A Summer's Dream

Chapter 8~A Cavewoman with Zits

Every one of my muscles was tensed and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Goosebumps rose on my knees and arms and my breathing was ragged. I swallowed and slowly turned around. Immediately, brown eyes flooded my vision and it was all I could do not to sigh in relief. He was closer than I thought and it made it horrendously hard to breathe. My gaze drifted and studied his face. There was a boyish quality I couldn’t place, and yet maturity was in every detail of it. He blinked and looked down, interrupting my studying. He must have been shyer than I thought if he had a hard time looking me in the eyes. I swallowed nervously, not knowing what to do. My fingers wrestled with each other and a tension filled the surroundings. Not an awkward tension, but a mysterious one. As if thousands of questions were floating around and neither of us knew how to answer them.

I continued to stare rudely and he continued to look at the ground, brows knitted together. It must have been harder for him to be around me than me being around him. His countenance and the air around him reeked of peacefulness. Just standing by him, it was as if an addiction was being satisfied for me. Like a shot of poisonous and illegal stimulant. I was…alive. I’m positive he felt awkward and uncomfortable but I was somehow drawn to it. Drawn to him.

“Mum told me to come and get you. You’d get lost out here, she said.” I was snapped away from my thoughts and for the first time I was in this dimension. My gaze shifted to behind his shoulder and I noticed for the first time the house was nowhere in sight. Rain pounded against the ground harshly and I wanted to scratch my head in confusion, until I looked over and saw his hand tighten even more around a handle. I followed it up and realized we were both standing under a large umbrella, shielding us from the sky’s tears.

I’m such an idiot. It didn’t stop raining; he had come with an umbrella. Of course.

He looked up, meeting my eyes but his brows were still scrunched together. Slowly his hand went up to my cheek and my breath hitched in my throat, constricting my lungs. What was he-

He pulled away and stared at his now wet fingers, glancing up at me and back down at his hand. Had I been crying? He looked intently, as if he had never seen tears before. A flicker of emotion swished through his eyes and then was lost forever. His hand dropped and the intense gaze retracted to the ground.

“W-We should get going.” He stuttered. His voice. Heaven help me. If his chuckle the other night made my knees weak, than I was about to topple over from his voice. It was heavily coated in an accent, not too deep and not too high. It was selfishly ruling the word perfect.

“Uh…Sure.” I tried to squeeze out a weak smile and he nodded simply, turning for us to walk away. I hadn’t the faintest idea of where I was or how I had gotten here, but thank god I did. And thank god for Mrs. Holmes, sending an angel my way to help.

Another silence blanketed us and I didn’t fight it. I didn’t want to scare him off like a sudden movement would for a deer. I watched as his grip continuously tightened and eased around the curved handle. Repetitious. Habitual. As if he wasn’t even aware of it. I glanced over to him and noticed he was wearing a hat. Not a baseball cap or a beany. But something you would wear in the winter. Fur lined and heavy. With the hat, he was also wearing a simple sweatshirt and a pair of fitted jeans. Simple but perfect somehow.

Breathing deep was the key. If I didn’t breathe I would most likely do something stupid like speak.

Minutes passed and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“How did you know where I was?” I blatantly asked, mentally reprimanding myself.

His hand tightened and relaxed again. “I-I just followed the trees.”