls to the ground, landing on its head. Jessica bursts into laughter.
“Don’t laugh, Jessi,” Tiffany whines. “Why don’t you hold the baby?”
Jessica picks it up and cradles it the way she’s seen adults hold real babies. “Um. What do we do now?”
“He’s crying,” Tiffany says. “We have to sing him to sleep.”
Jessica gives the plastic baby a harder look. It’s kind of cute, she supposes. “How do you know it’s a he?”
“He looks like a he,” Tiffany says. “Don’t you think?”
“I think it looks like an it.”
“Jessi,” Tiffany whines.
“What do you want to sing i—him?”
“My mommy always sings me this song when I can’t sleep,” Tiffany says. “It’s called Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
“Oh, I know that song.”
“Great!” Tiffany beams. “Sing it with me.”
Jessica glances around the room. “I don’t know if we can sing here.”
“We can do it quietly,” Tiffany says, and Jessica smiles because she doesn’t know if Tiffany can do anything quietly. “Please?” Tiffany asks, widening her eyes and jutting out her bottom lip.
“Okay,” Jessica says. “You start.”
“No, we have to sing together,” Tiffany insists, and Jessica concedes.
“Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high. There’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby…”
Ms. Yoo comes over to compliment them on their singing skills – “you sound wonderful together, girls. What great harmonization! What’s harmonization? It’s when people sing together and, well, match their voices to each other” – but ask them if they could take a break because naptime is starting.
Tiffany pouts. “I don’t want to nap yet.”
Jessica usually loves naptime and can’t wait for it, but she doesn’t quite want it to come yet either. “Why not?”
“I’m having fun with you,” Tiffany says. “Are you having fun with me too?”
Jessica meets her eyes. “The funnest,” she says, and Tiffany breaks into another bright smile.
“I don’t think that’s a word…”
“It is now,” Jessica says. Tiffany’s smile widens, her eyes disappearing, and Jessica thinks that she would like to make Tiffany smile like this every day.
When it’s the end of the day, Ms. Yoo stands with them as Jessica’s classmates get picked up one by one. It’s usually a mom or dad that comes pick them up, but there are some grandparents too. Ms. Yoo smiles and says, “Have a nice day. I’ll see you tomorrow!” to everyone. She’s really nice. Jessica likes her.
“Jessi, you’ll be back tomorrow, right?” Tiffany suddenly asks.
“Yeah.”
“For sure?” Tiffany looks very serious.
“For sure.”
“Pinky swear?” Tiffany holds out her pinky, and Jessica intertwines hers with Tiffany’s.
“Pinky swear,” Jessica says solemnly.
Tiffany gives that smile that makes her eyes disappear again. “I have the funnest time with you.”
Jessica smiles back. “You too.”
A woman who looks a lot like Tiffany comes to pick her up. When Tiffany sees her, she runs into her arms and the woman picks her up with a smile that’s just like Tiffany’s. Jessica looks away while Tiffany starts chattering so loudly that if Jessica tried hard to hear her, she could probably pick up her words.
Jessica scuffs her foot along the ground and wonders if her aunt’s going to come and pick her up or if her parents are. Maybe nobody’s coming. Maybe she’ll just be stuck here waiting all night for them. She shivers at the thought. What if monsters come out and try to eat her?
“Jessi, is your mommy or daddy coming to pick you up?”
Jessica looks up, startled, to find Tiffany in front of her, mom nowhere to be seen. “Um, I don’t know.”
Tiffany tilts her head to the side. “They didn’t tell you?”
Jessica shrugs.
“I’ll wait with you.”
“You don’t have to.” Jessica looks down at the ground, kicking a pebble away. “I bet they’ll be really late.”
“I don’t want you to wait by yourself. Won’t you be lonely?” Jessica raises her head and sees Tiffany smiling at her. “I’ll wait with you.”
“But your mom—”
“She’s going to get us some ice cream,” Tiffany says brightly. “Oh sorry, I forgot to ask which flavour you want. I always get strawberry.”
“It’s okay, I like strawberry.” It’s not one of her favourites, but she still likes it.
Tiffany gives her gap-toothed grin. “Strawberry is the best, isn’t it?”
