The Rumour

March 9th

I felt good about today. Today was the hottest day of the year so far, and I have to say, it was pretty damn hot for early March.

I stepped into Owen’s park, the lush green grass tickling the tops of my feet through my black ballet pumps. I twiddled with the pink lightning bolt necklace that I wore around my neck, as I stopped at the iron arch entrance, scanning the horizon for my friends. Owen’s was pretty huge, and a Californian sunbathing spot if you didn’t like going to the beach. So it was pretty popular.

Suddenly, I spotted a bustling stampede appearing over the grassy hill weaving through the trees toward me, clouds of dust lingering around their clumsy feet. And I knew exactly who it was.

Max, Josh and Oliver.

They always ran toward me when they saw me appear at the gate. I was never particularly hard to spot, due to my lime green skinnies and white Lowlife t-shirt. But still. I knew exactly what would happen now. They would race, all 3 of them, to try and get to me first; and inevitably tackle me to the floor. Happened every time I came here.

“Violet!” I heard Max call, and I watched them get closer to me. I just stayed where I was, waiting for my head to get cracked open or something. It was always a laugh though.

They were close enough now that I could hear their competitive banter, you know, “Get out of the way Sykes,” or “Come on Max you pussy!” It made me giggle.

Catching me by surprise, I was tackled to the lush grass beneath me, hitting the floor with a thud. I squealed with laughter, seeing that the proud winner of the race was Max.

“Hey Maxie,” I breathed, ruffling his thick black hair that lay like a nest on the top of his head. Stood over our cuddling forms, were a rather tired Oliver and Josh, laughing and panting, bent over with hands on their knees, both their faces bright red.

“Not even a work out at the gym could prepare me for that race.” Josh smiled, standing and running his fingers through his mousy brown mass of hair.

“Yeah, and the gold medal is my girlfriend,” Oliver pointed out. “So lay off Max,” Oliver nudged Max’s hip with the tip of his black and blue skate shoe, who was still clung onto me, his arms around my waist and his head nestled in my chest.

“Alright alright, I’ll let you have your ‘hello’ make out session,” Max climbed off me, pulling me up with a pale yet strong hand and leading me into my Oliver’s arms, my beautiful boyfriend’s arms. He took me into his loving embrace, his musky man smell filling my nostrils. I smiled into his well - toned chest, knowing that this was where I belonged.

I looked up at his grinning face, and felt his hand push lightly on the small of my back. I pushed myself up onto my tip toes, closing my eyes and touching his pierced lips with mine, his cold hard snakebite rings falling flat between our lips. I smiled, loving that feeling and marvelled at his skilled tongue entering my mouth and doing what it did best.

I heard Josh say “Come on Max, lets leave them to fuck,” as we got deeper into the kiss. I instinctively stuck 2 fingers up in their general direction receiving mischievous giggles from the 2 just when Oliver broke the kiss. I smiled at him, taking his hand and following Max and Josh to our section of the park.

As we walked over the uneven park grounds, I took in my surroundings. We walked under canopies of fully grown trees, the occasional sunny splash of light between them. To my left was a children’s play park, which the 3 musketeers would regularly grace, kicking the kids off the swings. In front of me was a big stretch of grass, enclosed by huge trees but not overshadowed by them, which was where our scene hung out.

To my right was devil’s territory.

You see, we share Owen’s with another scene, unfortunately. You could call it gang culture without (much) fighting. And the Queen of that scene was Madison York. Man-eater. Whore. Slut. Always flaunts herself and is Sydney’s sworn enemy. She’s someone to watch because if you’re not careful she’ll crush you like a bug under her Iron Fist heels, with the strength of an Iron Fist, for sure.

But her and her scene, being several people none of us really like to associate with (apart from Sean, who unfortunately is related to the devil spawn that is Madison) hang out by and on the picnic area. Not even the general public like to go over there now, because of them. Occasionally, one of Madison’s followers, or even the Queen herself, would venture over to our patch to cause trouble. We never went over to them, or wanted to cause trouble, but we would fight back if we needed to. Which of course, makes us the better scene in this war.

And on the edge of our patch, was the sacred spot, where Sydney had Adam’s memorial bench placed, a matter of a few days after the funeral. We went to sit on it whenever we wanted to remember him, or just whenever one of us wanted to get some peace and quiet. It was hidden within lots of rose bushes and trees to stop it from getting damaged, so sitting there was a very serene and calming experience. I liked it a lot. I knew Adam would have loved it too. I could picture him sat on it, his skinny leg propped up upon his knee, leaning back into the strong polished wood, relaxed with a cigarette hanging from his lip. He always looked so sophisticated and mysterious. It’s probably why Sydney loved him so much.

“Hey babes!” I heard a squeal, knowing immediately it was Lindsay. I let go of Oliver, jogging toward my Gothic friend and jumping into her pale arms, letting her spin me around like a rag doll and setting me down again. “Missed you,” She beamed, moving a strand of dark hair from my brown eye. She was incredibly sweet and caring for a Goth. More like a care bear than a Goth to be honest.

“Missed you too honey,” I smiled, placing a peck on her foundation - clad cheek.

I went on to greet the gorgeous Kyle, Nathan and Matthew, Sean, and Ronnie, before taking my seat on Oliver’s knee, forming a circle with everyone else, their conditioned hair gleaming in the sun. Especially Kyle’s classic Californian bleached blonde hair. To my right was Ronnie, lay out with his slash - style sunglasses on, smiling to himself slightly. And to my left was Sydney, her bare legs casually coiffed, hot pink leg warmers closed around her calves above her old, battered Nike baseball shoes. Her Pink skirt exploding out above her thighs, contrasting with her bright summery yellow top that hung off her shoulders, worn with a spaghetti - strap black vest underneath the yellow top. Very 80s.

