Chapter Text
Life on Cherry Lane was not perfect, but it was pretty close, according to Lucy Chen. Her quiet street had three important spots: her home, the Bradford house next door, and four blocks away also on the same street was Bradford Bistro. Bradford Bistro was her favorite restaurant in the world despite it being humble and cozy. They had delicious veggie burgers and the best milkshakes, which was all that mattered to her. She had one every year on her birthday at her usual table, and her thirteenth birthday was no exception.
It was quite convenient that her best friend was also her neighbor, and her family owned her favorite restaurant, which was why Genny Bradford was truly irreplaceable.
Genny started singing, “Happy birthday to you-”
“Not yet,” Celia Bradford hushed her daughter with a chuckle.
“Let’s go, son, we’ve got a birthday girl to celebrate,” Tom Bradford said.
“Oh, it’s so sweet that he wants to learn the family business,” Vanessa Chen commented. “I know my daughter is planning on following in our footsteps and becoming a therapist.”
Genny’s grey eyes flashed a question across the table to Lucy, who almost imperceptibly winced. Vanessa and Patrick Chen, Lucy’s parents, had their daughter’s life fully planned out before she was even born no matter how disinterested Lucy seemed in the path selected for her.
“Okay, here are the milkshakes,” Tim Bradford announced when he left the kitchen and started walking over to the table while struggling to carry the tray with so many glasses on it. He placed each drink in front of every person at the table, and then said, “And for the birthday girl, a strawberry milkshake with extra whipped cream,” before setting Lucy’s down in front of her.
She gave him an appreciative smile and hoped the flips her stomach were doing were not obvious. It happened sometimes. It came out of nowhere and only occurred at the most unexpected times. Lucy could not properly verbalize what it meant, but she scribbled in her journal every time that sensation came on. The first time it happened, he smiled at her. It was a random Saturday morning, the sun made his tan skin glisten, his usually steely blue eyes brightened as they played catch in the park, and after she caught so many balls in a row with absolute precision, he flashed her a genuine grin, said “good job”, and then her stomach did that brand new flipping thing.
Lucy thought she was getting her period for the first time, because her mother warned her how her stomach might react, but she experienced real cramps a few short weeks after and easily deduced that whatever was happening to her in those rare moments was different and certainly curious enough to continue keeping track of.
“Okay, okay, now we can sing,” Genny announced to the table and lead them all in song, though she ensured her voice was the loudest of the group.
While other people had candles on cakes for their birthdays, Lucy never blew out a candle, because she had no need for one when there was nothing she could wish for; she had her strawberry milkshake while being surrounded by her favorite people in the world. Happily, she took her first sip and grinned.
“How is it?” Tim asked.
“Perfect,” Lucy answered gladly. “Thank you.” He flashed her a grin in response that made her stomach do something funny. When she drained her drink fast enough to get a brain freeze, she looked to Genny and asked, “Do you want to ride our bikes?”
“Yeah, I want to try out your new bike!” She eyed her mom and said, “Hint, hint, mom, I would like the exact same one in blue for my birthday next month.”
“Noted,” Celia responded with a giggle.
“Tim, you can come with us, too, you know,” Lucy offered.
Celia watched him open his mouth, but she cut in before he could reply, “He’s got an English test tomorrow he still has to study for. You girls will have to go alone. Don’t stay out too late and only ride on Cherry Lane.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know the rules,” Genny said. “Come on, Lucy.”
With the wind whipping in her hair and her best friend riding next to her, Lucy could not have asked for a better birthday.
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The last few weeks of the school year were uneventful, and then came summer. Lucy scribbled in her journal about how excited she was for her last year of middle school. She felt so grown up, because middle school would turn into high school, and then she would really be mature. It was something she was looking forward to. But apparently, growing up begot change, and change was something she was unprepared for.
Genny barged in through the back door of the Chen house as she always did and raced up the stairs to Lucy’s room. She opened her bedroom door without knocking and announced enthusiastically, “I have news!”
