Chapter Text
It was the last day of summer that Padmé’s mom finally let her go along with all her friends, and walk downtown. She wasn’t a freshman anymore, she was almost fifteen! She pretended she didn’t want to go there all of last year, so her friends didn’t know she wasn’t allowed, but after months of begging, her mom finally caved.
It may have been September, but it felt like the middle of August. The sun beat down on Padmé’s exposed shoulders, sweat bled through her shirt at the small of her back, but she just drew her hair into a high ponytail to get it off her neck and continued down the long winding sidewalk with her friends.
“I heard Mrs. Mothma was good though,” Sabé said, “She teaches World History, right?”
“She’s alright,” Padmé nodded, “Gives a ton of homework though,”
“Oh well she must be your favorite then,” Sola laughed, “You do homework in your free time.”
“I do not!” Padmé exclaimed, Sola just giggled and started to run down the sidewalk, Padmé chased after her for a moment before she had to lean over on her knees to catch her breath.
“I guess you wouldn’t be down to join the track team with me this year?” Dormé asked, when she caught up to Padmé, and stood beside her while she panted, Padmé just shook her head wordlessly,
“I don’t run unless I’m being chased,” Padmé, “And even then, I don’t know.”
Dormé patted her back with a smile, “Come on, we’re practically there.”
Padmé looked up at the street in front of her, sometime in their walk it had turned from a narrow strip of sidewalk, into a big street, lined with stores, and full of people.
Her mom rarely went downtown, opting to send nannies or maids to the store to get anything she needed instead, and the few times she had she certainly didn’t bring Padmé or Sola.
Sola stood not far ahead of her, just as starstruck by the scene, Padmé took her opportunity, running up behind her sister, punching her in the shoulder, and taking off towards the nearest store.
She could hear the pounding of Sola’s feet behind her, but it was like the burn she usually felt during running was gone. She quickly disappeared into the crowd of people walking around the downtown and slipped into a store at the end of the street.
Once inside, she kept to the edges of the small room, pretending to look around at the trinkets on the shelf, but eyeing the door, waiting for Sola to burst in and get her back.
Her sister was only a year younger than she was, and Padmé tried not to be annoyed she was allowed to walk downtown before Padmé was.
They were friends, truly, as close as sisters could be. They hung out with the same girls, they liked each other. But deep down, Padmé wanted her mom to tell Sola she had to wait another year.
“Are you an angel?” Padmé whipped her head around, to find a little boy standing a few feet behind her in the aisle, he held a box of cleaning supplies, and a sponge, and stared at her.
“What?” Padmé replied,
“An angel?” the boy continued, stepping closer, “I hear truckers who come through here talk about them, they’re the most beautiful beings on Earth.”
“Oh,” Padmé said, a blush rising to her cheeks, she didn’t know what to make of this strange boy, “No, I’m not. I’m Padmé.”
The boy grinned, “I’m-”
“Hey, kid!” A voice from the other side of the store called out, “Are you cleaning or chatting?”
The boy rolled his eyes, and turned to the shelf nearest to him, and started wiping it down.
“You… work here?” Padmé asked uncertainly, the kid couldn’t be older than ten,
“I’m Anakin.” He said shortly, “My mom works here, I just help out sometimes. Watto’s usually pretty good about giving her extra hours, so I pick them up.”
“Right.” Padmé nodded, “I have to go find my friends, it was nice-”
She turns to go and runs straight into Sola, Sabé, and Dormé, who entered the store moments before.
“Padmé!” Sola cried, “We were worried!”
She throws her arms around her sister, and Padmé tentatively hugs her back, waiting for a punch as retribution, but Sola only rests her head in the crook of her neck,
“Sorry guys… I got lost.” Padmé explained,
“What is this place anyway?” Sabé asked,
“It’s an antique store.” Anakin chimed in, and they turn to him curiously,
“That’s Anakin.” Padmé said, “He works here.”
“Ok,” Dormé said, giving Padmé a look, “If we go now, we can get ice cream before the line gets too long.”
Padmé grins and starts to follow her friends, shooting a look back towards Anakin who smiled and waves as they go.
The heat is just as bad as it was before Padmé snuck into the small store, but the prospect of cold ice cream keeps her moving, she’s barely paying attention to the chatter among her friends when Sabé calls her name.
