{A Song About Love - Jake Bugg}
...But out there in the future, maybe you're the rainbow, there's no song without love, with your eyes shut you cry in your bed...
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June 7th
As the days and weeks blended into each other, I found myself lost in the haze of happiness outside of the walls where my parents ruled my life. Elliot and I spent countless evenings together, and our dance lessons continued under the starlit sky.
Bodhi, like the peacemaker of the family, kept my secret from Mom and Dad, who most nights believed me to be in bed early instead of with Elliot. I hated lying to them, and I hated feeling this anger towards them -- they are my parents after all -- but everything was changing.
My eyes were somehow tinted with a new colour of reality I had never seen before, and the image of my life under my parents' guidance did not seem like something I wanted anymore. I wanted success, just as they did for me, but I hated feeling pushed into a life of suits, and business-like Bodhi was. Maybe rebelling in my own small way, though some may think petty and immature, was the only way for me to breathe deeply enough to see the world with my own view.
The closer I came to life outside of my parents' domain, the more returning to them became harder and harder as my lies seemed to pile on top of each other. Benjamin and I were pushed together; our parents whisper in our ears as they forced us into each other's company. We ate together in the ballroom, surrounded by chandeliers and cloth laden tables, with our families every night without fail. Each night I would watch Elliot in the distance, his uniform distinguishing him from the crowds of suits and dresses. We feigned total ignorance, as though we were strangers, except for small glances now and then, but the ballroom felt like an ocean each night, and we survived on opposing shores. I longed for the day I could swim to him freely without the threat of being pulled back by the tide.
----
"Stop it. You're practically drooling," Bodhi grinned at me.
I kicked him under the table of the ballroom as our family dined on the cloth laden tables of the light sparkled room with the Beaumonts on what had been the hottest day on record. All summer, the sun had brightened the earth and as extra ice had been filled to cool the drinks of the guests.
Elliot too was called in for extra waiting staff for the evening. He had taken a few days off, promising to hang out again as soon as he returned. I guess the shock of seeing him again made me stare.
"I was not drooling," I retaliated, perhaps a little too loudly as I turned suddenly to see Benjamin tucking heartily into his salad.
My lungs quickly deflated with relief, and I tried to calm myself from blowing my cover with Benjamin, when Elliot's blue crystal eyes met mine for a moment, his lips tilting up to one side in a silent hello I'd want to hear a thousand times.
"I'd like to propose a toast," Tim, adorned in his crisp suit, raised his champagne glass as we all responded by mirroring his action, raising our own glasses. Benjamin turned his head to look at me, his smile wide and friendly as we held on for Tim's words. "To families and friends. May we always remain this close, even when the summer ends."
"And to the hope of growing even closer," Mom winked at me from across the table, her eyes dancing between myself and Benjamin who sat on my right-hand side, his beaming grin never wavering even as he heard my Mother's insinuation.
YOU ARE READING
Summer Rain
Teen Fiction"Together we were like summer rain. Rare and indescribable until you feel it for yourself..." When Avalina Bennett and her family spent the summer at the Beaumont Country Club, she was sure her summer had been ruined before it even started. Her br...
