Status: Done!
Changes
12
I awoke to the presence of someone in my room; I could feel a pair of eyes boring holes into my back. Opening my eyes slowly, I turned towards Grant, but his blue orbs remained closed off from the world around us. I shook my head and started readjusting myself on the bed when I suddenly heard the clearing of a throat from my doorway.
My dad.
I sprung out of Grant’s grasp and put plenty of distance between us, basically pushing him off of the bed. However, he awoke before I could and rolled off the last inch of my bed to land on his feet.
I swallowed, “Good morning, Dad.”
Grant spun around hurriedly at my greeting to my father and straightened up considerably, nodding at him seriously, “Sir.”
My father narrowed his eyes and flickered them between the two of us. The air around us was thick with tension and I could feel my heart thumping against my ribcage, awaiting his thrash. “Grant,” he addressed him curtly before turning to me, “Allie.”
He paused and we again began waiting for the yelling that we were sure to endure. “Hope you two slept well,” he simply stated, turning from his position in my doorway and sauntering out into the hallway. As soon as he was out of sight, Grant turned around to face me. His blue eyes were bright with excitement and wide with surprise.
“Did that just happen?” he asked slowly, running a hand through his untamed hair.
I shook my head, “Don’t even question it; he might change his mind.”
Grant nodded and made his way back to the edge of the bed that he had fallen off of moments before. He placed a small kiss on my forehead and sent me one of his dazzling smiles. How the man could look so good this early in the morning was still a mystery to me. “I’ll see you downstairs, alright?” I nodded and he was quickly torn from my sight.
I pouted for a moment before stretching out my limbs and throwing on my day clothes. After deeming myself presentable, I started the cautious journey downstairs. My feet dragged slowly across the hardwood floors of our hallway and I hesitantly placed them on the rug at the top of the stairs. Though my father had let us off the hook, I was sure that it wasn’t the end of that.
“Good morning, sweetie,” my mother beamed from her seat at the kitchen table. A small mug of coffee sat in front of her, steam swirling out of its opening, “How’d you sleep?”
My mother clearly didn’t know about the incident that had unfolded moments ago in my room, “Fine. I missed my room.”
She smiled brightly at my answer, always loving when her children visited, “Oh, good!” I took a seat across from her and busied myself with a cup of tea.
“Are you excited for today?” I asked.
“I’m so excited for Riley!” she grinned wildly, “You know she’s like a second daughter of mine. I just hope it’s not too hectic.”
I nodded, taking a long sip of the steaming tea in front of me. Footsteps suddenly entered the room and Grant smiled from behind the kitchen island, “Good morning, ladies.” He walked over to me and pressed a chaste kiss to my temple before fixing himself a cup of coffee at the counter.
My mother mouthed “aw” at me and I quickly swatted her hand that rested on the table. I ignored her cold glare, “So what are the plans for today?”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could offer one of her suggestions, the sliding door to the kitchen flew open. My father stood in the doorway, barefoot and fishing rod in hand.
“We’re going fishing!”
“We are?” I asked surprised. Fishing on Lake Erie with my father was an old past time of ours when I was a kid. After my brother outgrew the hobby, my father turned to me, his youngest child. Obviously, I accepted the invitations to join him on his weekly fishing trips, but we hadn’t been on one since I was in my freshman year of high school.
Before my father could answer my question, my brothers also entered the kitchen from the back door, peeking over his shoulder to look at us.
“No, we are,” Hunter clarified for me, gesturing to all the males in the room.
“All the men,” Colton reaffirmed from my father’s other side. I looked back at Grant, who merely nodded his head and finished the rest of his coffee. Telling the boys that he’d be back shortly, he retreated to the guest room to find more appropriate fishing clothes.
“You boys better be nice,” I wagged a finger at my brothers, who merely rolled their eyes.
“Says who?” Hunter retorted childishly, letting out a squeaky giggle. Grant sauntered back into the kitchen, clad in a simple white tee and a pair of Polo swim trunks. A worn-out baseball cap covered his slight bed head and he mimicked my father without shoes.
“Ready,” he smiled at them, placing a kiss to the top of my head before following the three-some out to the deck. My mother reminded them to be home in time for the wedding and using her cold glare, warned my father to be nice to my boyfriend. As soon as the door slammed shut again, she turned towards me with a wicked smile.
