Whispered (on hold)

Summer Loving

Chapter 1

Summer Loving

Kai Donovan

"Bye!" I heard my father yelled behind me as I carried my bags to his car. I winced as the weight made my ankle hurt before switching it to the other side. I turned around and watched him hug my grandparents. I had already said my goodbye, if you could call them that.

Summer break had felt longer than it was and it was only a month in.

I hated to say it but I wanted school to start already. I put the car window down to get some air. The ride back from my grandparents cabin was always long and hot, really hot. My hair stuck to my face, matted with sweat.

This year had been the first time that we had gone in years. I knew how much my father loved going up there so when he asked if I was up for it, I couldn't bring myself to say no.

It was a more draining experience than I remembered. My mother's parents were an energetic couple. They had decided to go all out this year, starting my month long trip with a hike. They wanted to do something fun, in their opinion of fun anyway. It resulted in me getting a slight sprain in my ankle and spending the most of the remaining trip, in bed trying to connect with my family from home. It went from an outdoorsy stay to a game night every night sort of thing.

I smiled as a cool gust of window blew on me. I looked up at my dad from the backseat. He had his arm propped to keep his head up. He was tired but he wanted to make it home by tomorrow morning and taking a break would mess that up and I didn't have my licence. I didn't know what the rush was but he was determined to get there as soon as possible.

I held in a yawn. It was usually hard for for me to fall asleep in a moving car. My eyes started to close on their own and it was easy to let sleep take over.

~~~

I woke up to my dad's gentle nudging and opened my eyes, only to be blinded by gas station lights. He peered down at me.

"I'm getting gas. Use the bathroom and get whatever you need because we aren't stopping again, okay?"

I nodded as I blinked to wake myself up. It was dark outside, the lights of the gas station were the only things on and they were dim. I got out of the car and stretched. After making use of the bathroom, I walked into the store and looked through the isles. I was craving some snacks.

I decided on some Doritos, pretzels and a lemonade. I stopped when I saw someone in the reflection of the fridge door. I turned around to find no one there. I shook my head, as if it would remove the dark thoughts that came to mind. I cleared my throat and went to the register where my dad was waiting for me.

He pulled out his wallet as the cashier rung up the total. I kept my back to the counter, watching everything around me. I'd become hypervigilant. My dad seemed to notice this.

"You okay?" He asked as we left the gas station.

I nodded, not trusting my voice to stay strong. He was good at reading me by now. I knew that he had already suspected something. We got back into the car and drove the rest of the way home. My father stated quiet but I could feel his eyes on me every few minutes. I kept my eyes on the window watching everything pass by.

I sighed. I guess that the feeling would never go away, the uneasy feeling of never being safe.

~~~

I had hardly started unpacking when I heard the doorbell ring. I went to my door but stayed there until my father answered it. I opened it a bit so I could I What was happening downstairs.

"Kai, it's for you." He said.

I smiled, already knowing who it was. The only person who it could be.

"Hey", August said when I got to the door.

I gave him a short wave and managed a greeting.

"I just wanted to make sure that you got home safely", he said, "and I wanted to tell you that you don't have to come to the party that my parents are throwing for me and my sister's birthday. I know that you aren't good with crowds. And I told my parents that we should keep it small but you know how my parents are, well how my mom is. Bigger is better and better is best when it's a Griffin. She's weird like that."

I smiled at him as he rambled on. He always did that when he was nervous. He was always thinking about how other people would be affected by his actions.

I nodded, cutting him off and said, "I'll come."

I thought to myself, I would come but I couldn't promise much more than that.

"Really? That's great. Okay, I'll pick up up later today."

I agreed to the plan. He stood at the door, debating with himself before walking away. I knew what had stopped him. He always acted like that when he wanted to kiss me. Most of the time he wouldn't. I can only think of a few times that he did. Ms. McCain says that it's healthy for me to do 'things' with boys, as long as it was on my own pace. The only problem was that I couldn't figure out what my pace was.

The cheek kisses were fine. We both understood that but lip to lip? That was harder for me. When my eyes closed my thoughts darken. But August was also in my safe place, the place I imagined when things got to be too much so I could bring myself back, most of the time, right? I could, right? I bit the inside of my cheek. Maybe I wasn't doing as good as I thought.

~~~~
Update: I Changed Silenced To Spring Time. I Know That I Had It In Winter Before But I Want It To Be Closer To The End Of The School Year. So It Is Now Spring Term, Going Into Summer At The End Of Book One.

This Is A Little Filler. You Know, Starting Us Off. We Are In The Middle Of Summer In The Book's Timeline.

Sorry, I Missed Last Week But There Is A Lot Of Drama Happening At My School Rn. 😒

1/15/20

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