Do You Trust Me?

Aliyah was half way up the wall of the house’s exterior when Malcolm called up to her. “So you think we’ll get this house finished in time before the Mazurs get back from their family trip?”

“I don’t know” Aliyah started. “It’s kinda hard to tell when you’re painting. Let alone painting a house.” “Yeah you’re right Liyah” Malcolm replied. “I mean, there’s painting it. Then there’s making sure the pattern and color scheme are right, then you gotta watch out for air bubbles-”

“Thanks for the endless and turgid reminders, watcher’s council” Aliyah interrupted. “You’re right, my bad” Malcolm chuckled. “Well hopefully we finish the job in time. I’m looking forward to the mall and movies later with the rest of the crew, how bout you Li?” Aliyah paused and took a deep breath before answering. She knew in her gut that the reply she anticipated giving would not be a gleeful one that Malcolm would have wanted.

“Honestly Mal, I’m not sure if I wanna go.” “Why not?” Malcolm asked rhetorically. He had a gut feeling about why she did not want to join him and the rest of the crew, but he felt he needed to hear her say it out loud for reassurance. “Well I…I haven’t really been in the spirit since Glen and me broke up. Plus he was always been on joining us at the movies so it’s kind of a painful reminder.” “Ah come on, Li” Malcolm began. “This has been our crew’s tradition since highschool. We’ve been rolling like this for over 10 years now. We take a stroll around the mall for an hour and a half before the movie starts, looking for merch to go with the movie and of course we gotta get some cheese steaks with fries from El Dorado’s right before we by that high priced popcorn.”

Aliyah chuckled as she briefly stopped sliding her red paint soaked brush along the edge of the roof that was high off the ground from where Malcolm was talking up to her. “Yeah, the good ol’ days” Aliyah began sarcastically. “Any other week this would’ve been the best night ever, but on this day I think I’d rather wallow in self pity and throw myself a little party in that regard. I just kinda miss Glen too much and I can’t really focus on anything else, no matter how hard I try.”

“Miss him? Li 24 hours ago you couldn’t even stand to hear his name. You even snapped on Bonnie for mentioning his favorite food-” “Oh give it a rest, Sherlock’s homeboy” Aliyah interrupted. “It’s not so much him, I just…I just miss what we had. The long talk, the late nights. It all hit me like a sack of bricks when we broke up.” “I get that completely, Li” Malcolm started. “Y’all were something else, but he got to a point where you started just being his doormat and that had to end.” “I get that, Mal, but moving on is easier to say you’ll do than actually doing it.”

“That’s completely true little sis, but you have to start slow and gradually work towards moving on.” Malcolm asserted. “How can I start moving on? I don’t even know what the first step is” Aliyah replied as she stroked her brush along the roof edge. “The first step is trusting that everything will be okay and that your friends will be here to see you through the hard times.”

Aliyah paused and stood up on high above roof to address Malcolm. “I don’t know if I can-whoa” before Aliyah could finish she stumbled and lot her footing on the lacquer of the roof. “Li!” Malcolm called out alarmingly. Aliyah fell backwards but caught herself on the edge of the roof. With her entire body hanging from the roof she was barely holding onto the roof as she was slowly losing her grip. “Malcolm, help me!” Aliyah cried as she dangled from the roof. “Gosh I can’t get up there before you fall” Malcolm quickly assessed. “Li you have to let go.”

“Let go? Are you crazy?” Aliyah called out. “Yes” Malcolm replied sarcastically. “You have to trust me.” “But I-” Aliyah stumbled as she was losing her grip. “Li, do you trust me?” Malcolm asked. “LI, DO YOU TRUST ME?” “YES! I TRUST YOU” Aliyah struggled. “THEN LET GO AND I GOT YOU!” Aliyah lost her grip and fell back while screaming in terror. Before she could hit the ground her fall was broken by Malcolm who fell to the ground as he caught Aliyah.

“Are you okay, Li?” “Yeah, Yeah I am. Thanks to you” Aliyah replied. “I told you that you can always count on your friends to be here for you. Do you believe me?” Malcolm asked. “Yes, I trust you.” Aliyah and Malcolm embraced each other with a hug. With hope for the future they were appreciative that they could trust each other to always be there for one another.