“Oh, he’s just adorable!”
“Mom!” I smacked my hands to my cheeks and covered up my quickly growing blush, “Stop!”
But she continued, “The way he looks at you…”
“It’s only been a month, mom!” I shushed her hastily.
She threw her hands up in defense innocently, “I’m just making some observations. Just thinking aloud.”
I rolled my eyes at her, but slowly allowed a small smirk to appear across my features, “He is cute, isn’t he?”
♢♢♢♢
After a few hours on Lake Erie, the males finally returned to the house. My mother and I were relaxing in the lounge chairs on the back deck and talking quietly when they approached us. All four of them sported large grins that stretched across their lips and color from the bright sun that was brushed across their cheeks and the top of their noses.
“Hi, boys!” my mother called to them as they all took turns at our hose, washing off whatever fish muck and boat grease had been built up on their hands. Turning towards the sound of my mother’s voice, they all waved happily before joining us on the deck.
“How are the women doing?” Hunter asked, plopping down into one of the lounge chairs next to us.
“Fine,” I stated simply, “How was fishing?”
Hunter widened his eyes in excitement at my question and smiled brightly, “Grant is sooooo good, Al. You’ve got to get his secrets out of him. He’s too talented for his own good!”
“Oh, really?” I asked surprised, shifting my gaze to Grant, who had just mounted the stairs to the porch.
“Yeah!” Hunter continued, “He got the fattest fish today! Dear lord, you should’ve seen the size of that thing!” He spread his hands out wide as if to represent the size of the fish.
I looked back at Grant, who merely shrugged a shoulder and sent me a small smile, “It’s one of my few talents, I guess.”
“You guess?!” Hunter’s eyes bugged out, “That was by far the coolest thing I’ve seen come out of that lake!”
I rolled my eyes at Hunter’s excitement. He may have been a year older, but he still acted like a teenager sometimes. But before I could make a dig at this, my mother interrupted us.
“Don’t just stand around, boys!” she scolded, “You’re hours late!” She sent one of her cold glares towards my father and shooed the males off the back porch. Ultimately, she also shooed me into the house, but in a much less threatening manner.
Around noon, we were all dolled up in our wedding clothes. I slipped on my blue dress and a pair of strappy black heels. Grant was clad in a simple button-down shirt, a pair of light khakis, and a sky-blue tie. He opted out of wearing a jacket when he discovered my brothers wearing similar outfits.
After being forced to take many pictures by my mother, we all made our way over to the ceremony. Riley looked astonishingly beautiful with her blonde hair wrapped up delicately in a high bun and her simple white dress. Throughout the ceremony, I thought about how my best friend was so lucky, standing up there without a doubt in the world that she was ready to marry the man in front of her. Josh wasn’t exactly perfect and he didn’t always do things right. There were countless times that Riley had come to me with tears in her eyes and some story about him. But he was exactly what she wanted. She wanted no one, but him. And I could only wish to have the same type of love in my future. During their personal vows, Grant squeezed my hand that rested in my lap and pressed a chaste kiss to my temple.
He didn’t know that I heard his confession last night in the dark of my childhood room. He loved me. And I loved him, too. I just wasn’t in love with him. I couldn’t, not after what had happened with Eric. It was too soon to be in love with another person, yet I had to forcefully keep myself from falling for the seemingly perfect man sitting beside me.
As if he was reading my thoughts, Grant pressed his lips to my ear, “I love you.” An impulsive smile spread across my lips and I leaned my head onto his shoulder, kissing the cloth of his shirt.
“I love you, too.”
My head remained on his shoulder for the rest of the ceremony and as the crowd dispersed to head to the reception, he gave me a full kiss on the lips. He sent me one of his goofy smiles that just about made my stomach flip and offered me a hand to stand up.
As much as I’d like to deny it, I found myself peering throughout in the crowd in search of a certain head of blonde curls. I finally spotted them as we were climbing into my father’s car. His light blue eyes met mine and held my gaze; and before I could register it, he began making his way towards me. He sent me one of his sideways smirks as he neared me. And what did I do? Well, I panicked. I broke our gaze and ducked my head into the door of my father’s battered pick-up truck, watching him in the side-view mirror as we peeled away from the curb.
