Blue Eyes (bxb)

Forty Two

Chilled water trickled past my feet, as my legs drifted between ripples. The sun's hot rays were persistant on my bare arms and neck and I slightly regretted not applying sunscreen before I left the house this morning, but then I remembered the sick tan I'd be likely to get and the burning soon subsided. I could smell the aroma of sweet peas and fresh grass around me, as well as a few wafts of burning meat coming from a nearby garden where there was undoubtedly a barbecue lit.

I remembered the barbecue we had all those weeks ago, where the majority of my family relaxed out on the back lawn bickering and giggling, the sound of a crackling fire radiating well into the night. I remembered Finn clinging to Georgie because he felt too awkward alone, and I remembered watching him for hours, unable to comprehend the strange emotion bubbling inside the pit of my stomach. Mum would talk to him, but Georgie would answer, and he would, instead, resort to nodding as a form of discussion. Then I would intervene and flash Finn the occassion side-glance, which he was obviously completely oblivious to.

To think, just over a month ago, I'd been so scared to even so much as look at another boy for over five seconds. Now most nights I slept in the same bed as the boy who I proudly called mine (to anyone who knew) and I've frankly never been happier.

I looked out across the river streaming past the grassy bank and at sun beginning to duck behind the silhouette of trees, and, for a moment, that's all I thought about. The peacefulness if it all. The freshness of the air. The bliss I was happily submersed into without any sign of ever coming back up to recharge my lungs. For that very specific moment, I was at a loss for everything except my surroundings where I melted into the mud beneath my shorts. All coherent thoughts and ideas escaped my mind and I was left with was nothing short of perfection.

That is, until a certain blondie approached me with sunglasses pushed in front of her eyes and peach lipstick smeared over her lips and ruined everything by opening her mouth. "I thought I'd find you here," Georgie whispered, taking a seat on the bank beside me.

"You did?"

"You always came here as a kid when you got stressed out. Our parents would run around town for hours looking for you whenever you wandered off and you'd always be here, sat in this fucking annoying, scratchy grass."

"Mmh," I scoffed. "I forgot about that. I guess I came here subconciously."

"Yeah." It fell silent again, which I treasured, but then she spoke again. "Why are you here?"

"Why'd you think?" I scoffed again.

"I dunno, I can't read your mind, as much as you want me to, Zak."

When I didn't reply, she just sighed. "You're hard work, love."

I smiled, but not in a friendly way, it was just to get her off my case. After a while I think she gave up, and focused on plucking strands of grass out of the ground. Her habit must run in the family because I found myself doing it, too. So we sat in silence demolishing greenland, but that silence spoke volumes, and I'm sure Georgie understood why I was there at that point.

By the time my Dad came running over to us, the moon was high in the sky and the stars scattered the indigo blanket. "For God's sake, you two! We've been looking for you for hours! Georgie, you were meant to ring me when you found him!"

"Sorry, it was just so quiet and I didn't want to ruin it," she replied, shyly.

"We've been trying to call you!"

"My phone's on silent."

"Next time, knock the sound on. And, Zak, why the hell have you been out here since four this morning? Yes, I heard you leave in the middle of the night. Are you okay, do you feel ill or something? Want me to get you some paracetamol?"