Page 16 of Claiming What's Mine

“Of course I bought something. Why wouldn't I?”

“Because that wasn't in the plan.” Holding out the small apple pie in my hand, I snapped. “This is what we were there for.”

Blue glared at me, dropping her chin into her chest. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a handful of individual bubblegum pieces. “I bought fifty cents worth of Bazooka Joe, I was planning on sharing it with you. but, if you're going to be a jerk, I'll just save them for myself.”

“You ruined it, you ruined everything.” Frowning, I gripped the box tight in my hand.

“Oh yeah. . .” she said, throwing her hand to her hip. “How did I ruin everything? You got what you went in for.”

“So what? You didn't follow the plan”

“Fine, give me my half of the pie then, and I'll go.”

“Your half? Why would you even think I'd share this with you?”

“Because I earned it.” Lunging forward, Blue snagged the other side of the box. Giving it a hard tug, her brows dropped angrily. “I did what you asked, now share.”

Jerking the box back in my direction, I growled. “No way! You wanted to spend money, you should have bought one then.”

“I offered to,” she said through gritted teeth, yanking on the pie. “You said no.”

“We had a plan, and it didn't involve your charity.”

“Give it!” she yelled, yanking it back into her chest.

Back and forth, back and forth, we both tore at the pie. Our eyes were fixed on each other, our lips snarling like wild animals. Blue was only angry because I was angry, and I honestly wasn't even sure why I was so angry.

But that was all I felt in that moment. I felt angry that she had money to buy gum, I was pissed that she had taken my plan and added to it without telling me first. Looking back on it now, it was silly and ridiculous, but as kids you only know and feel what was happening in the moment.

And right then I was ticked with her.

Children don't think with wide eyes, they think with tunnel vision, they get fixated on themselves and only themselves. And then they explode, they throw a hissy-fit and take everything personal.

I felt betrayed, as if she had plotted out that small detail without me just to make me upset.

“Fine, take it,” I barked, releasing the pie from my hands.

The box top split open, causing the pie to fly out from its cradle and smash into her dress. Blue stood with her arms out, staring down at the mess of sliced apples and crust mush.

Cocking her mouth to the side, she dragged her finger through the pie guts and stuck it in her mouth, licking it clean. “That is delicious.” Arching a single brow, she used her fingers to scoop up another chunk and eat it. “You were right, this is amazing.”

Chuckling lightly, I watched a smile spread on her face as she began to laugh too. Using two fingers, she scooped up another chunk and grabbed my hand, slapping it inside. “Here, I don't want to eat what's left all by myself.” Her eyes went to the ground, looking down at the rest of the fallen dessert. “Unless you want to eat that?”

Sucking my fingers clean, I was still laughing. “It's good, but not that good.”

And just like that, our fight was over, our friendship bubble had been restored and we were able to crack jokes about our smashed pie the rest of the afternoon.

Standing at the edge of her field, Blue did her best to wipe as much of the crusty stain off her dress as she could.

“You're not going to get in trouble for getting dirty, are you?” I asked, running my hand through my hair and feeling pretty bad about messing up her clothes.

“Nah, it's fine. I have plenty of other dresses.”

Twisting my toe into the dirt, I nodded. “That's good. I'll see ya tomorrow then?”

“Of course!” she yipped excitedly, throwing out a hand and smacking my shoulder. “I know what we're going to do too. Can you come here around ten?”

“Yeah, why? What do you want to do?”

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