Jessica smiles a little. “Chocolate is better.”
“No, it isn’t!”
“Yes, it is.”
“Nuh uh!”
“Yeah huh.”
“Nuh uh! Strawberry rules and chocolate drools.”
Jessica tries to think of a comeback but comes up blank. Instead, she juts out her bottom lip.
“Well, it doesn’t drool,” Tiffany relents. “It’s good too, but strawberry is better. Strawberry is the best.” She smiles at Jessica like she’s sharing a secret with her. “You teached me ‘best,’ right Jessi? So you have to say it with me.”
Jessica ends up laughing. It’s the first of many arguments that they go on to have where she concedes defeat to Tiffany because she’s just too ridiculous.
Tiffany’s mom comes back with two strawberry ice cream cones, and Jessica thanks her politely before taking hers. Tiffany digs in like she hasn’t eaten ice cream in forever, while Jessica at hers slowly.
“I love ice cream,” Tiffany says through a mouthful of it. “Even in the winter, I want to eat it all the time.”
Jessica nods. She can relate.
“Milkshakes are good too. Do you like milkshakes?”
Jessica nods again.
“What’s your favourite flavour?”
Jessica swallows her mouthful of ice cream before replying. “Banana.”
Tiffany looks disappointed. “Oh.”
“Yours is strawberry, right?”
“Yeah! How’d you know?”
Jessica smiles and gestures at their ice cream.
“Strawberry-banana milkshakes are good too,” Tiffany allows, “but not as good as just strawberry.”
Jessica just keeps eating her cone.
“Jessi, you have some ice cream on your nose.”
“I do?”
“Yeah.” Tiffany taps her own nose, which is somehow spared from the ice cream that’s basically all over the rest of her face. Jessica tries wiping it away, but Tiffany keeps shaking her head so she knows she hasn’t gotten it. “Here,” Tiffany says, brushing Jessica’s nose with her thumb. Her cold, wet thumb.
Tiffany giggles. “Oh, sorry. I got some more on your nose.”
Jessica narrows her eyes. “Hey, Tiff.”
“Yeah?”
“You have some ice cream on your nose.” Jessica collects a dollop on her finger and reaches toward Tiffany, who squeals and runs away.
Tiffany finds her mom, who’s watching them with a fond expression, and hides behind her. “Mommy, help me! Jessi’s trying to ice cream me!”
Jessica falters in her chase when she gets to Tiffany’s mom.
“Tiffany,” her mom laughs. “It’s not very fair for you to use me as a shield, is it?”
Tiffany peeks her head past her mom and sticks out her tongue at Jessica. She doesn’t notice how her cone is dripping ice cream onto her shoes.
“Tiff, your ice cream’s mel—”
“Sooeyon!” She stiffens and turns around to see her aunt looking at her with a disapproving expression. “Where did you get that ice cream? You’re going to get it all over your clothes.”
“I—”
“Hi,” Tiffany’s mom says, stepping forward. “This is my daughter, Tiffany. She’s become good friends with yours.”
“Oh, Sooyeon isn’t my daughter. She’s my niece.”
“That’s nice of you to help her parents pick her up.”
“Well, she’s just such a joy. Aren’t you, Sooyeon?” Her aunt looks at her with a tight smile, and Jessica doesn’t return it.
“I was getting Tiffany some ice cream and I thought I’d get Sooyeon one too. I’m sorry if it’s an inconvenience for you.”
“Oh well, that’s very kind of you.” Jessica’s aunt nudges her. “Sooyeon, what do you say?”
“Tha—”
“She already thanked me,” Tiffany’s mom cuts in. “She’s a very polite, very sweet girl.”
Jessica blushes. Her aunt gives that smile again. “Why don’t you say goodbye to your friend, Sooyeon? We have to get going.”
“Bye, Tiffany,” Jessica says quietly.
Tiffany steps out from behind her mom and looks at Jessica’s aunt with an expression Jessica hasn’t seen on her face before. It’s an expression Jessica hopes Tiffany never looks at her with. Suddenly, she runs to Jessica and throws her arms around her.
“Bye, Jessi!” she says, somehow yelling through a whisper. “I’ll miss you.”
