A Pair Of Pears (Completed)

River

We walk hand in hand in silence through the field behind the house, it feels a bit awkward but nice. We come to the end of the field at there’s a padlocked metal gate, Jackson climbs over it and I notice he still doesn’t have any shoes on. 
I break the silence, ‘Do you not want to go back and get your shoes first?’ I ask, peering over at the dirt on the other side of the gate. 
‘Nah.’ He says. shaking his head. ‘Bit of dirt isn’t going to hurt, washes off.’
Pulling myself up over the gate isn’t the easiest thing to do with my stomach. I’m trying to act as pain-free as possible, the last thing I want is to look like an idiot in front of Jackson. Falling off your bike at fifteen isn’t something I’m going to admit to, even if it is a lie. We walk down a small dirt track and come to a grassy tree tunnel. 
‘Race you?’ Jackson teases, with that cheeky grin he always seems to use. He looks down at my feet and tries to say in a serious way. 
‘But those have to come off first!’ He grins again, and my heart melts. I take my boots and socks off and hold my boots by their laces. The grass is soft on my feet and between my toes, it’s not at all the muddy mess I had visualised. I quite like it. Jackson throws his arms out like a bird and begins running down through the tunnel. I try to follow but it hurts too much to run. I stop, and after a few seconds, Jackson notices I’m not following him. He jogs back up to me.
‘You alright?’ he asks, slightly out of breath. 
‘Not really!’  I confess, I feel my cheeks starting to burn. ‘I came off my bike and hurt my stomach, it hurts too much to run.’ I’m expecting Jackson to make a joke like he often does, instead, he takes my boots and turns so his back is towards me. He bends down slightly.
‘Hop on!’ he says. My cheeks are burning, he’s topless and I’m going to be touching his skin. I’m not sure if I want to stick my head in the nearest bush and violently bring up the food I’ve just eaten or not, I’m that shy. I climb up and wrap my arms around his neck, and my legs around his waist.  
‘Not so tightly!’ he laughs. ‘I won’t drop you.’ 
I loosen my grip slightly, still tight enough that I feel somewhat safe, Jackson is so tall, it would be a long drop down. When I’m steady, Jackson holds a boot in each hand by their laces and outstretches his arms again. He starts running down the hill through the tree tunnel, with me clutching onto his back as tightly as I can without it being too tight. I’m not sure if it’s possible to feel scared and safe at the same time, but that’s how I feel. The motion of Jackson running makes my stomach hurt, but I’m having too much fun to care. As we come to the end of the tree tunnel I can hear flowing water. Jackson turns the corner, with me still on his back. We’d reach an enclosed area next to a river. 
‘I come down here a lot during the summer.’ He says, lowering himself so I can get off his back. The place is like something you’d hear about in a book or see in a movie, it looks truly magical. 
‘I come down here with the lads from school for campouts sometimes, Lily often tags along, you should too.’ 
I lay back on the grass and look up into the trees, there are a few birds chirping, I can see how this would be a great place to camp out. 
‘Ha, Gran nor Mum would allow that!’ I say laughing. Jackson lays down on the grass beside me. ‘I don’t think your mum would notice, though would she?’ He calmly turns his head and looks directly at me, I turn to look at him. 
‘I think it’s obvious she has a bit of a drinking problem. People are starting to pick up on it around town you know?’ I stay silent, as much as I like this caring side to Jackson, this isn’t really a conversation I want to be having with anyone. I turn my head back and look up again at the trees, I shut my eyes to hold in the tears that are filling up my eye sockets. I feel Jackson's hand brush up against mine, and then he entwines his fingers around mine and holds my hand. We lay in silence for a while before he speaks again. 
‘My family isn’t perfect either you know?’
I open my eyes and turn back towards him, it’s beginning to get late, there’s an evening breeze picking up and the sky is getting darker. 
‘We’re dirt poor, lots of kids and one parent that makes money through playing at summer festivals. We somehow make that money stretch from summer to summer.’ Jackson stands up and brushes down his jeans. ‘We all have each other, though, and we stick together. That has to count for something.’ 
He looks up at the sky between the trees. ‘We should probably be getting you back. I don’t want to get you into trouble.’ He sticks out his hand and helps me up. He puts his arm around my shoulder and we walk back through the tree tunnel, with just the sound of our feet walking and the wind blowing the leaves. As we get closer to the house we can hear music and the smell of wood smoke is in the air. As we get even closer we can hear people shouting. There’s a smashing of glass and then the sound of a child screaming. Jackson runs ahead to see what’s going on, by the time I get there, Willow has Mum restrained against her van.
‘I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink don’t you Laura?’ Willow says as she bundles mum into her van. I see Mum flop down on the mattress and go out like a light. Lily appears suddenly behind me.
‘She gave up in the end then?’ she says peering around the door of the van. Mum is lying face down, snoring lightly with her feet hanging off the end of the mattress. 
‘What the hell happened?’ I ask with my voice slightly raised. I come across slightly aggressive, it's not intended that way. I know that whatever has happened is bound to be mum’s fault. Not helped by her inability to control her drinking. 
‘Beats me!’ says Lily shrugging. ‘All I heard was shouting, next thing I know a brick goes flying through a window, and my mum is having to hold your mum back because she was flipping out.’
Willow walks around the side of the van and slides the door closed. ‘Jump in the front Charlie.’ She says nodding her head towards the door. 'Lily, I’ll come back for you later.'