we gladiate | | {cass/dars}
May 9, 2014 15:44:10 GMT -5
Post by dars on May 9, 2014 15:44:10 GMT -5
Everyone had their own way of deciding when summer was officially back. Some said it was when the water was warm enough to swim in, some said it was when weeds started dominating their gardens like school-yard bullies. I, on the other hand, considered it summer when the damn seagulls returned. They were like rats with wings, any time you laid something down and turned away, they consumed it and took off through the air with zero remorse for what they had done, they squawked like something gone mad, and left excrement everywhere they went.
That day, I had decided to go to a beach party. "It'll be fun!" my friends begged. "Please, please just go." It wasn't that I didn't want to, I did, but ever since Mom's condition, if that's what you want to call it, had gotten worse, I found it harder to leave. I was, by no means, as weird about it as Dad or Travis, but every time I closed the door behind me, a small thought in the back of my head made me question if I should leave: What if this were the day she died? It was going to happen, I had accepted it years ago. The rest of my family? Not so much. They all still held on to the small piece of hope that she would make a recovery, that there would be some kind of miracle that would save her from an early death. (Though, really, making as far as she had even without the disease could have been considered a treasure, considering how many of us died in our first twenty or so years.) But I knew. My mom was dying, she got closer and closer every day. There were some days when she was so weak she couldn't speak, and worse days when she couldn't even open her eyes. There were some days when she was okay, strong enough to at least sit up and talk to us, give us the same talk she'd given us a thousand times about readying ourselves, but even though I had accepted that death had already signed her certificate and dug her grave, I didn't like dealing with the fact that it was going to happen.
The air tasted salty and warm, and sounds of waves crashing into the shore and laughter filled my ears. My friends, so-called, all crowded around me telling stories of their lives, most of which I had already listened to a time too many to care for. Most of the people were my normal crowd. Tobias the asshole, Ridley the snarky ex-girlfriend, Lyle the pot head, and Crisalyn the smart ass. There were a few familiar faces i hadn't ever bothered to remember the names of, a boy with glasses, another boy that hadn't spoken the entire day, and a girl with dark hair and a pretty smile. I remembered seeing her in school a time or two, her name was something like Evelyn, if I was right. She was actually pretty gorgeous, with pointed eyes colored like autumn leaves, thin eyebrows, and perfect lips.
In the modest light offered by the evening and the fire, her eyes seemed to glow, and combining that with her confident stare made me decide she was far too pretty not to talk to, so I stood and walked over to where she sat with a plastic cup in her hand. "Hey there," I said, a charming smile on my face. "I'm Percy, nice to meet you." For a moment, no one said anything, so I bent over, placing my hands on my knees so that my face was even with her's. "You do realize that, looking as amazing as you do, it was only a matter of time until I had to come over and talk to you." A crooked grin and laugh lines took up my expression, and I sighed.
"Mind if I sit?" I asked, gesturing to the space next to her. Seriously though, I was completely shocked that none of the guys here, including myself, had decided to talk to her yet. She was gorgeous, but I could handle it. I had always had a pretty fast tongue and a level head when it came to girls, she wasn't anything I couldn't handle. "So, what's your name, gorgeous?"
That day, I had decided to go to a beach party. "It'll be fun!" my friends begged. "Please, please just go." It wasn't that I didn't want to, I did, but ever since Mom's condition, if that's what you want to call it, had gotten worse, I found it harder to leave. I was, by no means, as weird about it as Dad or Travis, but every time I closed the door behind me, a small thought in the back of my head made me question if I should leave: What if this were the day she died? It was going to happen, I had accepted it years ago. The rest of my family? Not so much. They all still held on to the small piece of hope that she would make a recovery, that there would be some kind of miracle that would save her from an early death. (Though, really, making as far as she had even without the disease could have been considered a treasure, considering how many of us died in our first twenty or so years.) But I knew. My mom was dying, she got closer and closer every day. There were some days when she was so weak she couldn't speak, and worse days when she couldn't even open her eyes. There were some days when she was okay, strong enough to at least sit up and talk to us, give us the same talk she'd given us a thousand times about readying ourselves, but even though I had accepted that death had already signed her certificate and dug her grave, I didn't like dealing with the fact that it was going to happen.
The air tasted salty and warm, and sounds of waves crashing into the shore and laughter filled my ears. My friends, so-called, all crowded around me telling stories of their lives, most of which I had already listened to a time too many to care for. Most of the people were my normal crowd. Tobias the asshole, Ridley the snarky ex-girlfriend, Lyle the pot head, and Crisalyn the smart ass. There were a few familiar faces i hadn't ever bothered to remember the names of, a boy with glasses, another boy that hadn't spoken the entire day, and a girl with dark hair and a pretty smile. I remembered seeing her in school a time or two, her name was something like Evelyn, if I was right. She was actually pretty gorgeous, with pointed eyes colored like autumn leaves, thin eyebrows, and perfect lips.
In the modest light offered by the evening and the fire, her eyes seemed to glow, and combining that with her confident stare made me decide she was far too pretty not to talk to, so I stood and walked over to where she sat with a plastic cup in her hand. "Hey there," I said, a charming smile on my face. "I'm Percy, nice to meet you." For a moment, no one said anything, so I bent over, placing my hands on my knees so that my face was even with her's. "You do realize that, looking as amazing as you do, it was only a matter of time until I had to come over and talk to you." A crooked grin and laugh lines took up my expression, and I sighed.
"Mind if I sit?" I asked, gesturing to the space next to her. Seriously though, I was completely shocked that none of the guys here, including myself, had decided to talk to her yet. She was gorgeous, but I could handle it. I had always had a pretty fast tongue and a level head when it came to girls, she wasn't anything I couldn't handle. "So, what's your name, gorgeous?"
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