“You’ll see me tomorrow.”
“Promise, right?”
Jessica tightens her arms around Tiffany. “Promise.” She’s the one to pull away, even though she doesn’t want to. “Thank you,” she says again to Tiffany’s mom.
“You’re very welcome,” she replies. “Take care, honey.”
Her aunt tries to take her hand as they walk to her car, but Jessica pulls away. She keeps looking back every couple of steps, and Tiffany stays where she is, one hand in her mom’s and the other waving at Jessica, not stopping even as Jessica steps out of sight.
“Sooyeon,” her aunt says in the car. “You know your mom doesn’t want you eating ice cream on such a cold day.”
“Where is my mom?”
“She’s…busy.”
“And my dad?”
“He’s busy too.”
Jessica says nothing and stares out the window.
“Sooyeon,” her aunt sighs. “Your parents care a lot about you, okay? They’re just busy these days.”
“Okay.”
“I’m probably going to be dropping you off and picking you up for the next couple of days, okay?”
“Okay.”
“If you want something to eat like ice cream, you can tell me and I can buy it for you.”
It’s not the same, Jessica thinks. “Okay,” she says.
The next morning, as soon as her aunt leaves after dropping her off, Jessica is looking everywhere for a pink-clad figure. Her heart sinks when she can’t see her, but then—
“Jessi!” Tiffany is in another pink dress, but a paler one with a ribbon around the waist, and a sparkly headband. “You’re back!”
Tiffany’s voice is even louder than it was yesterday, but strangely, Jessica doesn’t mind. She smiles and nods. “I’m back.”
“I missed you!”
Jessica’s mouth almost feels strained, with how broadly she’s smiling. “You too.”
“What?” Tiffany asks, and then, “Pardon?” Her face scrunches up. “My mommy always tells me to say pardon.”
“Mine too.”
“Why didn’t your mommy or daddy pick you up yesterday, Jessi?”
Jessica looks down, noticing that the carpet right under their feet is a bit discoloured. “They were busy,” she repeats the words her aunt had told her. “They’re busy a lot.”
“Oh.” Tiffany doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Well, if they’re busy, you can play with me!”
Jessica raises her head. “Wh—pardon?”
“You can play with me,” Tiffany repeats.
“What if they’re busy every day?”
“Then we can play together every day!”
“Every day?” She doesn’t think that Tiffany would want to play with her every day. She doesn’t even want to play every day.
“Every day,” Tiffany says, not just like an answer but like a promise, and there’s nothing that Jessica can do in reply but to smile.
It’s colouring time, but all the crayons have already been taken. Jessica looks at the Little Mermaid colouring book in her hand and wonders how she’s going to colour Ariel in without crayons. The ocean looks so bland in white.
“You can share my crayons with me, Jessi!”
Jessica looks at the three crayons Tiffany is holding out: two pink and one red. At least she can colour Ariel’s hair in red. As for the ocean, she supposes it’ll have to be pink. She’s never seen a pink ocean before, but it’ll have to work.
“You like pink a lot, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Tiffany exclaims. “It’s the best colour ever!”
“Uh huh.”
“You don’t like pink?” Tiffany asks with narrowed eyes.
“I like it. It’s nice.”
“It’s better than nice!”
Jessica pinches a corner of Tiffany’s dress. “You look pretty in pink.”
Tiffany grins, takes the headband off her head and places it on Jessica’s. “You do too!”
Jessica runs her hand over the headband. She usually doesn’t like wearing them, but Tiffany’s feels better on her head than the prickly ones that her mom always gets her. Well, used to get her.
At the end of the day, she tries to give it back to Tiffany, but Tiffany won’t take it.
“It’s a present for you!”
“But it’s yours.”
“I want to give it to you.” Tiffany smiles. “You look pretty in it.”
Jessica lowers her head. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah! Just make sure you wear it.”
“Of course I’ll wear it.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
This time, Jessica is the one who holds out her pinky, and Tiffany curls theirs together in another promise.
A/N: They start growing up in the next part. I'm excited for that, but also I'll miss these kiddies. I've never written JeTi, or any adult main characters, as children before so it was definitely interesting and different. Challenging too, but in a good way.
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