Why did I turn away? I can honestly say that I have no clue.
All I wanted was for him to apologize to me and wrap me up in one of his big hugs. I wanted to watch those light blue orbs glaze over and let loose for an hour or two. I wanted my best friend back.
But I turned away.
♢♢♢♢
“Mind if I cut in?” I heard a deep voice ask from behind me. My arms were wrapped around Grant’s neck as we swayed slightly to the low music of the band in the corner. We were enjoying the slow pace of the early evening—though we were definitely excited for the hype after sundown. The reception took place in a large tent on a piece of land that overlooked the lake. Long strings of lights had been hung around the border of the tent and small tables scattered the wooden floor underneath the white cover. A small area was left open for a makeshift dance floor and stage. The all-important open bar resided in the back behind the tables and was stocked with all the bottles of liquor you could imagine. Currently, groups of people were spread throughout the tent area, but some had also migrated out from underneath to view the sunset.
I turned towards the sound of the voice and came face-to-face with Mike, one of my best friends from high school.
“Mike!” I squealed loudly, earning a few looks for bystanders as I threw my arms around his thick neck, “I missed you so much!”
He sent me one of his bright smiles, which made girls swoon during our high school years, “Missed you, too, Al.” He turned his attention to Grant, who stepped up next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“I’m Mike, by the way,” he extended his hand towards Grant.
“Grant,” he stated softly, giving him a firm handshake, “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m sure Allie’s talked about me a lot,” Mike commented playfully, “I mean, she did have the biggest crush on me in high school.”
“Mike!” I slapped his muscular shoulder and shook my head at him, “That’s not even true!”
Grant let out a small chuckle before telling me that he was going to the bar and leaving his place at my side. Once he was gone, Mike took a step closer to me and slipped his thick lacrosse-player arms around my waist.
“You look very beautiful tonight,” he grinned, swaying slightly to the beat in the background.
I threw my arms around his neck, “You’re not looking to bad yourself, Mike.”
He sent me a cocky smirk and rolled his eyes playfully, “I know, obviously.”
I let out a small giggle and rested my head on his chest. It felt good to be held by such an athletic body. Though Grant’s muscles were defined, they were nowhere near the size of Pat’s or Mike’s. Also, the mere smell of Mike’s scent—which was a combination of beer and some cheap men’s cologne—was a small reminder of what I had been missing in Chicago. It reminded me that I was home and that I had missed it extremely in my time away. We were quiet for a few moments before he cleared his throat awkwardly, causing me to remove my head from his sturdy chest and look up at him.
“So how’ve you been, Al?” he asked unsure.
I rolled my eyes at his blatancy, “If you want to talk about him, just cut to the chase.”
“He really misses you, you know?”
I sighed softly, “I know. I miss him, too.”
“Then, go talk to him, please,” he offered. “The guy’s been moping around ever since he got here. He really hasn’t been been out of the house; most people don’t even know he’s home.”
I let out another sigh, “I know.”
“Go talk to him, please,” he suggested before a large smile took over his features, “If not for him, then for me. He’s been acting like such a girl this week!”
A small giggle escaped my lips and I shook my head at him, “Alright, fine!” I looked around at the crowds of people surrounding us. “But where is the damn boy?”
“Ah,” he looked down at me and smiled, “That’s where I come in. Meet him at the warehouse after sunset.”
“Oooh, sounds so mysterious,” I smiled jokingly. I turned to look where Mike was pointing. There was a small shed that resided next to the main house of the property. It was small and seemed misplaced next to the recently redone main house, but it was quaint and cute.
Mike rolled his eyes at my joke before stepping back from our embrace, “Now, I’ve got a date with that lovely open bar over there, so I’ll catch up with you later. You know where to find me.” With a quick wink in my direction, he sauntered over to a barstool and gestured for the bartender to place his order.
I looked out towards the lake, where the sun was slowly disappearing below the horizon. The sky was painted a myriad of different purples and pinks, stretching across the expanse in different layers. The sunsets in Buffalo easily topped those of Boston and Chicago. There was absolutely no comparison and it made me yearn for the summer in Buffalo that much more. The sun was a thin piece of bright orange, receding slowly under the dark blue of the lake. The sky behind me was already starting to turn dark and the beautiful spectacle would be over before I knew it.
