It would have been the perfect Saturday at a GK site. The sun was up and the skies were clear, but it wasn’t too hot for us not to enjoy the place and to build some houses for the community. I have been looking forward to this Saturday for the longest time, and what made it more desirable was the presence of my best friend, Mark, who has been missing in action from my life for a long time.

“I haven’t been here for the longest time,” Mark said as he pulled into the parking lot of the compound. I pulled my earphone out from my ear and looked sideways at him from the passenger seat of his slightly brand new Honda Jazz.

“When was the last time you were here?” I asked, putting my iPod on pause.

“Uh…a year ago?” Mark said, turning off the engine. “I was with you and Meah, I think.” I nodded slightly, remembering that a year ago, he was still single, which meant he had more time to go to places where I go.

I was just about to say something I remembered from that day — in case you were wondering, it was when we saw a great big scratch on Mark’s car after we hung out with the kids that day — but then Mark had turned to the backseat and asked, “You girls okay there?”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Yup.”

I shut my mouth. Like I said, it would have been the perfect Saturday build: me, Mark and my other closest friends and all the kids in the village and the glorious weather. But the presence of the two girls in the backseat dampened my mood.

I took a deep breath to push my mean thoughts away and turned to the back to face them. “You ready?” I asked. There sat Lissa and Camilla, their smiles bright and nodding excitedly.

Lissa is my cousin and now new roommate as she’s living with me at my flat so she could be closer to work. Lissa and I used to play together when we were young, but we drifted apart and now she moved in our place so she could be closer to her office. I don’t mind really, except that for the past week that she had been in my place, she had been slowly grinding my nerves.

And Camilla? Well, she’s an officemate and she’s Mark’s girlfriend.

I should stop there. This day is a day for the build and for the kids.

We got out of the car and I made sure Mark locked the doors after I told him I’d leave my iPod in the glove compartment. We made our way to the community center where Faith, Meah and Kate were waiting.

Tags: fall like rain, fiction, first person