Not That Perfect

Our mom quickly brought us up our brick steps, a goofy smile spread across her face as she started to unlock our blue door. “Hmm,” she whispered as she slipped the key into the door, “That’s an odd color…” She said, her tone hushed. Just as quietly, our mom mumbled something about repainting it later on.

“I like it Mom,” Liv reassured her, “I like it against the honeysuckle… I think it looks cute.” Our mom nodded her head instead of responding, finally unlocking the door and letting us in.

The first thing that we saw was the skinny staircase that stood against the wall to the right of the door. The front room was painted a warm Indian red, contrasting perfectly with the dark hardwood floors, “Well, if you guys don’t like any of the wall colorings,” Our mom started, “We have all summer to repaint and redecorate.” She shut the door when we all walked into the new house, dragging our bags behind us.

Quietly, our mom looked over her shoulder, flipping the light switch on. We all watched as the light flickered on and off before suddenly making a loud popping sound and turning off completely. “I’ll have to buy more light bulbs,” She said as she flipped the switch back off.

“And food!” Liv called out, grinning from ear to ear. Apparently my skittles weren’t enough.

Our mom nodded at Liv’s suggestion, “And food.” She agreed, “Do you want to go now, Liv?” She asked, dropping her suitcases. Liv nodded her head vigorously, running out of our front door with my mom close behind.

And then I was alone.

I slowly started to move around the house, checking out all of the rooms. On the first floor was a small kitchen connected to a breakfast room, a larger living room, a bedroom, one full bathroom, and the hallway. So far, there were only a few things that I could find to complain about. Like how a lot of the windows on one side of the house were covered in honeysuckle, letting in hardly any light. Which was probably why the most of the walls were all painted different warm colors.

Soon, I finished exploring the first floor and found myself start walking up the thin stairs. Upstairs was a lot smaller then the lower level. There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small office. Upstairs had quite a few things that were broken though; like the sink in the bathroom, the hardwood floors seemed to groan when you stepped in certain areas, and the air conditioning didn’t work up here.

Slowly, I started to head over to one of the two bedrooms. I was sure that our mom would want to stay down stairs, so that left the upstairs to Liv and me.

I walked over to the room on the left, now curious as I opened the bedroom door. I knew almost instantly that Liv was going to want this one. The walls were a pale yellow and a small, brick fireplace sat in one of the room’s corners, though the floors were still the same hardwood. A couple of large windows were placed on two different walls, filling the room with natural light, “I’ll leave this one to you Liv,” I whispered to myself as I closed the door.

I turned around to walk to the other bedroom, staring down at the floorboards in attempt to avoid causing any sounds. A few moments later, I got to the door and smiled to myself as I turned the doorknob. The walls were all a dark blue, looking a lot like a night’s sky, and it had the same hardwood that seemed to be in all the other rooms of the house. Usually, I wouldn’t have liked such a dark wall color, but several, large windows covered the most of the walls. The natural light lit up the room, making up for the dark shading. “I call this one.” I said, walking into the room to admire it some more.

Smiling to myself, I looked around the empty room, trying to convince myself that the house was actually my personal hellhole. That I shouldn’t like the adorable rooms or the beautiful outside view. At this point though, I knew that that wasn’t going to happen.

Suddenly, I heard something hit one of the windows, interrupting my thoughts. I walked up to the glass, unlocking it with ease, and leaned my head out into the fresh air, “Rae!” Someone called out and I heard something be thrown at the window opposite from me.

“Yeah?” I called back, when I saw Austin and a new person come running back to my window.

“Rae,” Austin called out, cupping his hands over his mouth even though it wasn’t necessary. We were only fifteen feet apart, “Rae, hey! Do you want to come to the park with us?” He asked as his friend nudged his ribcage. The two shared a look for a moment before they returned their attention to me, “This is Ryan, by the way,”

I nodded, lifting my shoulders into a shrug, “Sure, I guess,” I answered, “Are you sure you want me to though?” I would think that it might be a bit awkward for him and his friends to bring along someone completely new.

Austin and his friend, Ryan, nodded, “Of course!” He yelled.

I smiled at the two and locked the window before I ran down stairs to text my mom:

Going out with that Austin guy, I typed, I’ll be back later.

With that, I walked back out the door, greeting the two boys, “Ok then,” Austin said, clapping his hands together, “Lets introduce you to everyone.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders before he guided me down the street to an awaiting group of people, all of who were around my age, “This is Abby, Morgan, Aaron, Gwen, and Dylan.” Austin pointed to each person as he introduced them, all of them smiling when their name was called, “And I already introduced you to Ryan, right?” He asked, smiling when I nodded, “Perfect. Let’s go.”

He let go of me and quickly jogged over to where Dylan, Ryan, and Gwen were walking, leaving me with all the others, “So, you’re new here?” Morgan asked, fingering at her white-blonde hair as she spoke, “That’s cool. This town’s so small. We’re always looking for new people.” A smile spread across her lips as she spoke.

“Yeah, I mean, the most of us are dying for a new face,” Abby added, pulling at her red-brown ponytail. The four of us started to follow Dylan, Gwen, Ryan, and Austin as we continued speaking. So far, they were all pretty friendly. I enjoyed being around them and they all seemed like pretty good friends. Regretfully, I was starting to enjoy Little Falls.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the small park. There wasn’t much to do here; the only play structure they had was a pair of swings and a small slide, though that didn’t appear to matter. Not many kids were here either way. There were mostly teenagers, hanging out in different sections of the park, “Come on,” Morgan said, dragging me over to where everyone was sitting.

“So, new girl,” Ryan started, “How’d you like your new house? I mean, I’ve heard that no one’s lived in there for years.”

I nodded, looking down at my fingers as they all looked over at me, wanting some sort of explanation, “Well, um, yeah. It was my dad’s house, before he moved to California way back when and I guess he just never sold it.” I shrugged, “Then, when my mom found the deed the other day, she looked into it and decided that she wanted to move me and my little sister out here.”

“And your dad?” Morgan asked.

“My dad died a couple of years ago…” I answered, bringing my shoulders up into a shrug once again. I looked up at the group, now it was my turn to wait for their response, though none of them said anything.

They all stared at me, stunned, “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Austin said, finally breaking the silence.

“Don’t think anything of it… It’s been a while.” I offered the group a small smile, not wanting anything else to be said. Sure, it’s been two years since my dad died, it didn’t mean that I’ve gotten over it. I miss him more and more everyday; I just try not to let anyone see it. My nightmares are the only way that my mother knows that his death still hurts. My screams in the middle of the night, I’m sure, are the only thing that shows how much I miss him.

We all stayed silent at this point. I think that we all knew that there was nothing else to be said. Though, eventually, we all heard Dylan groan, “Oh, you guys,” He whispered, nodding to an area behind me. We all turned to look at what he was talking about.

That’s when I first saw him. He was running through the park, wearing only some sport shorts, sweat running down his toned chest. “Whose th-” As I spoke, he turned a corner, allowing me a glimpse at his face. Half of his face was covered in a white burn. The scar covered the entire left half of his face, running up his ear and down his neck. Though, the scar avoided his lips, it also covered his eyebrow. He ran with his dog, otherwise alone, “Whose that?” I asked, looking over at Dylan as he got closer.

“That’s Connor,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes.