Lennon

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen - The Silver Lining 

                "So y'all are, like, official now?"

                I look down at my hand, which is firmly held together with Jude's. My skin looks alien intertwined in his sunburnt one, paling mine in comparison to the shade that it used to be back home. Spending all this time in the sun has made my normal pale skin a deep tan, an unfamiliar shade of brown that I was starting to really like.

                Looking at it in squinted eyes, it kind of looks like a Ying-Yang sign. I chuckle at the thought of my previous observation being proved to be true, two halves of a whole. Well, if you overlooked the fact that Jude doesn't really bring the darkness and I don't meet him with a force of light. We're both pretty much the dark aspects of the campground, along with everyone else here.

                Over the past few days, we haven't talked about what happened. It's not like we've avoiding that it even happened, but we're falling into a set pattern of being closer. Whenever he stares off in the distance, I don't have to wonder any longer what he's thinking about because I know. He's thinking about Mara and that's completely fine. He asked me yesterday if I was jealous that he's always hang on to a strand of her and I told him truthfully that I got it. I don't get the situation on a personal level, but I get the clinging to all steams of hope.

                We're all trying to heal here and me being jealous of a girl six feet under the ground won't help either of us.

                "You could say that," I answer Jacque's question.

                "Oh, so you can, can you?" Jude teases me, my favorite kind of smirk on his face.

                Since getting his tragic tale off of his chest, the smirk hasn't left his face. By telling me everything, it's as if he finally realized that he doesn't have to share the burden all by himself. Jude's been more contend whenever he's around me, which is even more than ever. It's refreshing to see his joyful side come out so much, especially now that I know what lurks behind it.

                "Yeah, you can." I can't help but show just how happy I am to be with Jude on my face, making me look like a fool with a smile that big. Smiles are contagious, really; everyone else around the bonfire has one of their own that seemed to make everything just look better.

                Jacque's friend, whose name I still don't know, breaks the moment by speaking. "Just to make this official, you guys are a couple, right?"

                Leave it up to Jacque's friends to be the official airheads of the campground. They should all go to the store here and buy themselves some bleach. In other life, they were all natural blondes. "That's kind what we just said."

                "Hold on," Jacque holds up a finger to silence us from talking any further. "Stephan," she screams in the opposite direction from us, "come over here!"

                Moments later, a towheaded guy of twenty something looks at the girl who called him over in question. He’s a cute boy and I vaguely remember his face, although I can’t put a name to the face for the life of me if it weren’t for Jacque saying his name originally. Exactly the type I’d imagine Jacque to have in guys, which isn’t exactly a bad thing.

                 "What do you want?" He asks in an irritated tone, wanting to get back over to his own group of friends.

                "I hate to tell you this,” she pauses for dramatic effect. The boy rolls his eyes, obviously not amused by what she was doing. A few of his friends from a nearby fire holler at him to hurry up, making the boy tap his foot impatiently.