The Fallen Reader

First and Last Summer

Her book fell out of her hands, and the ball in her lap was when she yelled.

"Seth!" I jogged towards her before she actually kills the kid.

"Hey. I'm so sorry about...that...whoa." I cleared my throat as I nearly choked on my words. The first thing I noticed when she glared up at me was her green eyes. Her eyes widened when she realized I wasn't her nephew. She shot up from her spot, hugging her book to her chest as though it would save her from embarrassment as she blushed and stood in front of me. She's pretty.

Especially when she introduced herself in the most awkward way possible that I couldn't help but smile. When she extended her hand for a handshake, I nervously felt if my hands were sweating and would just make a gross first impression on my part.

"I'm Blake." I finally gather the courage- sweaty hands or not to give her a handshake. Her hand felt cold in mine.

She frowns slightly, "You have an accent."

I smile nervously, "Um yeah, I'm from London." I cleared my throat. "I didn't mean to kick the ball at you, I just wanted an excuse to come and speak with." I'm really taking the fall for this one and suddenly know how to flirt.

"Really?" She asked.

I rub the back of my neck shyly, "Yeah, I've been calling out to you for the past few minutes. You were really into that book you're reading, I was starting to wonder if you were deaf of just ignoring me." I babbled, lying through my teeth, then chuckled awkwardly. Her eyes widened.

"Plus those two over there I think are gossiping about me in sign language." I point a thumb over my shoulder at her nephew and niece.

She narrowed her eyes at them.

"I'm sorry about that, it's just that I just really like to zone out when I'm reading... If that makes sense. God, I'm such a dork." She explains with a nervous chuckle.

"You're quite a cute dork." I can't help but say with a smile. I take the book from her hands and read the title,"' The Silent Reader?' sounds interesting. "What's it about?" I ask , intrigued to know what she likes.

She pretends to think, "Okay, I'll tell you what the book is about only under two conditions." Her words make me raise a brow in interest. "First, you have to become my best friend."

"Okay." I laugh, "what's the second condition?"

"Don't fall in love with me." I open my mouth to reassure her that I don't think I'll ever be able to fall in love-ever- but instead blink in surprise when she shoves the book into my hands.

"Why are you giving me your book?" I asked.

"For you to read." She says casually before bending down to gather her backpack and picks a little white daisy and hands it to me. I raise my brow in question at her flower. "A book mark."

"I'm not a fan of reading -" I try to explain, but she's already making her way her to her family.

"I promise you'll both hate it and enjoy it." She turned to walk backward, "also think of it as an excuse for us to meet up again." Smart girl.

I raise the book, "You trust me with this thing? What if I accidentally burn it?"

She stops her little backward walk , "Then I'll just accidentally burn you alive." She smiles sweetly as if she hadn't just threatened me in broad daylight. I shake my head in amusement.

"See you tomorrow, same time, yeah?" Was the last thing she said before catching up with Lizzy and the kids on their way home.

I stare at the book, worn out from the constant rereading and heavier than it should be.

I sighed. This should be interesting.

~~~~

Emma
Age 14

For the past few weeks of this summer, Blake and I have become close friends and fast, too. We'd talk about anything and nothing and everything in between. So it was only a matter of time for my parents to invite Blake and his mom to join us for dinner.

"Mom, that would be super uncomfortable." I whine the morning of this announcement. Both my parents shot me unimpressed deadpanned glares as they sipped their coffee in unison.

"Why would it be 'super uncomfortable'?" Dad asked, trying his best to imitate me. I could almost roll my eyes. Instead, I glanced at the almost full 'eye roll' jar next to the bread box. Think of it as a swear jar, but instead of just swearing that's a problem towards my parents, it's my sassy attitude. Hence, the'eye roll' jar was born. Nearly wasted all my damn allowance money because of that stupid jar.

"Yeah, Blake's been here a bunch of times before, and I've met his mom a few times at the mall." Mom says.

"That's because Mrs Carson works at the mall, and Blake's literally only been here twice, and one of those times was because he needed first aid after falling out of a tree." I deadpanned before gathering my dishes, packing them in the sink, and started cleaning them.

I don't want to tell them what Blake told me. It wasn't my story to tell, nor should Mrs Carson feel forced to step out of her comfort zone. Though this dinner might be a good thing for them both. Blake always says that he wished his mom would make friends, and my parents are known for being annoyingly friendly people.

"If you're not going to ask the Carson's over for dinner, then I'll just have to do it myself." Mom says, then proceeds to take out her cellphone.

I raise my brow. "Where did you get Mrs Carson's phone number?" I asked, and internally prayed mom didn't force the poor woman to give her number.

Mom shrugged innocently, "Lily recently joined my book club." My eyes widened, then I acted without thought and grabbed mom's phone with my soapy hands.

"I'll ask them!"

Mom looks at her phone, silently asking for it back. "If you damaged my phone with your soapy hands, just know that I'm taking the jar money, Missy."

Later that day, I asked Blake if he and his mom would like to join my family and I for dinner. It was obvious that the question threw him off guard and stated that he needed to see if his mom would be in the mood for it.

It surprised me and wrecked my nerves at the same time when Blake came back the next day as we laid on our backs on the soft grass cloud watching, said, "Mum said she'd, and I quote directly- 'love' to join for dinner."

"Great, I'll let my parents know -"

"Tonight." Blake interruptted, cutting me off. I sat up so fast that it nearly gave me whiplash.

"Will she be okay?" I asked quietly, though I knew no one was close enough to hear our conversation. It still felt too fragile to say louder than normal.

He shrugged,"She said she's been seeing a doctor, and now she's getting back on her meds. But I'm not so sure. She never really tells me anything." He sounded annoyed but worried too.

I got up and held out my hand for him. "Come on, let's go tell my parents that dinners' on tonight and laugh at how they run around the house like headless chickens trying to prepare." He smiled, butterflies fluttered in my chest at the sight, not knowing that it was probably the last time I'd ever see him smile like that at me.