Sketchbook and Storybook
Evelisse Dela Salvatore
I have a boy who lives next door, and he is probably the most annoying person I know. Loud at the exact moment I crave quiet.
He’s the kind of person who thinks he’s funny, even when his jokes make absolutely no sense. He always has something to say, usually at the exact moment when I wish he’d stay quiet.
But he’s also the quiet type sometimes.
When he’s not bothering me, he retreats into his own world with a pencil in hand, capturing fragments of whatever catches his eye. Other times, he disappears into his room, surrounded by brushes and paints, spilling his quite thought onto canvas without a care. I’ve never truly understood the language he speaks when he creates.
And I’ve never dared to ask.
We’re neighbors, so I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. That fool is always saying that we only became friends because I kept trailing after him everywhere.
But our mothers are friends, which probably explains why we ended up spending so much time together.
And honestly, I just found him lonely. He should consider himself lucky.
After all, he got me as a friend.
Liam Cosa Nostra Amarez
There is this girl who lives close by, and somehow, she eventually became the most difficult person I’ve ever had to deal with.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.
She’s stubborn.
Very stubborn.
The kind of stubborn that makes arguing with her feel like a complete waste of time, even when I know I’m right.
That’s how I somehow gave up and completely agreed that her hypothetical assumption was right.
Don’t ask me what it was. I don’t remember.
She also has a habit of getting completely lost in books.
Give her a few minutes inside a bookstore, and she’ll forget that the rest of the world exists.
I’ve learned that if I want her attention, I either have to wait or remind her that we’re supposed to be going home.
She’s always been like that. Curious about everything. Always looking at something, reading something, or finding something new to get interested in.
If you ask me how we became so close, well...She always followed me around whenever I wanted to be alone. I guess eventually, I just got used to it.
We’ve been neighbors for years. Tangled up in each other’s lives until “friends” was the only word left.
Best friends, I guess. At least, that’s what everyone calls us.
But that’s not what I’m feeling.
And that is definitely not what I said.
