*~*~*~*~*Begin 1983*~*~*~*~* The girl's chubby young fingers gripped around the stick in anticipation of an attack from the giant amphibian. She gently poked at it disgustingly, silently wishing it's form would change to a much more suitable sight to look at. "Are ya sure your mamma read the story right?" the boy scratched his head as if debating whether or not he was hearing her right. His hand-me-down blue jeans sported holes at the knees with mud caked from top to bottom and a striped blue and yellow shirt equally as worn out. The girl bent over low enough to look the amphibian once over again and sighed in a frustrated manner. "I ain't stupid, I can read ya know!" The boy took a step backwards, and threw his hands up in defense. His eyes widened as if in surprise of her remark. "Alright, alright already! But I mean, uh, are you sure ya wanna...ki-ki-kiss it?!!?" his tone went from one of defense to complete disbelief. She sighed once again with impatience and blew a piece of her ragged hair out of her face sticking out from underneath an old baseball cap. She leaned on her right leg with her hands resting delicately above her hips. The girl wore a sunflower yellow shirt and blue overall shorts with it. Her ten chubby toes curled around the cool grass below it. "I told ya already! The book said if a princess kisses a frog it will turn into a handsome prince and they'll live happily ever after. And I'm obeesly a princess so it have to work!" she claimed as if it were complete common sense. The little boy shrugged his small shoulders and sat down on the edge of the nearby dock, shamelessly throwing pebbles into the pond. The girl only rolled her eyes in annoyance and displeasure that he would show such lack of support for her life changing decision. "Just me and you Mr. Frog," she muttered quietly under her breath. Taking a long drawn out breath in preparation for what was to come, the young girl bent over carefully, securing herself by wrapping her tiny fingers around the slimy and mossy rock. The boy stopped what he was doing and consciously held his breath for what was to come. She inched her freckle-covered face closer to the toad and squeezed her eyes closed tightly, praying for it to just be over. Just as her wet lips were inching closer to her warty friend, it leaped up suddenly against her chest. This causing her to lose her balance and tumble over backwards, landing her small bum into a mud cake, ruining her newly bought outfit. A high pitched squeal of terror and anger escaped her lips immediately and she pounded the ground with her tiny fists furiously. "Ahhh!!! You stupid stupid toad! You've ruined my new clothes!!" her pink pouty lips stuck out in anger as she heaved a huge sigh. The boy watched in complete amusement as a smile formed on his lips and laughter erupted from within him. He clutched his stomach tightly as if his laughter was hurting him from too much of it. Tears began to form at the corner of his eyes as he continued to giggle while the girl looked on with a hint of anger at his outburst. "Hmph! I see nothing funny about this J o s e p h!" she replied with a strong pronunciation on his name. All signs of laughter disappeared from the boy's face and his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance at the use of his full name. She obnoxiously stood up quickly and began to brush off whatever dirt she could from her soiled clothes. "This is horrible! Now what am I going to do? How will I ever find a handsome prince now??" she stomped the ground in frustration and folded her arms across her chest. Her form suddenly perked up and her eyes widened in excitement as an idea struck her small mind. Joey knew that look all too well and became instantly afraid of what was to come. "I know! Since I can't kiss a real frog, I'll just find a replacement for one! You're as ugly as a frog, so I'll kiss you!" the idea sounded so reasonable in her mind, but to Joey, it was absurd. She wouldn't take no for an answer though and gave no other option but to do it. The two friends took a few steps closer to each other nervously. Neither were quite sure what was supposed to be done. The girl, being the braver of the two, heaved a huge sigh and pulled Joey closer to her impatiently. "Come on! Lets get it over with so I can marry my prince!" Joey sighed outwardly and wiped his muddy palms onto his jeans. He stepped up directly in front of her and they both closed their eyes in preparation. Just as they were starting to inch closer to each other, Joey opened his eyes widely and stood up quickly in a nervous manner. "Wait a minute, are we supposed to kiss like big kids, or little kids?" She hesitated for a moment and then eyed him suspiciously, "Big kids...why?" He shrugged his shoulders in uncertainty and signaled for them to try again. She shook her head as if she were confused but shook it off, and once again prepared to meet her prince. Both leaned over for the second time, hands on knees, and eyes closed. Anyone looking on would have