Story Blog: Friendship Ring by Andrea Graham

The Friendship Ring
By Andrea Graham

A light burned my eyelids. “Adriana Malone, get up! It’s time to go and I’m not leaving without you. You know what our moms and your sister will do if they don’t get to go to church.”

I turned over and hid underneath my pillow. “Abe! Go away, who let you in the house?”

Abe grabbed for the pillow and a tug of war ensued. He won. “Dear, it’s almost ten. Now get up and take a shower, or I will pick you up and put you in the car and you can go to church barefoot and in your PJ’s.”

“You wouldn’t.” He would. Abe never made idle threats, or idle promises, either.

Eliza entered. “Hurry up, Adriana. The big lug refuses to leave you.” At fifteen, patience wasn’t her strong point.

Groaning, I pulled myself out of bed, still groggy.

Abe steered me towards the bathroom. “Come on, we’re late.”

I glared at him. “You are a royal pain, Abraham Desmond.”

“You’ll thank me later.”

I stuck out my tongue, half-expecting a kiss even though Abe put that to a stop back in the seventh grade.

By the time we got to church, I was awake. I should’ve known better than to stay out so late. I needed to stop letting Duke talk me into these things. If Abe knew how late I was out, he’d be furious. Thankfully, I was notorious for being difficult to wake.

While we found seats in the sanctuary, Abe grabbed my left hand. “Where’s your ring?”

He was just noticing? “Eliza stole it out of the bathroom a month ago.”

Hurt flashed through Abe’s clear blue eyes. His mother frowned from the other side of our party. “Abraham, come sit next to me.”

He sent another hurt look at me then trotted to her side.

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