Kisses from Yesterday

Episode 7: The Confession

Episode 7: The Confession

Joni sat on the steps of her front porch, her knees pulled up to her chest. The wind was cool, the kind of breeze that whispered of impending fall, yet the sun still clung to the horizon, casting long shadows across the yard. She had always loved this time of day—the quiet, the stillness, the way the world seemed to slow down as evening fell. But today, her mind wouldn’t let her settle.

She could hear the sounds of the neighborhood in the distance—the laughter of children playing, the hum of cars passing by. Yet, all she could focus on was one thing: Jimmy.

It had been a week since they had last really talked. Jimmy, now 18, had been so caught up in his new circle of friends, older boys who seemed to do everything faster and with more ease than Joni had ever known. He had been talking about them more and more lately—how they played games she didn’t understand, how they joked about things that felt far beyond her years, how they’d hang out at the park, or sometimes, even at the corner store, looking like they owned the world.

She couldn’t ignore it anymore. She couldn’t ignore the way she felt every time she saw him laughing with Tim and Marcus, his new friends. The way he seemed to drift further away from her every time he spent more time with them. Joni hated it, but deep down, she knew the truth. Jimmy was changing. And while she knew change was a part of growing up, it felt like it was happening too quickly. Too suddenly.

Joni had tried to distract herself with other things—drawing, reading, running around the neighborhood with other kids her age—but her thoughts always returned to him. The way his laughter sounded when it was directed at her. The way his eyes had lit up when they had played together in the past, as if their shared adventures were the only thing that mattered.

It hurt.

But more than that, Joni had realized something about herself. Something that had been growing inside her for a while, a feeling she couldn’t ignore anymore. She admired Jimmy. Not just as a friend, but in a way that was different—deeper.

She wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, or how to explain it, but she knew she had to tell him. She had to let him know how much he meant to her, how much she admired him. She couldn’t keep it inside any longer.

A sudden gust of wind made her shiver, and she stood up from the porch steps. It was time.

She walked down the street toward Jimmy’s house, her heart pounding in her chest. She had rehearsed this moment in her mind so many times, but now that it was real, she couldn’t help the nerves that swarmed her. What if he didn’t understand? What if he laughed at her, like she was just being silly? What if he brushed her off, like he had done before?

Her hands trembled as she approached the familiar sight of Jimmy’s house. She could see him sitting on the porch, his legs stretched out in front of him, his back against the railing. His head was bent as he fiddled with something in his hands. His attention was entirely focused on whatever it was, and for a moment, Joni hesitated, wondering if now was the right time.

But then, without another thought, she took a deep breath and walked up to him.

“Jimmy,” she said, her voice a little shakier than she meant it to be.

He looked up, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he saw her standing there. “Hey, Joni,” he said casually. “What’s up?”

For a moment, Joni felt like she might lose her nerve. But she shook her head, squaring her shoulders and walking over to sit next to him. The silence stretched between them for a few moments, as she tried to find the right words. She wasn’t sure where to start, how to explain the depth of what she was feeling.

Finally, she blurted it out.

“Jimmy, I… I admire you more than anyone. I think you’re the coolest person I know.”

Jimmy blinked, his smile faltering for just a moment as he processed her words. Joni watched him closely, trying to gauge his reaction. She had expected a little surprise, but instead, he looked slightly uncomfortable, his fingers tightening around whatever he had been holding.

“Oh,” he said slowly, his voice a little distant. “Thanks, Joni. That’s... nice of you to say.”

The words were kind, but they didn’t land the way Joni had hoped. She could feel the gap between them widening, like a chasm she couldn’t quite cross. The air between them felt suddenly colder, and her chest tightened. Was that all it was? Just a simple thank-you?

She had hoped for something more—something deeper.

But as Jimmy shifted on the porch and looked down the street, Joni’s heart sank. He wasn’t really looking at her anymore. His attention had drifted, as it often did lately, to something or someone else.

“Well, anyway, I was just hanging out with Tim and Marcus earlier,” he said, as if her confession had never happened. “We were talking about the new game they just got. You should come hang out with us tomorrow, maybe.”

Joni’s face flushed, her hands suddenly feeling clammy. She had tried to tell him something important, and he hadn’t even seemed to hear her. It was as if her words had been swallowed up by the space between them, lost to the ever-growing divide.

She forced a smile, but it felt strained. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll think about it.”

Jimmy didn’t seem to notice the distance in her voice. He just nodded, his attention already shifting elsewhere. “Cool. Well, I’ll see you later, okay? I’m gonna go grab some water.”

And just like that, he stood up and walked into the house, leaving Joni sitting on the porch, feeling smaller than she ever had before.

The wind picked up again, tugging at her hair, but it felt like a cold gust inside her chest, as if all the warmth had been drained from her in that single moment. She stared at the spot where Jimmy had been, feeling a tightness in her throat.

She had told him the truth. She had opened her heart to him. But somehow, it hadn’t been enough. The way he brushed her off, so easily, without even a second thought—it hurt more than she had ever expected.

Joni stood up slowly, the weight of the moment pressing down on her. She didn’t know what she had expected, but it certainly wasn’t this.

It was only as she walked back home, her feet dragging against the pavement, that the reality of it all settled in. Jimmy had been a friend, a constant in her life, but now he was changing. He was moving into a world that didn’t quite fit with her own. And no matter how much she admired him, no matter how much she cared for him, it seemed like that world was one she couldn’t follow.

She tried to push the feelings aside, telling herself that maybe she had misunderstood the whole thing. Maybe he just didn’t feel the same way, and that was okay. Maybe it was just a phase, and they would return to being the friends they always were.

But deep down, Joni knew that things were different. Jimmy was growing up, and in his growth, he was leaving her behind.

The next few days passed in a haze of disappointment. She saw Jimmy, of course. He was still hanging out with Tim and Marcus, still spending more time with them than he ever did with her. He’d wave as he passed by, and sometimes they’d share a brief, distracted conversation, but it wasn’t the same. He didn’t look at her the way he used to. He didn’t make her feel like she mattered the way he used to.

Joni wanted to talk to him again, to try and explain how she felt, but something stopped her. The words she had already spoken seemed so insignificant now, swallowed up by the silence that had followed.

She spent the evenings in her room, drawing in her sketchbook, trying to capture the feelings she couldn’t quite express. The sketches were filled with faces, shapes, and colors that didn’t make sense, just like the swirl of emotions in her heart.

But nothing seemed to fill the emptiness. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jimmy, about how he had brushed off her confession, about how he was slipping away from her. She couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever see her the way she saw him.

And as the days wore on, Joni realized something—she wasn’t just losing her best friend. She was losing a piece of herself in the process.

It was a hard lesson to learn, one that made her feel like she was growing up too quickly, too suddenly, with no control over the changes happening around her. But as the days passed and Jimmy continued to focus on his older friends, Joni knew deep down that it was a part of life.

And even though it hurt, she would have to learn how to let go.