Flash Fiction: Inspired by Bubblegum & Butterflies
The Last Skateboard Lesson
The silence stretched between them like a pink thread of bubblegum connecting two different worlds.
Her cast felt lighter now, covered in his terrible doodles—skulls that looked like potatoes, butterflies that could've been bats.
Six months had dissolved like sugar in rain. The study sessions where he'd taught her that poetry didn't have to be boring, where she'd shown him that trying wasn't the same as selling out. That kiss in the library stacks. The night they'd snuck onto the school roof and mapped constellations with their fingers intertwined.
"Three weeks," Charlize whispered.
"I know."
The skateboard wheel spun lazily in the wind. Next week, the farewell parties would begin. But right now, in this parking lot where everything started with a crash and broken bones and tangled gum, time felt suspended.
Daniel picked up his board. "One more trick?"
She knew what he was really asking: Can we pretend a little longer?
"Yeah," she said, smiling through the butterfly flutter in her chest. "One more."
He pushed off, and she watched him fly—beautiful and reckless and hers for just a few more precious days.
© 2025 Lynette Ferreira