Watching as the sun finally disappeared completely, I walked over to where Grant was conversing with my father. He smiled as I approached the pair and patted to knee, gesturing for me to take a seat there. As I did as he asked, my father bid us a quiet goodbye and joined my mother at a group of their local friends.
“How are you?” he grinned up at me, placing a small kiss to the bare of my shoulder.
“I’m good,” I answered softly, “But I have to talk to Patrick in a few minutes…”
He cocked his head slightly to the side, but nodded anyway, “Alright.”
“It won’t take long. I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone, I promise. And then we can head back to my parents’ house,” I placed a quick kiss to his cheek before grabbing a drink from a nearby waitress and making my way out of the crowded tent. Since the sun had set a few moments before, everyone had made their way under the tent and proceeded with the night activities—which were comprised of many drinks, dancing, and embarrassing moments. I made a mental promise to myself that no matter what happened with Pat, I would come back to the tent and have fun with my friends. I wasn’t going to let this situation ruin my weekend.
As soon as I started making my way towards the small shed and the small light in the window came into view, I felt my stomach twist into a series of knots. I suddenly didn’t want to hear whatever apology he had prepared for me. It would only bring back the memories of what was said a few weeks prior. Also, I knew that after I forgave him, he would only try to get me to stay in Buffalo for the remainder of the summer. And given that I was practically fawning over every part of the neighborhood during my stay, he would be more than capable of convincing me to do.
Before I could realize it, my path merged away from the lonely shed and was directed towards the small dock that was extended out towards the lake. The area was completely dark now, except for the sole tiki torch lit at the end of the dock. I stepped carefully in order to keep my balance in my dangerously high heels on the slope of the hill, but eventually kicked them off and continued the journey to the wooden extension. The sounds of the party on the top of the hill could be heard in the distance, accompanied with the new sounds of water lapping against the shore.
As I approached the start of the dock, I stepped carefully onto the wooden surface and started making my way towards its end. However, before I could reach my destination, I noticed a figure perched on the end of the dock, its legs hanging over the edge.
“Pat?”
My dad.
I sprung out of Grant’s grasp and put plenty of distance between us, basically pushing him off of the bed. However, he awoke before I could and rolled off the last inch of my bed to land on his feet.
I swallowed, “Good morning, Dad.”
Grant spun around hurriedly at my greeting to my father and straightened up considerably, nodding at him seriously, “Sir.”
My father narrowed his eyes and flickered them between the two of us. The air around us was thick with tension and I could feel my heart thumping against my ribcage, awaiting his thrash. “Grant,” he addressed him curtly before turning to me, “Allie.”
He paused and we again began waiting for the yelling that we were sure to endure. “Hope you two slept well,” he simply stated, turning from his position in my doorway and sauntering out into the hallway. As soon as he was out of sight, Grant turned around to face me. His blue eyes were bright with excitement and wide with surprise.
“Did that just happen?” he asked slowly, running a hand through his untamed hair.
I shook my head, “Don’t even question it; he might change his mind.”
Grant nodded and made his way back to the edge of the bed that he had fallen off of moments before. He placed a small kiss on my forehead and sent me one of his dazzling smiles. How the man could look so good this early in the morning was still a mystery to me. “I’ll see you downstairs, alright?” I nodded and he was quickly torn from my sight.
I pouted for a moment before stretching out my limbs and throwing on my day clothes. After deeming myself presentable, I started the cautious journey downstairs. My feet dragged slowly across the hardwood floors of our hallway and I hesitantly placed them on the rug at the top of the stairs. Though my father had let us off the hook, I was sure that it wasn’t the end of that.
“Good morning, sweetie,” my mother beamed from her seat at the kitchen table. A small mug of coffee sat in front of her, steam swirling out of its opening, “How’d you sleep?”
My mother clearly didn’t know about the incident that had unfolded moments ago in my room, “Fine. I missed my room.”
She smiled brightly at my answer, always loving when her children visited, “Oh, good!” I took a seat across from her and busied myself with a cup of tea.
