Author's Note: Unlike most of my stories, this series is not
intended to be a 'stroke story', but more of a realistic tale of
romance between a boy and girl.



Summary: A boy makes a new friend in his apartment building.

(bg, nosex)



  It was May in the year 1995, the middle of an era of creative
children's toys and the jingles to go with them. Burger King Kids
Club mascots were constantly seen on TV, McDonald's had its own
McWorld, and Wendy's was in competition with the two of them.
Long before the anime craze had begun and children wanted to be
Pokemon masters. Disney had 2D animated cartoons and many of its
animated movies were musicals. Nickelodeon was led by its popular
lineup of nicktoons: Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Aaahh!!!
Real Monsters, Doug, and Rugrats.

  It was a late Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, Max had no one
to play with. After playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on his Sega
Genesis for the past few hours, he decided to play with his green
tennis ball. Since he couldn't play with it in the house, he had
to play with it in the hallway.

  Max was a tan-skinned, 5-year-old boy. He had short, black hair
and small, dark brown eyes. His squarish head featured a short,
wide nose, a round chin, and small ears. He was wearing a short
sleeved, red, yellow, and dark blue, horizontally-striped shirt.
Also, he wore a blue pair of jeans and white sneakers, with
Simba's face on the sides.

  The sound of the tennis ball bouncing off the white walls
echoed through the quiet hallway. A dark blue carpet covered the
long hall, including the stairs. The doors were maroon, and their
numbers were in golden. Max threw the ball and this time,
couldn't catch it. It rolled a few yards away from him and he
grabbed it just as it was about to roll down the stairs.

  When Max picked up the ball, he looked to the side and noticed
a girl whom he never saw before, sitting beside a door around the
corner. She was wearing a light blue shirt, blue jeans, and white
sneakers. Her brown-skinned knees were up to her chest and her
head was resting on them. He walked over and stood before her.
"Um, hi," he said, waving at the girl.

  The girl lifted her head and smiled friendlily at Max. Curly,
black hair flowed down to her back; it was held into a ponytail
by a light blue scrunch. Large, brown eyes were spaced a little
far apart. The tip of her thin nose was round. "Hi," she said in
a high-pitched voice. Her front teeth was fairly large.

  "What's your name?"

  "My name is Kimmy. What's yours?"

  "Max. Do you live in there?" He pointed at the door next to
her. It read, "2H".

  "Yes. I got locked out and my mom is at a friend's house."

  "Oh." Max nodded and looked down. "I like your Mickey Mouse
toy." He indicated the doll that was standing against the door.

  Mickey had a wide grin and large, shiny eyes. He was seven
inches tall, and had the trademark white, four-fingered gloves,
red shorts, and yellow shoes. Specks of dried, red sauce were on
the left side of his mouth.

  "Thank you. My daddy gave it to me for Christmas when I was two
years old. I took it everywhere with me ever since." She picked
up the soft toy and hugged it tightly. "It's my favoritest toy in
the whole world."

  "Do you want to play with me?"

  "Play what?"

  "I was playing with my ball." He held the ball out to her. "Do
you want to play catch?"

  "Okay." Kimmy stood Mickey against the door, but he quickly
fell forward. Then, she stood up-- a couple inches taller than
Max-- and walked a few feet to the right of the door. "I'm
ready." She caught the ball with both hands after Max
underhandedly threw it. "How old are you?" she asked, tossing the
ball back to him.

  "I'm 5 years old," he replied as he threw the ball back to her.

  "I'm 6."

  They silently played for a few more minutes.

  "Do you want to play something else?" asked Max.

  "Okay," replied Kimmy. She walked over to him and gave him the
ball. Max put it into his pocket, forming a round lump in the
side of his pants. "Do you wanna play tag?"

  Max rubbed his chin with his index finger, momentarily looking
at the ceiling as if in deep thought. "Hmm... you're it!" he
giggled and ran away.

  Kimmy picked up her doll and held it under her right arm. She
then chased Max around the corner and tapped his back. "You're
it!" She turned around to run, and he ran after her.

  Max chased her halfway down the stairs that were on Kimmy's
side of the hall, and tapped her arm. "You're it!" He turned
around and headed for his apartment.

  After tagging Max's arm, Kimmy tried to run, but he instantly
spun around and grabbed her right wrist, causing her to have a
great fall on her left side, landing elbow first and pulling him
down with her. Beside her, Max fell on his stomach.

  "I'm sorry," Max apologized, standing up.

  "That's okay," Kimmy responded, getting on her knees. Slightly
bending over, Max held both hands out. She took his hands and
stood up. Just then, they heard the sound of a door opening and
closing from down the hall, prompting Kimmy to look in the
direction of her apartment. "I think my mom's home."