“Padmé?” Sabé repeated, “I think someone has a crush!”
Her friends giggled, and Padmé felt her face go bright red, “Wha-What?”
“Anakin! The little kid?” Sola laughed, “He’s definitely got a thing for you,”
“He’s ten,” Padmé deadpanned,
“I didn’t say you were gonna marry him,” Sola said,
“Leave the kid alone,” Dormé said, “I feel bad. Sucks to have to work on a day like this.”
They all agree silently, but as they walk Sabé and Sola tease Padmé about her little boyfriend more and more, Padmé just rolled her eyes, “He seemed like a nice kid is all, we should bring him some ice cream.”
“Wow, you’re just itching to see him again, huh?” Sabé grinned, Padmé swats her on the arm,
“Didn’t take you for the cradle robber type Padmé,” Sola chimed in,
“Guys give it a rest,” Dormé said, “He’s just a little kid, it’s hot as hell and he has to work in that dinky little store, bringing him some ice cream would be the least we could do.”
Sabé shrugged and Sola held her hands up in surrender, “Fine fine if you’re so deadset on it.”
The line for the ice cream store around the corner is relatively short, but it grows quickly after they show up.
“Two ice cream sundae’s please?” Padmé said, and Sola gives her a look, but she ignores it.
As soon as she gets her ice cream, she tells her friends she’ll be right back and walks towards the small store she’d found Anakin in, he’s in the same aisle further down, wiping at the shelves, when he looked up and sees.
His face brightens, and she smiled at him cautiously. Sola was right, he probably did have a crush on her. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“Here.” She said quickly, handing him the ice cream, “It’s really hot out today, and I felt kinda bad you were stuck here.”
He shrugged, putting down his cleaning supplies and takes it, “Thanks, but you don’t have to feel bad, I’m getting paid.”
“But you’re a kid!” Padmé replied, “You’re what? Ten?”
“Nine.” He chimed in and she groans,
“That’s worse.” She looked to the street filled with parents and kids, window shopping and enjoying the day, “You should be out there, having fun.”
“I have plenty of fun, I built a robot all by myself on my break.”
“Really?” Padmé asked,
“Well it doesn’t quite work yet, but I’m really close,” he steps closer to her, “When I’m older, I’m gonna build robots for a living.”
Padmé nods knowingly, Sola had a lot of fantastical ideas about careers as a child too, “If the robot business doesn’t work out, what’s your backup plan?”
“I guess I could be an astronaut.”
“That’s a good backup,” Padmé chuckled, “I have to get back to my friends now.”
He nodded, put the ice cream on the shelf above where he was cleaning, and picked up his sponge again, “I’ll eat it after I’m done, Watto can be pretty strict about breaks.”
She nodded, another twinge in her heart for this little boy, “You know if you have any free time during the school year you could hang out with us.”
She regretted it the second she said it. Who was she to volunteer her entire friend group to a fifth grader? Did she even want to hang out with a nine-year-old boy during her sophomore year?
But his face lights up again, and she can practically feel his excitement, “Really?”
“Yeah, sure,” Padmé shrugged, “I’ll see you around.”
He waved at her as she left the store, and she wasn’t sure if the pit in her stomach was too much ice cream or dread at her friends finding out what she’d promised.
Anakin did join their little group, though he lived nearly on the other side of town from the rest of them, but his elementary school was right next to the high school. He grew on all of them in a certain way.
He helped Dormé convince Padmé to try out for soccer with her. He walked around the high school during his recess to put up flyers for Sabé’s student council campaign. He went checked books out of the public library under his own name so Sola could get more than the maximum number of books for one person.
He didn’t necessarily do anything for Padmé, he just listened to her, and talked back. She appreciated it anyway, she didn’t really need anything from him.
She felt like she could talk to him about important things she couldn’t tell anyone else. Like how overbearing her parents could be, or how she resented Sola just a little, for being so outspoken, and adventurous. He told her about moving around a lot as a kid, and all the odd jobs he’d worked when he lived in Tatooine, Arizona as a kid. And how Dormé snuck him into her woodworking class after school had ended. He had a few callouses on his hands the longer he spent there, but his mom loved the figurines he made.