“Are you excited for today?” I asked.
“I’m so excited for Riley!” she grinned wildly, “You know she’s like a second daughter of mine. I just hope it’s not too hectic.”
I nodded, taking a long sip of the steaming tea in front of me. Footsteps suddenly entered the room and Grant smiled from behind the kitchen island, “Good morning, ladies.” He walked over to me and pressed a chaste kiss to my temple before fixing himself a cup of coffee at the counter.
My mother mouthed “aw” at me and I quickly swatted her hand that rested on the table. I ignored her cold glare, “So what are the plans for today?”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could offer one of her suggestions, the sliding door to the kitchen flew open. My father stood in the doorway, barefoot and fishing rod in hand.
“We’re going fishing!”
“We are?” I asked surprised. Fishing on Lake Erie with my father was an old past time of ours when I was a kid. After my brother outgrew the hobby, my father turned to me, his youngest child. Obviously, I accepted the invitations to join him on his weekly fishing trips, but we hadn’t been on one since I was in my freshman year of high school.
Before my father could answer my question, my brothers also entered the kitchen from the back door, peeking over his shoulder to look at us.
“No, we are,” Hunter clarified for me, gesturing to all the males in the room.
“All the men,” Colton reaffirmed from my father’s other side. I looked back at Grant, who merely nodded his head and finished the rest of his coffee. Telling the boys that he’d be back shortly, he retreated to the guest room to find more appropriate fishing clothes.
“You boys better be nice,” I wagged a finger at my brothers, who merely rolled their eyes.
“Says who?” Hunter retorted childishly, letting out a squeaky giggle. Grant sauntered back into the kitchen, clad in a simple white tee and a pair of Polo swim trunks. A worn-out baseball cap covered his slight bed head and he mimicked my father without shoes.
“Ready,” he smiled at them, placing a kiss to the top of my head before following the three-some out to the deck. My mother reminded them to be home in time for the wedding and using her cold glare, warned my father to be nice to my boyfriend. As soon as the door slammed shut again, she turned towards me with a wicked smile.
“Oh, he’s just adorable!”
“Mom!” I smacked my hands to my cheeks and covered up my quickly growing blush, “Stop!”
But she continued, “The way he looks at you…”
“It’s only been a month, mom!” I shushed her hastily.
She threw her hands up in defense innocently, “I’m just making some observations. Just thinking aloud.”
I rolled my eyes at her, but slowly allowed a small smirk to appear across my features, “He is cute, isn’t he?”
♢♢♢♢
After a few hours on Lake Erie, the males finally returned to the house. My mother and I were relaxing in the lounge chairs on the back deck and talking quietly when they approached us. All four of them sported large grins that stretched across their lips and color from the bright sun that was brushed across their cheeks and the top of their noses.
“Hi, boys!” my mother called to them as they all took turns at our hose, washing off whatever fish muck and boat grease had been built up on their hands. Turning towards the sound of my mother’s voice, they all waved happily before joining us on the deck.
“How are the women doing?” Hunter asked, plopping down into one of the lounge chairs next to us.
“Fine,” I stated simply, “How was fishing?”
Hunter widened his eyes in excitement at my question and smiled brightly, “Grant is sooooo good, Al. You’ve got to get his secrets out of him. He’s too talented for his own good!”
“Oh, really?” I asked surprised, shifting my gaze to Grant, who had just mounted the stairs to the porch.
“Yeah!” Hunter continued, “He got the fattest fish today! Dear lord, you should’ve seen the size of that thing!” He spread his hands out wide as if to represent the size of the fish.
I looked back at Grant, who merely shrugged a shoulder and sent me a small smile, “It’s one of my few talents, I guess.”
“You guess?!” Hunter’s eyes bugged out, “That was by far the coolest thing I’ve seen come out of that lake!”
I rolled my eyes at Hunter’s excitement. He may have been a year older, but he still acted like a teenager sometimes. But before I could make a dig at this, my mother interrupted us.
“Don’t just stand around, boys!” she scolded, “You’re hours late!” She sent one of her cold glares towards my father and shooed the males off the back porch. Ultimately, she also shooed me into the house, but in a much less threatening manner.
