LEMONADE

Sandcastles

Sandcastles are weak and fragile. It needs water in order for it to hold, but too much water would cause it to wash away. With the right amount of water, it would become a beautiful masterpiece. With the wrong amount, it would just get washed away and become blended with the shore. Water was its salvation and destruction.

Who would have thought the every so strong Riley and Lucas were as fragile and as vulnerable as a sandcastle? Wave after wave just destroyed them completely. It left them washed off shore, unsalvageable and long gone. But it was only them to blame, for their walls were of brittle material. Easy to make and easy to destroy.

As much as she promised to leave, to drop everything they had and walk away, she couldn't. Her mind goes back to herself sitting in her childhood bedroom, scratching up photos and erasing messages. She holds the messed up photos in her hands and while she knows she should throw them away, she should just give up and move on, she can't. Even if she gets rid of all physical memories and belongings of their love. She could never let him go emotionally, her heart is always with him.

❀

The piercing sound of the ceramic plates shattering on the floor awoke Topanga. Immediately, she leaped out of her bed and headed to the kitchen to see a crying Riley throwing all the plates on to the ground. Her heart broke at the sight of her daughter's ragged breaths and the sounds of her heartbreak.

Riley collapsed onto the ground, in the midst of all the broken pieces of ceramic and Topanga rushed to embrace her hurting daughter. She had came home completely drunk at 2 in the morning and fell asleep on the couch after refusing to go into her room. Topanga had hoped that Riley being drunk would allow her to not think about Lucas and finally have some sleep.

However, less than two hours after her daughter arrived home, she finds her throwing dishes to the ground and sobbing uncontrollably. Topanga's arms envelope the crying Riley as she continues to wail into her mother's arms. The mother's heart broke as she watched her daughter suffer the agony of heartache.

"Mom, why did he do it?" She wheezed, clutching her mother's arm. "Mom, what am I going to do?" the 21-year-old asked in shaky breathes. Topanga couldn't answer her daughter's pleas and could only pat her daughter's head and mumble an apology, because even a killer shark lawyer could not solve heartbreak and anguish.

Lifting Riley out of the sea of broken plates, she carefully takes her to the couch and patches up her bleeding hands before soothing her distressed daughter to sleep. Like her first day of high school, Riley could only stop crying when she passed out from it. And watching Riley go through such turmoil only resulted in the mother's heart to grief. What did her kind-hearted daughter do to deserve such misery?

When she gets up to clear up the kitchen, she notices Cory standing at the entrance of the hallway. She could only offer a small smile before she can't control it anymore and the tears that were welling up in her eyes fall. Walking to the living room's bay window, Cory joins her as she lays her head on his shoulder.  "Cory, our daughter is suffering and I can't even do anything for her. What do I do?"

Looking at his wife with a dejected expression, his tone is the however opposite, providing hope to his spouse. "You be there for her."

❀

Riley would have never expected Lucas' betrayal to hurt him more than it hurt her. It made her heart bled and her eyes weary at his betrayal but the remorse wrecked his entire being and Riley couldn't even bear to watch.

Scar tissues form when the body is traumatized. It's much stronger and denser than the surrounding, untouched skin. The wound from Lucas' infidelity can be healed and their relationship would become stronger. It wouldn't be as fragile as a sandcastle anymore.

Promises were broken and tears were shed. He broke his promise to stay faithful and to not cheat. She broke her promise of leaving if he did. She stayed with him. She couldn't believe herself for doing so, yet she somehow completely understands why. His infidelity caused not only himself to grow up but also for Riley to and their relationship to grow. Not all promises made can be kept and that not all relationships fail after a promise is broken. They could work it out. They'd have to work it out.

It was time for a new era for Riley and Lucas.

❀

"What are you looking at?" he asks as she lays in his embrace. They are lying on her bed and covered under her purple sheets. They both finally stop shedding their tears and fell asleep in each other's arms. "I'm making sure I never let you out of my sight again." she answers.

"I promise I'll never leave you again. I'll never break this promise." He assures as he pulls her closer to him and hugs her tight. His lips touch her forehead and she smiles.