The Day Of The Chicken Wings

“Why is it you like chicken wings that much?”, the boy sitting across from me asks me. He looks handsome, and his red cheeks glow in the sun. I know him from a dating app. I've always thought those were crap and just meant for finding someone to get laid. But my best friend May has been urging me to try it for so long now that finally, I've just given in. Assumed that meeting up with a few random guys would be less exhausting than listening to her endless raptures, going something like: “It has been one year now, Kendra!” And maybe, she has actually been right. He's really nice and cute and fun to hang around, and most importantly nothing like Marco.

“What's not to like?” I ask him back and smile slightly with it. He says something else then, but I can't really hear him as I am about to drift into a memory, a thing that happens to me a lot. And I'm never able to do anything about it. So the next moment I'm sitting on our soft picnic blanket next to May, staring at the lake in front of us magically glittering in the sun. No one of us says a word, both completely lost in our own thoughts. I've just been left by my ex-boyfriend Marco, and May isn't feeling much better than me as her parents are currently in the middle of a divorce. “Life sucks!”, she claims desperately. I wanna agree, but then a sudden feeling of anger flashes through my body as I remember once again how Marco tells me that I've gotten too fat lately. And then, I decide that I will no longer let others define my happiness.

“You know what?”, I say while I get up. “We'll go to that food stand over there now and get the most unhealthy food they serve there!” May looks at me like I'm crazy, but she knows that I'm too determined for her to stop me now. So she just trots after me, watches as I order a huge bucket of chicken wings for both of us. Later we lay down on the blanket again with our bellies full, cracking up on how both our mouths are completely covered in brown sauce. “You look like a five year old!” I giggle, pointing at her face. She pushes me away in fake outrage and I laugh even more. That moment, I realize how much happier I am without Marco. And when I turn a smile over to May and she smiles back at me, I have a feeling that the moment has changed something in her, too. Turning my eyes onto the beautiful, glittering lake again, I finally say: “No May, life doesn't suck. It's beautiful, and we're right in the middle of it.”

“Kendra?” I flinch. “Yeah...What?”, I ask. “Is everything all right? You seem pretty... distracted!” “Oh no, sorry. Everything's fine! I'm just getting lost in my thoughts every now and then.” While I say that, I feel myself blushing. “What's the deal with your random blackouts?”, Marco's annoyed voice rings in my ear, louder and louder and louder...

“Kendra?” Oh no, not again! “I'm sorry”, I say sheepishly. But he just smiles. He seems like he really wouldn't care. He might even think it's cute. Which I don't understand, but of course I like it anyways. “Are you sure you're fine?”, he now asks again. “Yeah, completely sure. But can we maybe leave?”, I ask with a smile. “I really want to show you a place.”