Lucy was sprawled out on her floor reading a book when she was interrupted, so she slid a bookmark between the pages to keep her place before asking, “What’s up?”
“You know how my dad has forced me to help out at the bistro everyday this summer for the breakfast rush?”
“I’ve heard you complain about it every single day. The only bright spot, apparently, is that David Kincaid stops by every morning with his mom. You’ve only said it a million times. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that he’s the cutest boy in our grade, and I’ve gotten to see him every morning for the past three weeks.”
“You’ve seen him in home room every morning for the past seven years. What’s so different about this summer?”
“Hello, we’re going to be eighth graders! We’re practically high schoolers, which means we’re basically adults. Everything’s different now.”
Lucy hummed her uncertainty.
“You want proof that everything’s different now? Just wait ‘til you hear my news. Before David left the bistro today, he walked up to me while I was bussing one of the booths, and he asked if I wanted to go to the movies with him this Saturday.”
“What?”
“He asked me out like on a date! A date!” Genny squealed.
“Oh my God!” She sprung up from the floor. “A date?”
“My first ever date! Can you believe it?”
“Woah!”
“I know! I’ve had a crush on him all summer, and now we’re going on a date! I’m so excited I could scream! I was hoping I could borrow your green sundress. The one with the cute straps.” She went over to Lucy’s closet and pushed through all of her clothes until she located it and pulled it out. “This green will make my eyes pop, and since it doesn’t have sleeves, I can get cold, which will give him the perfect excuse to put his arm around me. I have it all planned out.”
“You’ve already given this a lot of thought.”
“How could I not? David’s been on my mind practically 24/7.” She sighed, overcome with bliss, and sunk down heavily onto Lucy’s bed as she stared off into the distance. “I’ve never felt like this before about anyone. I catch myself thinking about him nonstop, and when I look at him, I feel my stomach do a somersault.”
“A-a somersault? You mean like a flip, right?”
“Yeah, that’s what I just said.” Genny’s eyes snapped over to Lucy to read her changing expression. “Why do you ask?” When she stayed silent, she leaned forward and pressed, “Lucy, does your stomach flip when you look at a boy? Do you have a crush?”
“W-what? N-no,” she objected, somewhat flustered.
“Are you blushing? Oh my God! We tell each other everything. You’ve heard me talk about David everyday. Who is your boy?”
“There is no boy,” Lucy insisted, despite how her pulse skyrocketed. She knew she had to change the subject soon, or she would give in and tell her best friend that she was familiar with the feeling. “Let’s talk about your date with David. I want to hear the plan from start to finish. How do you want to do your hair?” As Genny babbled about her hopes for an ideal date, Lucy glanced at her journal on her nightstand where she had written a record of each time her stomach flipped. Her mom called for lunch, so Genny went to her bedroom door.
Since she did not feel Lucy walking behind her, she spun around and said, “It’s lunch time. Let’s go.”
“I’ll be right there,” Lucy responded. She waited until she was alone in her room and lunged for her journal. Upon leafing through it, she found entry after entry where she recorded the curious sensation Genny had described.
Each entry only one had aspect in common.
Tim was present for every stomach flip.
Lucy slammed her journal shut and hid it under her pillow to conceal the evidence that only she had just made sense of.
Tim was the reason for the stomach flips.
She glanced out her window that looked into Tim’s room. He must have felt her eyes, because he turned in his desk chair and flashed her a crooked half smile.
Her stomach did that funny somersault again.
Lucy’s cheeks burned as she tried to casually smile back before turning on her heel and rushing out of her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and leaned back against it once she was on the other side.
Her palms were sweaty.
Her heart was beating fast.
Her head was spinning.
One of her best friends since birth. Her neighbor. Timothy Bradford. She had a crush on Timothy Bradford and absolutely no idea what to do about it or who to turn to about such a realization. For the first time, life on Cherry Lane felt impossible when everywhere she went was the boy that made her stomach flip.