But Sabé and Sola still teased her when they said goodbye to him after school, calling her Mrs. Skywalker, or asking if she’d tried speed dating at the local daycare.
It was a long day in early June that she finally cracked. Sola was in rare form, badgering her about her little boyfriend all morning, and then some more when they met up before Padmé had soccer practice.
“Is Ani coming to watch today?” Sola said with a giggle,
“I don’t know,” Padmé grumbled back, “Have you seen Dormé? She’s late.”
“Maybe she’s babysitting your boyfriend.” Sola shrugged,
“Can you give it a rest?” Padmé snapped, “Just because I let the kid hang out with us sometimes doesn’t mean I like him! Ok? It means I feel bad for him!”
She expected some sarcastic reply from her sister, but instead, Sola just stared at her silently, before shifting her eyes to something behind her.
Padmé turned quickly, and found Anakin standing only a few feet away looking up at her,
“Fuck.” She cursed to herself, he just furrowed his brow and turned away, walking then jogging down the sidewalk, not looking back at her, or turning when she called his name.
She turned back to Sola who almost looked regretful, till she sighed, “Trouble in paradise?”
Padmé groaned, “Do you ever shut up?”
Sola snapped her eyes to Padmé, like she’d been slapped, “What?”
“I said: Do you ever shut up? Like, stop talking?” Padmé repeated slowly, “Jesus Christ, he’s a little kid, why are you so fucking mean?”
“I’m not the one who went off on him,” Sola said, “Don’t pin this on me.”
“I only said that because you wouldn’t stop bothering me!” Padmé cried,
“I was joking!” Sola exclaimed back,
“It wasn’t funny!”
“Woah Woah!” Dormé stepped in suddenly, Padmé hadn’t even noticed her arrive, “What the hell happened?”
“Padmé here’s all mad at me because she yelled at her stupid fucking boyfriend.”
“You yelled at Anakin?” Dormé asked,
“It wasn’t like that,” Padmé said, “Sola was being annoying, and I got a little fed up, I didn’t know he was here!”
“Did he tell you then?” Dormé asked,
“Tell me what?”
Dormé stepped closer, “He’s moving. His mom got a better job back in Tattooine.”
“Shit.” Padmé said, “I need to apologize.”
“Padmé he’s moving today, like right now.” Dormé said, “He told me to grab one of the things he made in woodworking- it’s for you.”
She handed Padmé a small necklace of carved wood, she ran her fingers over the little grooves and swirls around the rectangle.
“I have to go,” Padmé said, mostly to herself,
“Go now?” Dormé asked, “Practice starts in five minutes.”
“I don’t care, tell them I’m sick,” Padmé said to them as she started down the sidewalk after Anakin, at first she just walked, but without realizing how fast she was going she broke out into a jog.
After what felt like an hour of running, with sweat dripping down her face, she arrived at the condo Anakin and his mom lived in. It was at the edge of town, about as far away from Padmé’s house as you could get.
She stared up at the building helplessly, when she noticed a couple of men walking out the front door carrying boxes that they loaded onto a small moving truck.
“Excuse me?” Padmé walked towards them and they turned to her in surprise, “Is this all for the Skywalker family?”
One of the movers nodded, “Yeah, you a friend of the family or something?”
Padmé nodded, “Are they still up there? Could I come in to talk to them for a minute?”
The moved grimaced, “You just missed them. Took off about five minutes ago in a hurry.”
Padmé’s shoulders dropped, and she sighed, “Oh.”
“I could give them your contact information if you’d like?” the man suggested, and for a second Padmé considered it. But the thought of Anakin getting her number, and never calling left her stomach churning.
“Oh, no it’s fine.” She said quietly, “Thanks anyway.”
She walked back to the high school gripping the necklace so hard the grooves imprinted in her palm. She didn’t say a word to her friends when she arrived to practice half an hour late. She just gave a quiet apology to the coach and joined her teammates in drills.
They didn’t bring him back up that summer, or the summer after. Like they all had collective amnesia of their friend. Sola wisely quit with the jokes, with some insisting from Dormé.
If Padmé wanted to, she could’ve forgotten all about the little boy who followed her around all of sophomore year. But she didn’t.