Around noon, we were all dolled up in our wedding clothes. I slipped on my blue dress and a pair of strappy black heels. Grant was clad in a simple button-down shirt, a pair of light khakis, and a sky-blue tie. He opted out of wearing a jacket when he discovered my brothers wearing similar outfits.
After being forced to take many pictures by my mother, we all made our way over to the ceremony. Riley looked astonishingly beautiful with her blonde hair wrapped up delicately in a high bun and her simple white dress. Throughout the ceremony, I thought about how my best friend was so lucky, standing up there without a doubt in the world that she was ready to marry the man in front of her. Josh wasn’t exactly perfect and he didn’t always do things right. There were countless times that Riley had come to me with tears in her eyes and some story about him. But he was exactly what she wanted. She wanted no one, but him. And I could only wish to have the same type of love in my future. During their personal vows, Grant squeezed my hand that rested in my lap and pressed a chaste kiss to my temple.
He didn’t know that I heard his confession last night in the dark of my childhood room. He loved me. And I loved him, too. I just wasn’t in love with him. I couldn’t, not after what had happened with Eric. It was too soon to be in love with another person, yet I had to forcefully keep myself from falling for the seemingly perfect man sitting beside me.
As if he was reading my thoughts, Grant pressed his lips to my ear, “I love you.” An impulsive smile spread across my lips and I leaned my head onto his shoulder, kissing the cloth of his shirt.
“I love you, too.”
My head remained on his shoulder for the rest of the ceremony and as the crowd dispersed to head to the reception, he gave me a full kiss on the lips. He sent me one of his goofy smiles that just about made my stomach flip and offered me a hand to stand up.
As much as I’d like to deny it, I found myself peering throughout in the crowd in search of a certain head of blonde curls. I finally spotted them as we were climbing into my father’s car. His light blue eyes met mine and held my gaze; and before I could register it, he began making his way towards me. He sent me one of his sideways smirks as he neared me. And what did I do? Well, I panicked. I broke our gaze and ducked my head into the door of my father’s battered pick-up truck, watching him in the side-view mirror as we peeled away from the curb.
Why did I turn away? I can honestly say that I have no clue.
All I wanted was for him to apologize to me and wrap me up in one of his big hugs. I wanted to watch those light blue orbs glaze over and let loose for an hour or two. I wanted my best friend back.
But I turned away.
♢♢♢♢
“Mind if I cut in?” I heard a deep voice ask from behind me. My arms were wrapped around Grant’s neck as we swayed slightly to the low music of the band in the corner. We were enjoying the slow pace of the early evening—though we were definitely excited for the hype after sundown. The reception took place in a large tent on a piece of land that overlooked the lake. Long strings of lights had been hung around the border of the tent and small tables scattered the wooden floor underneath the white cover. A small area was left open for a makeshift dance floor and stage. The all-important open bar resided in the back behind the tables and was stocked with all the bottles of liquor you could imagine. Currently, groups of people were spread throughout the tent area, but some had also migrated out from underneath to view the sunset.
I turned towards the sound of the voice and came face-to-face with Mike, one of my best friends from high school.
“Mike!” I squealed loudly, earning a few looks for bystanders as I threw my arms around his thick neck, “I missed you so much!”
He sent me one of his bright smiles, which made girls swoon during our high school years, “Missed you, too, Al.” He turned his attention to Grant, who stepped up next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“I’m Mike, by the way,” he extended his hand towards Grant.
“Grant,” he stated softly, giving him a firm handshake, “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m sure Allie’s talked about me a lot,” Mike commented playfully, “I mean, she did have the biggest crush on me in high school.”
“Mike!” I slapped his muscular shoulder and shook my head at him, “That’s not even true!”
Grant let out a small chuckle before telling me that he was going to the bar and leaving his place at my side. Once he was gone, Mike took a step closer to me and slipped his thick lacrosse-player arms around my waist.
“You look very beautiful tonight,” he grinned, swaying slightly to the beat in the background.
I threw my arms around his neck, “You’re not looking to bad yourself, Mike.”
He sent me a cocky smirk and rolled his eyes playfully, “I know, obviously.”
