Chain of Lies

28

15th June 2015

I've never felt this cared for. Nobody ever asked me how I slept at night, asked me if I ate, if I was happy. The truth was that I didn't know how unhappy I was before someone came along and opened doors for me, left me little presents, cooked for me and kissed me all over. I realized that the reason I wasn't completely and a 100% happy with myself was because deep down I was lonely. I haven't ever confronted the feeling because I had family all around me so it didn't make sense to be ungrateful. But I never had someone care for me and just me. Give me a 100% of their attention.

"This is rough Tara"

I nodded and swallowed away the lump in my throat. Emil didn't understand why I didn't want to read it so we decided to read one entry together.

"And Yami is basically forcing you to read this?"

I nodded again. The lump hadn't gone down.

He put his arm around me and pulled me towards him. I was briefly reminded of our summer and the countless times he'd done the same thing. I wasn't madly in love with him like before but I didn't fight it. We laid in my bed in silence for a while, the journal in Emil's lap. I snuggled into him for warmth. I'd always be comfortable with Emil.

"Emil?"

"mhm?" He hummed. He was definitely falling asleep.

"Do you remember the meteors?"

He stayed silent for a while but I knew he was just reminiscing.

"Of course"

It had been anticipated for about a week. During the summer the skies were always really clear at night. Stars were extremely visible, making the upper atmosphere a breathtaking visual if you took a second of your time to look up. For this particular night, a heavy meteor shower was expected and the town buzzed in anticipation as soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountain ridges. We had debated heavily if we would join the rest of the town in the park or watch it from the comfort of our own backyard, resulting in half of us going to the park and the other half staying home. I was bummed that we weren't going to watch it all of us together but Emil's father had rented a large telescope that he had to pick up all the way in Edmonton and he invited me to join them. So around 7 pm we loaded Eleanor's convertible with blankets and snacks and I hopped in the front seat. Kyla and Elliot jumped in the back. Eleanor closed her door and let out a shaky breath.

"Ready?" She asked before I could ask her what was wrong.

Xander, Joshua and my parents stayed home, joined by Pascal and two neighbors. They were going to have a barbecue and probably swim while they waited for the shower to begin. I wiped my hands off on my jeans. Someone would assume it would've been because of the heat but I knew it wasn't. I was nervous to see Emil for the first time after our night in the tree. I felt the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of him. Eleanor squeezed my knee before she started the car. I'd told her all about the kiss as soon as I got home since I owed her an explanation after she let me sneak out. I gave her a big smile and a nod, Elliot letting out a 'Hell yes!' followed by Kyla's cheers. Eleanor and I laughed at their excitement and drove out onto the street. It didn't take long for us to spot the fairy lights that were hung all around the park, disappearing into the trees and connecting all of them together. It looked beautiful. We found a parking space along the other side of the road quickly since nobody really came with a car. We unloaded the car and my eyes instantly began searching the crowd of families for that warm smile.

"Hey Tara! Over here!"

I followed his voice towards a small hill in the park. On the top stood a big telescope. It looked like his dad was still setting it up while his mother sat on a blanket nearby with a glass of wine in her hand, waving me over with the other one. Emil was wearing a plain black Nike shirt and jean shorts and really ugly sandals. I couldn't keep in my laugh when we approached them.

"Please don't... my brothers already roasted the hell out of me on our way here" He groaned.

Eleanor pinched my arm and gave me a warning look to be nice.

"What are THOOSE" Elliot screamed, pointing at Emil's feet.

Emil lunged for him but he dodged him quickly, resulting in a small chase. I shook my head and walked over to his mom and dad, introducing them to Eleanor and Kyla.

"Oh Eleanor would you mind if I asked you for a little favor?" Emil's mother asked her, holding both Eleanor's hand in hers.

She looked so childlike standing there with her hands in the hands of a woman probably twice her age.

"Of course not"

"Emil's brothers and sister went to get snacks at the supermarket about 10 minutes ago but I'm worried they got lost, would you mind if I went with you for a little drive around? Just to make sure they went in the right direction?"

"Oh don't worry about it, I'll just go. We brought some stuff too so these two will help you set up in the meanwhile. I'll be right back"

She kissed me on top of my head and tugged on Kyla's ear.

"Oh thank you so so much! they went that way" Emil's mother said, pointing in the wrong direction. The supermarket was the opposite way.

"They are definitely lost" Eleanor chuckled.

She turned around and walked off the hill. Leaving us to set down our blankets and arrange our bags of chips, candy and soda for everyone to grab.

The park was buzzing with people, families gathering all around and the lights added to the peaceful yet exciting mood. Emil and Elliot finally showed up and threw their sweaty and panting bodies on the blankets.

"Guys ew no!" Kyla shrieked, trying to roll off Elliot and Emil.

Emil grabbed onto my leg to hold on and pulled me down with them, sending the three of us rolling off the hill in a fit of giggles.

Eleanor and Emil's brothers and sister were still at the supermarket when the showers began and decided to watch from there. The workers watched it from the roof and invited them along apparently. I laid next to Emil on the blanket and we held hands through it all. It was breathtakingly beautiful. They had turned off the fairy lights and left the park in complete darkness to let nature run it's course.

Long gorgeous streaks of light brushed the sky. We had just learned in school about the speed of light and how if the sun for some unimaginable reason randomly shut off one day, it would take us about seven minutes to find out. I wondered how many years ago the meteors had actually passed the earth and although I would never find out there was one thing I knew for sure.

The universe had planned for me to see them that night on the hill, holding Emil's hand about million years before I was even born. I was meant to be exactly there.