  "Wanna go see?" asked Max.

  "Yeah. Do you want to come with me?"

  "Okay."

  They walked down the hall and turned left at the corner. They
walked to door 2H and Kimmy knocked on it. Light footsteps were
heard until a tall, 30ish replica of Kimmy opened the door.

  The woman had black, shoulder-length hair. Her large eyes were
brown and her skin tone was the same as her daughter's. She wore
a short sleeve, yellow shirt that was tucked into a blue pair of
jeans, and white slippers.

  "Hi, mommy," said Kimmy.

  "I was wondering where you were. I see you made a new friend.
What's your name?"

  "Max," he told her. "I live in apartment 2C."

  "Oh, that's good that you live so close." She turned to Kimmy.
"If you want to keep playing with Max."

  "Thanks, mommy."

  The mother shut the door.

  "Can we go outside?" Max requested.

  "Yeah, let's go," decided Kimmy.

  They walked down three flights of stairs and through the gray
exit door. Outside of the wide, brick building, there was grass
on either side of a gray concrete path that led from the brick
steps to the sidewalk. To the kids' left, there was an Exxon gas
station; to the right were several small stores. Across the
street in front of them was a line of houses.

  Max and Kimmy quickly resumed their game of tag. The front yard
had a lot more space to run around. They got along well and had a
fun time. Before they knew it, three hours had passed.

  A silver Lincoln Town pulled up in front of the building,
beside a large tree, and a very dark-skinned woman stepped out.
The driver was a chubby, middle-aged woman with brown eyes and
shoulder-length, black hair. She was wearing a red short sleeve,
Shopper's World shirt with black pants and black shoes. The name,
'PATRICIA', was on her nametag. When she saw Max, she called his
name and he turned around and looked at her.

  "Who's she?" Kimmy asked.

  "That's my mom," answered Max. He walked to the car and Kimmy
followed him.

  "Hi, Max," said Patricia. "Hi, there." She waved at Kimmy.

  "Hello," she said, waving back at her.

  "Kimmy's my new friend."

  "Nice to meet you. Max, do you want to go to Pizza Hut for
dinner?"

  "Can Kimmy come with us?"

  "If it's alright with her parents."

  "I'll ask mommy right now," said Kimmy. "If she says yeah, can
she come, too?"

  "Yeah," said Patricia. She turned to Max. "I'm going to change
my clothes. Get in the car."

  "Alright," obeyed Max. He opened the unlocked door and climbed
into the backseat, while Patricia and Kimmy went into the
building. The interior smelled of green air freshener. The seats
were cream and had dark gray seat belts. Usually, Max would want
to sit in the front seat, but he chose the backseat because he
wanted to sit next to his new friend.

  Kimmy walked up the stairs with Patricia. They went their
separate ways and she made a beeline to apartment 2H and knocked.
Moments later, her mother opened the door.

  "Can I go to Pizza Hut with Max and his mommy?"

  "I don't care." She started to close the door, but Kimmy's
voice stopped her.

  "I wanna leave Mickey here." She gave the doll to her mother,
who began to carry it into the apartment and close the door. The
door was nearly closed when Kimmy's voice interrupted again.
"Max's mommy said it would be okay if you wanted to come with
us."

  "Let me get my purse." The woman went back into the apartment
and came back a short while later, with a small, black purse. She
was just about to close the door, when...

  "Hold on." Kimmy said, opening the door and disappearing
inside. After a while, she returned to the hallway, carrying
Mickey Mouse in both hands. They walked outside together to the
car, where Max and Patricia were sitting inside. Gripping the
silver handle, Kimmy pushed the silver button with her thumb and
pulled the door open. She sat on Max's left, while her mom sat in
the passenger seat.

  "Hi, I'm Patricia." She was now wearing a white shirt with
thick, blue stripes. The shirt was tucked into a pair of gray
blue jeans.

  "My name is Karen."

  Patricia adjusted into the rear view mirror. "Buckle up, kids."

  Max and Kimmy picked up their seat belts and fastened them in
their laps. Patricia stepped on the gas and they were on their
way.

  "So where do you work?" Patricia wanted to know.

  "I work at JC Penny," replied Karen.

  "The one at the mall?"

  "Yeah. Do you work on Dame Street?"

  "Yes, that's the street."

  While the two women were talking, Max and Kimmy were quiet.
They mostly looked out the windows, but they stole a few glances
when the other wasn't looking. Pizza Hut was a 10 minute drive
away from where they lived. When they got there, the parking lot
had seven cars in it. Patricia parked in a spot facing the chain
of buildings.