I let out a small giggle and rested my head on his chest. It felt good to be held by such an athletic body. Though Grant’s muscles were defined, they were nowhere near the size of Pat’s or Mike’s. Also, the mere smell of Mike’s scent—which was a combination of beer and some cheap men’s cologne—was a small reminder of what I had been missing in Chicago. It reminded me that I was home and that I had missed it extremely in my time away. We were quiet for a few moments before he cleared his throat awkwardly, causing me to remove my head from his sturdy chest and look up at him.
“So how’ve you been, Al?” he asked unsure.
I rolled my eyes at his blatancy, “If you want to talk about him, just cut to the chase.”
“He really misses you, you know?”
I sighed softly, “I know. I miss him, too.”
“Then, go talk to him, please,” he offered. “The guy’s been moping around ever since he got here. He really hasn’t been been out of the house; most people don’t even know he’s home.”
I let out another sigh, “I know.”
“Go talk to him, please,” he suggested before a large smile took over his features, “If not for him, then for me. He’s been acting like such a girl this week!”
A small giggle escaped my lips and I shook my head at him, “Alright, fine!” I looked around at the crowds of people surrounding us. “But where is the damn boy?”
“Ah,” he looked down at me and smiled, “That’s where I come in. Meet him at the warehouse after sunset.”
“Oooh, sounds so mysterious,” I smiled jokingly. I turned to look where Mike was pointing. There was a small shed that resided next to the main house of the property. It was small and seemed misplaced next to the recently redone main house, but it was quaint and cute.
Mike rolled his eyes at my joke before stepping back from our embrace, “Now, I’ve got a date with that lovely open bar over there, so I’ll catch up with you later. You know where to find me.” With a quick wink in my direction, he sauntered over to a barstool and gestured for the bartender to place his order.
I looked out towards the lake, where the sun was slowly disappearing below the horizon. The sky was painted a myriad of different purples and pinks, stretching across the expanse in different layers. The sunsets in Buffalo easily topped those of Boston and Chicago. There was absolutely no comparison and it made me yearn for the summer in Buffalo that much more. The sun was a thin piece of bright orange, receding slowly under the dark blue of the lake. The sky behind me was already starting to turn dark and the beautiful spectacle would be over before I knew it.
Watching as the sun finally disappeared completely, I walked over to where Grant was conversing with my father. He smiled as I approached the pair and patted to knee, gesturing for me to take a seat there. As I did as he asked, my father bid us a quiet goodbye and joined my mother at a group of their local friends.
“How are you?” he grinned up at me, placing a small kiss to the bare of my shoulder.
“I’m good,” I answered softly, “But I have to talk to Patrick in a few minutes…”
He cocked his head slightly to the side, but nodded anyway, “Alright.”
“It won’t take long. I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone, I promise. And then we can head back to my parents’ house,” I placed a quick kiss to his cheek before grabbing a drink from a nearby waitress and making my way out of the crowded tent. Since the sun had set a few moments before, everyone had made their way under the tent and proceeded with the night activities—which were comprised of many drinks, dancing, and embarrassing moments. I made a mental promise to myself that no matter what happened with Pat, I would come back to the tent and have fun with my friends. I wasn’t going to let this situation ruin my weekend.
As soon as I started making my way towards the small shed and the small light in the window came into view, I felt my stomach twist into a series of knots. I suddenly didn’t want to hear whatever apology he had prepared for me. It would only bring back the memories of what was said a few weeks prior. Also, I knew that after I forgave him, he would only try to get me to stay in Buffalo for the remainder of the summer. And given that I was practically fawning over every part of the neighborhood during my stay, he would be more than capable of convincing me to do.
Before I could realize it, my path merged away from the lonely shed and was directed towards the small dock that was extended out towards the lake. The area was completely dark now, except for the sole tiki torch lit at the end of the dock. I stepped carefully in order to keep my balance in my dangerously high heels on the slope of the hill, but eventually kicked them off and continued the journey to the wooden extension. The sounds of the party on the top of the hill could be heard in the distance, accompanied with the new sounds of water lapping against the shore.
As I approached the start of the dock, I stepped carefully onto the wooden surface and started making my way towards its end. However, before I could reach my destination, I noticed a figure perched on the end of the dock, its legs hanging over the edge.
“Pat?”
♠ ♠ ♠
xx