thought, "oh how sweet!" It looked much like a classic Hallmark card: the quaint and peaceful pond, two young best friends, and the sweet affection for the other very evident. The girl held her breath as their lips came within an inch of each other and finally, met. They're young lips pressed against each other with hesitation and complete inexperience. And just as she was about to pull back to view her prince charming, she felt something wet and disgustingly slimy touch the outside of her lips. Realization dawned on her and in an instant her eyes fluttered open in disgust as she bolted straight up and began wiping her lips furiously with the back of her hands. She sputtered and spit as if doing so would erase any trace of their previous events. Suddenly, she stopped what she was doing and directed her anger towards the sheepishly embarrassed boy standing but a foot away from her. "UGH! You're, sick sick SICK!!" she screeched in a girlish tone. But before the boy could reply with an apology, he was being shoved roughly backwards, straight into the mossy pond behind him. He came splashing back up to the top, coughing and sputtering out the chilled pond water. "Cassidy May Lawrence! What do you think you're doing?!" a superior voice arose from behind their scene. The girl froze in place, knowing for certain she was in big trouble now. She quickly recovered by putting on her pouty face. Her bottom lip stuck out slightly and her eyes drooped much farther than normal. Turning around to face her doom she sniffled enough to be heard by the person that held the voice. "Oh no you don't young lady! That pouting trick does not work on me!" Cassidy's face fell in disbelief and her eyebrows furrowed once again in anger. "But mom! Joey started it!" she whined helplessly. Laura, her mother, shook her head and continued to hold her stance, "I don't care who started it. Now go help Joey out of the water and quickly run up to the porch so Nana can take your guys' picture. And look at your new outfit! Completely ruined! And what will Aunt Phyllis say about Joey's soaked clothes? I just don't understand what goes through your little minds sometimes.." She continued to ramble on as she walked back up the small dirt path toward Cassidy's grandmother's cabin. Cassidy turned back toward the pond and let out a long sigh of relief. Joey was already back on his feet standing in the muddy banks of the pond. His soaking wet clothes stuck to his skin like a suction cup and his small baseball cap was lying in the mud at his feet. Cassidy had to bite her lip to keep from cracking a smile at the sight he made. Joey looked up at her with a look of what she thought was embarrassment. "I'm sorry I pushed you in the water," she apologized as she picked up his filthy hat by the ends of her fingers. He took the hat from her, refusing to look in her eyes. "It's okay. And I'm sorry for.. for um.. I uh, seen big kids kiss like that, so I thought it was okay." His words stuttered a bit and Cassidy noticed his cheeks turn a slight tint of pink. Instead of replying with words, she reached down and snaked her fingers through his and gave it a squeeze. He smiled at her and she smiled back in understanding. Joey's shoes made a squishy noise from the water in them, as they walked hand and hand back up the shaded dirt path. No words needed to be said for either of the two six year olds to forget what happened and to continue to be young and happy. *~*~*~*~*End 1983*~*~*~*~* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *~*~*~*~*Begin 1987*~*~*~*~* "Superman can't really fly, Joey," her eyes gave a sense of knowledge and wisdom that only a 10 year old could possess. Her eyes squinted in the sun as she looked up at the rooftop above her. Her hand preserved any shade it could by curving around the top of her drawn out crystal blue eyes. Evidence of the summer's harsh rays left her skin a soft bronze cr�me color and singletarily placed golden bright streaks throughout her long blonde plaits of hair. "That's what you think!" It was said as if he knew something that no one else did. His presence was made very clear by the brightly colored red cape draped over his back. It looked to be tied around his neck while carelessly flapping in whatever wind there may be. His small frame hunched over onto the roughly sand papered log roof and his petite fingers held on nervously to whatever could cane his balance. "Joey, you're going to fall! Please get down!" Cassidy's voice pleaded at an audible whisper. He pretended not to hear her pleas and continued his brave act. Although his face showed no signs of weakness, silently he was screaming to himself at what a certain mess he gotten himself into, once again. But Joey Fatone was no one known to back down from what he started, and it wasn't going to start now. "Cass, I'm fine, will you relax for a minute?" his reassurance to her was nothing more than an excuse for her to go with the flow. "Fine, he got himself into this mess, so he can get himself out!" she thought