  Pizza Hut was between David's Groceries and Blockbuster Video.
Its roof was red and the logo had white letters. David's
Groceries had a green roof with a large image of a paper bag next
to the logo, and the logo's letters were white. Blockbuster Video
had its trademark yellow and blue logo on top of the building.
Patricia and Karen casually got out of the car, while Max and
Kimmy excitedly got out and ran up the steps and inside.

  The mothers just walked up the steps and through the glass
door. The aroma of freshly baked pizza cooking in the ovens
filled the small restaurant. The walls were brown, and the floor
had red and white tiles. Ten four-sided, white tables were
surrounded by four wooden chairs each.

  "Look, It's Pizza Head," Kimmy pointed out.

  A poster of Pizza Head, "standing" outside of a haunted house,
was posted on the wall. The poster also advertised four glow in
the dark Casper hand puppets. The toys were Casper, Stinky, Fatso
and Stretch and they had holes in the bottom, where people could
put their hands inside.

  "And we could get those cool Casper toys with our pizza!" said
Max.

  The four walked up to the cash register. The cashier had blond
hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a red Pizza Hut hat with a
matching shirt. Her name tag was on the right side of her shirt
and said, 'Regina' on it.

  "Mommy I want extra cheese," stated Max, who put his fingertips
on top of the white counter, which was several inches past his
height, and hopped up and down, trying to see over it.

  "I want the same thing," said Kimmy.

  "Two extra cheese pan pizzas..." Patricia began.

  "One pepperoni," added Karen.

  "And one sausage," ended Patricia.

  "Anything to drink?" asked Regina.

  "I'll take a Pepsi."

  "Me, too," added Karen.

  "Me, three," said Kimmy.

  "Me, four," piped Max, jumping as he said it.

  Kimmy giggled at the enthusiasm in his voice. Pausing, Max
smiled back at her, then continued hopping with his legs
together.

  "You two can go find us a table," suggested Karen.

  Most of the tables were taken except the left table that was
closest to the register and the two tables by the door. The kids
ran to a table beside the door and sat facing each other with
their hands on the table.

  "I hope I get Casper," Max announced. "I got Stretch, Stinky,
and Fatso. I just need Casper."

  "Good luck," said Kimmy.

  About five minutes later, Karen and Patricia walked to the
table with the food and drinks. The square pizza boxes were
brown, with the logo in the center of a red border. The Pepsi
cups were white, with thick, red stripes under the round symbols.
Blue letters, vertically spelling out "Pepsi", were in the spaces
between the stripes. Two hand puppets -- Fatso and Casper -- also
came with the meal.

  They sat down next to their kid and Karen handed out everyone's
pizza and soda. She and Patricia had medium cups, and Max and
Kimmy had small cups. Patricia gave Max the Fatso puppet and
Kimmy the Casper puppet. Fatso had a bluish-gray, round body with
a mischievous smile on his face and his hands were up, as if
trying to scare someone. Casper was white with a friendly smile
and both hands up, as if waving with two hands.

  "Aw, junk," Max said disappointedly.

  "Wanna trade?" asked Kimmy.

  "Really?" Kimmy nodded her head for confirmation. "Thank you."

  "You're welcome," Kimmy beamed and they exchanged the toys.

  "Cool. Now I have all four ghosts."

  They ate all their food and put the boxes and cups into the
red, rectangular trash bins. Max and Kimmy walked out of the
restaurant with their mothers following behind. It was night and
all of the orange streetlights in the area were on. All four of
them got into the car and sat in their original seats.

  Patricia backed out of the spot and drove into the street. Max
had Casper on his right hand and Kimmy had Fatso on her left
hand. Amused by the puppets glowing green in the dark car, they
waved them around at each other throughout the trip.
      ___________________________________________

  Patricia pulled a small ring of two keys out of her left pants
pocket and put a bronze key into the keyhole. Karen and Kimmy
stood there, watching.

  "Bye-bye, Kimmy." Max waved goodbye to her.

  "Bye, Max." Kimmy wiggled her fingers at him. "Thank you for
the dinner... Max's mommy."

  "Call me Patricia," 'Max's Mommy' said. "Bye." She opened the
door and went inside.

  "Goodnight," said Karen. She turned around to walk away.

  Kimmy spun around and followed her mother. Max watched Kimmy
and Karen, who hadn't reached the corner yet.

  Karen disappeared around the corner, but Kimmy stopped walking
when she reached it. She then looked back and noticed Max looking
at her. She blushed and shyly waved at him once more. He smiled
and waved back at her, before stepping into his apartment and
closing the door. Kimmy moved her waving hand to her heart and
sighed dreamily.

  'Max is so cute,' she thought to herself.

  Karen was already at home with the door open for Kimmy. The
little girl scampered into her apartment and closed the door.

