Ink (Book 1 of the Ink Series)

The ocean

I tossed an old tennis ball toward the water. Crawford lazily trotted after it. Sometimes I wondered why he even bothered. He was old and it was clear that he wasn't amused by games of fetch anymore.

It was getting late and I was home. A couple days had gone right by, landing me on a Wednesday with nothing to do, once again. Homework was finished for the week. I missed school because at least someone there wanted to challenge me.

Dad and the boys were grilling hotdogs for dinner. He got off early and thought he would do the cooking for a change. And he also told us we all could use a little family time. So, there I was tossing a ball with Crawford and trying to humor my family.

The last time I saw Slade we had almost fooled around. I didn't know what to call it really. It seemed obvious Slade wanted something from me that I wasn't sure I was even capable of giving. Something he probably had way more experience in. I, on the other hand, was naive. And this made me feel inadequate. It made me feel childlike. I wondered if that mattered to him. And then I wondered what mattered at all to him. Did he like me? He never said so. But he never said that he didn't, either. What was he after?

I took a seat in the sand, the water glistening, the fresh air wafting past my nose. The scent of ocean water put me at ease. It made me think about Georgia.

The birds flew high, squawking and soaring so careless in the sky, but they were so far away you couldn't make out anything about them.

I couldn't figure out what it was we were doing in California. The move proved absurd. We were no better off than we would have been anyplace else. The only difference between California and Georgia was my mother was not in California rubbing in her new relationship to my dad.

I wiped my tears. I had given up everything for him. For Dad. And it made me upset when I thought about it. I gave up on my own happiness for my parent. The parent was the one who was suppose to give up their happiness for their child. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Was I going to live the rest of the year in misery?

"Hey," Slade said, standing in front of me, his body blotting out the last of the sunlight.

I wiped the last of the tears off my cheeks with my fingers. He wasn't supposed to be popping up at my moment of frailty.

"Hey," I said, clearing my throat.

"Haven't seen you in a few days," he pointed out, taking a spot next to me in the sand.

"I thought you were busy." Or tired of my childlike ways, I thought to myself.

"I was singing, but that's no reason to not come around. You could have hung backstage and listened," he said, watching me.

I brushed my hair from my shoulder. "I'll remember that next time."

"Good. I hope you do." He pressed into me, trying to snatch some life back. "What's got you looking so upset?"

I shrugged. "I miss home. I miss school. I miss having something to occupy my time." I ticked off the long list of things that were, as he put them, upsetting.

"Well, find something to occupy your time. You like to sing. You could always come hang out with us and do that. You said you like to dance, there's a dance studio up the boardwalk." He acted like it was all so uncomplicated.

"Yeah, I like to do a lot of things," I muttered, staring at the water. Crawford had taken off back to the house awhile ago.

"Just not take great advice," he shot back.