Silently Falling

Chapter One - Sponsored by Prime Video

-Alyse POV-

Amid the perfume of the early summer blooms in Raine and Toby's backyard, my body relaxes as the cool breeze of the summer evening whistles through the trees and washes over my body. The breeze picks up for a moment or two, wisping through my thin layers that helped protect me from the crazy summer heat just hours earlier, but now makes me almost shiver. The sun has only just started to set, casting a delicate painting of orange and yellow that the light blue sky dips into on the distant horizon.

Summer evenings at the Winter's house have always been a favorite of mine, ever since Raine and I were little. Marcus had bought a large, above ground pool the summer Toby turned 10 and ever since then our summers largely consisted of days filled with the sun soaking our skin and the scent of sunscreen being engraved in our memory.

"Lemonade coming right up," Toby announces as he slides the door from the kitchen shut and steps out onto the patio, a tray of lemonades in his hand for the rest of us.

He carefully steps over to where I sit on a pool lounge chair with my towel around my legs as a sort of blanket from the slight chill in the evening air. Or, maybe it's the sunburn on my skin that's making me react to the barely cool breeze. It was our first full day in the summer sun and my skin will be paying for it during the next few days. It's the last summer Toby and Gray have before they both head off to college, and the last summer Raine and I have before we become seniors in high school.

Toby passes out drinks to West and Raine, who are sitting side by side on the opposing lounge chair. West drapes a towel around Raine's shoulders, warming her up after her evening dip in the pool moments ago. The air is still hot, but without the sunlight beaming down on either of them or the breeze, the droplets of water on her skin turn into an array of goosebumps. His hand rests delicately on her mid-back, softly rubbing and she leans into him with a small smile.

They take two glasses from Toby's tray with a small thank you, and then he hands one to Gray who completes our semi-circle of seats on my right side. Gray reaches his hand out without lifting his head from its relaxed position, a large sun hat covering his face as he guesses where the straw is, spinning the cup with his eyes still shut in his moment of relaxation until he finds it, sipping with a small sigh of delight.

"Thanks, Toby," he mumbles, pulling the hat down to block out the last remaining moments of bright sunlight. "And good call Alyse on the lemonade."

The chair bounces slightly as Toby takes his spot next to me, a crinkle in the corner of his eye as he hands me the last glass with a smile. Before I take a sip, I hear Raine laugh and move my eyes to her in question.

She waves her hand, still laughing to the point where we all stop what we're doing to look at her funny. Toby narrows his eyes, zeroing in on West's hand that moved to be around her waist.

"Hands where I can see them, pal," he mutters.

I roll my eyes and lightly smack his leg. "They've been dating for, like, seven months. Let them be."

West scowls and lifts his hands, "It's not me. She just started to laugh."

"I'm sorry," she finally says, catching her breath. "I just remembered the time when we were kids and Toby put a spider in Alyse's lemonade and she drank half of it before she realized."

I instantly scowl and Toby awkwardly scratches his neck, smiling sheepishly at me. "It was all in good fun."

"That's not what I'd call fun for me. Really, Toby, and you wonder why I made you work so hard for me."

"Worth it."

"I'm worth you working to win me over or the spider was worth it?"

He pauses for a second, as if calculating the right answer. "Uh, both?"