I glanced over my shoulder, not feeling particularly up to chatting about going to some summer festival, I spied Adam’s bench, the plaque that lay in the middle gleaming in the sun. My good mood felt suddenly smouldered as I felt a pang in the pit of my stomach, and I stood up off Oliver’s knee to go and collar Max. This would be a good time to talk to Max.

“Where are you going babe?” Oliver asked, pouting and stretching out his arms, gesturing for me to come back as I crouched down behind Max.

“I just wanna talk to Max a while, okay?” I said, placing a hand on Max’s shoulder and he obediently sensed my discomfort and stood.

“Come back soon though,” Oliver begged, standing up to give me a kiss before letting me walk off into the trees toward Adam’s bench.

“What’s up Vi?” Max asked, parking his small bottom on the seat and sitting cross - legged to face me. The pang in my stomach began to grow into the welling of tears in my eyes, and I gasped for air, catching a glimpse of the golden plaque that shone brightly beside my shoulder.

“Hey hey hey Violet…” Max grabbed me immediately, knowing this teary - eyed look pretty damn well by now, especially since Adam’s death. “What’s up hon?”

I buried my head into his black t-shirt, blocking the sun out of my eyes and hopefully my tears from the world to see. I sobbed, picturing Adam lay out on the grass with the others, just like he should be, his eyes blacked out with his trademark sunglasses, smoking his permanent cigarette that hung from his lip. There was always a joke about his cigarettes, because he always always had one going. People always asked him where he got his never-ending cigarettes from.

“I miss Adam so much, he should be here with us it’s such a beautiful day,” I let out a muffled howl into Max’s shoulder, causing him to rub my back vigorously.

“I know Vi, I know but we need to accept he’s gone now,” Max pulled me onto his lap, shielding my eyes from the sun as my face started to get hot and puffy. “There’s nothing we can do but remember him and love him,”

“But I think of him every day, Max,” I cried “Wishing I could call him up and invite him to my birthday party. To my house for a totally random film fest like we used to do,”

“You can invite me to a random film fest?” Max offered, and I looked up to see his smiling face, his skin pale and perfect, not a pimple in sight. His dark eyes gleaming, making me instantly feel at least a little better. His black lip ring shone in the sunlight, and wiggled as he pushed his tongue against it from the inside of his lip. I giggled.

“We can have one sometime,” I said bluntly, lightly clutching the dark material that hang off Max’s slim and bony shoulders.

“We should. You just try concentrate on other things right now, I’m sure with the help of me and Oliver and everyone else, we can get through this grieving phase right?”

I pulled my head from Max chest. How did he know what to say at the right time? This was why he was my best friend, he could make me feel better instantly. He was so lovable and cute. He astounds me.

“Your right,” I smiled, taking one of Max’s slightly dirty hands (probably from play fighting with Josh and/or Oliver) and stroking the top of his hand lightly. With the other hand I wiped away my crystal clear tears that lay drying on my cheek and the pang in my stomach began to fade, along with the beautiful image of Adam lying happily and alive in my head.

“I’m always right, darling,” Max winked, making me push his shoulder playfully.

Hearing footsteps, I glanced into the bushes, seeing Oliver emerge, looking like he’s just been dragged through that rose bush with twigs hanging out of his shiny brown hair. I laughed.

“Babe, you have a bird’s nest on your head,” I pointed out, standing from my cross - legged position to pick out the shrubbery that seemed to have got lost in his hair.

“I’m aware of that, I don’t know how you guys get through that bush unscathed.” He wondered aloud, brushing himself down. “Anyway, are you okay? You seemed sad back there,” Oliver stroked my face, and I could feel that Max felt awkward.

“Do you guys want some alone time? I think that’s best,” Max said, gesturing over to the rest of the group “I’ll go see who wants to go Walmart with me,”

“Okay,” Oliver said, whilst strategically pushing me back onto the bench, into the sparkling beams of light with no shadow from the bushes. We sat, and he held me tightly, pressing my body to his as he pulled me onto his lap.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Oliver pouted, staring into my eyes. I melted inside, knowing he could see right into my soul.

“I’m okay, I talked to Max…I just missed Adam that’s all,” I gulped back any tears or remote grief that might appear when I mentioned Adam’s name.

“Okay, well I miss him too,” Oliver took his eyes off mine, staring down at the beautifully crafted wood we sat on. “But I plan to make everything okay for you now,”

My breath caught in my throat, because when he said that, I knew what was going to happen next. He was going to make our alone time worth while. He was always true to his word, he would make everything better, and downright amazing.

Pushing back the damp strands of hair that had fallen in front of my eyes, hearing him lightly whisper “Let me see your beautiful eyes,” which in itself made me fall, he lightly began to plant kisses on my cheeks and temples, as if he was kissing away the tension and worry.

I closed my eyes, to memorise the feeling further, letting him kiss the circumference of my face and moving down to my neck, where he began to lick the tiniest little bit, making me need to grab on to his shirt just to keep my balance. Gripping the back of my head lightly, he pushed his face to mine, crashing our lips together in the softest way possible, his feelings channelling through every little movement, making me fall further and faster for him, as my heart pounded with his.

Moments of bliss, such as this one were what kept me going.