to herself with a smug grin. Her eyes sparkled with mischief and a glee of excitement for what was to come. Acting as if nothing peculiar, or out of the ordinary were happening at the moment, Cassidy calmly walked over to her pink lounger and laid down with an over-exaggerated sigh happily. Crossing her legs at the ankles and folding her arms across her chest, she quietly awaited the entertainment about to unfold. Joey watched from his standpoint curiously wondering what could be on her overly trouble-making mind. He shook off any thoughts of safety and focused on his superman stunt. "If superman can fly, so can I!" Joey whispered to himself in sheer confidence. He nervously twirled the tassels on the end of his red cape around his fingers and decided on strategies to accomplish his goal. From the rooftop of this cabin to the tree shouldn't be so hard. He calculated about 20 feet from his knowledge of math. Superman had been a hero of his ever since he could remember. Every Saturday morning he'd wake up bright and early just to catch the new episodes. And as bored and annoyed as she looked, Cassidy was always right alongside him on the couch, fighting to keep awake. Now, Joey was going to accomplish his dream, to fly. Or atleast, that's what he thought. Cassidy's thoughts were in a worried rush, "Oh my gosh, he's really going to do it! Maybe I should stop him? He could really get hurt!...nah, you only live once." Joey stiffly peered over the edge and threw his head back in fear. He was farther up than he'd realized. "What's wrong? Scared?" Cassidy teased with a bat of her eyelashes innocently. He snapped his neck around to look at her in a brave manner. His shoulders stiffened somewhat. Closing his eyes, he prepared himself for the more than daring jump. His long plump arms spread out perpendicular to his body. He imagined himself soaring high in the sky, touching the white clouds. But much to his dismay, his ears were being taken over by the beating thump of his heart. His heart wasn't the only one beating loudly though. Cassidy was still chewing on the thought that Joey wasn't going to back down. She almost wished he would, surely they would both get it for his little frenzy. But who was she to rain on his parade? Her breath caught in her throat though as Joey took one last step forward, and took the plunge. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes as Joey's red cape flapped in the wind, but only for a brief second. He landed on the ground with a loud yelp. Cassidy shook her head in a knowing manner and tiptoed slowly to her screeching friend. Joey clutched his ankle in pain and propped himself up by one arm resting behind him, as tears pricked at his eyes. "Ow! It hurts!" he closed his eyes in pain and silently wished the hurt away. Cassidy rolled her eyes and held back the urge to slap Joey in the forehead. Throwing back her head, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "MOM! JOEY JUMPED OFF THE ROOF!" Even with the situation that they were in, Joey had to roll his eyes at her obnoxiously loud tone. Cassidy kneeled beside him and cringed at his already swelling ankle. He winced as she softly touched the throbbing bone and tried her best to examine it. She'd once broken her arm after falling off an enraged horse. Joey had the brilliant idea of tossing her a basketball while she sat already frightened to death on an enormous horse. It didn't take too long for her to forgive him though. After all, he did carry her things to class, buy her candy, and allow Cassidy to cover him from head to toe in female accessories- including the makeup. Oh yes, she knew the pain he was going through, and she was going to love taunting every minute of it in his face. "WHAT is all this screaming about?!" Or maybe not. A gasp rose from the adult approaching the scene. "What did you do to your ankle young man?? Cassidy May! What did you do to him?" Cassidy's mouth opened to protest but was cut off by Joey's pleading voice, "No Aunt Laura it was my fault! She didn't do anything!" Laura looked exasperated as she threw her arms in the air in anger. "Well that's not something I've heard in a while! What am I going to tell your mother Joseph? I can't even leave you two alone for five minutes without something happening! I don't understand what goes through your mind sometimes..." A smile tugged at each of their lips at the humorous side of the continuous lecture. Cassidy's eyes twinkled of laughter as she turned to her best friend. He too looked to be holding back the giggles. A smile was all it took for a secret understanding between the two. This was a scene all too familiar for both of them. *~*~*~*~*End 1987*~*~*~*~* |
| Some Things Never Change- Childhood Dreams *Authors note: the stories slow at first, with what I think is some cute kid humor. These flashbacks are important in understanding Joey and Cassidy's future relationship. Please do not skip this chapter. Thankyou. |
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| Chapter 2 |