A Song of Change

Chapter 16
Love:
My Mother came and got me from school and by the time we got home my Father was there as well. My parents sat down on the couch and my father spread his arms out wide. I curled up on my Father's lap, his arms holding me tight and my Mother scooted closer and wrapped her arms around the two of us.
Silent tears ran down my face while I took in the comfort of my parents. I was going to miss them so so much. "You're going to be alright sweet heart. Everything will be perfectly fine," my Father whispered to me. I lifted my head off of my his chest to see his smile in place but his bright blue eyes told me otherwise.
I turned to my Mother and saw tears in her eyes. I wasn't the only one who didn't want me to leave. "I'm so sorry Mother. I don't want to leave you. Not yet," I said shaking my head. Tears were streaming down my face but I was past the point of caring anymore.
Her eyes widened and she brought her hand to my face, brushing my hair behind my ear. "There is nothing for you to be sorry for Annabelle. You have done absolutely nothing wrong. Your Father and I," she paused as she glanced at my Father," always knew this day would come. Putting it off won't change anything. It would still be hard on all of us even with more time."
"Your Mother is right, Annabelle. Trust me, we don't want you to leave but this is all apart of growing up. This is something that everyone goes through and you will get through it, we will all get through this," my Father paused to hand me a tissue, "We will always love you and there won't be a day that goes by that we won't think of you. You can do this kiddo."
I whipped the tears away with a faint smile on my face. "Thank you Mother and Father," I reached up to wrap my arms around my parents, "I love you." "And we love you, Annabelle," my Mother whispered to me.
My parents stayed home with me the rest of the day and all we did was talk. We talked about things that happened when I was a child and when they were my age. They told me what had happened today in the short time at work and I told them about Mrs. Waters. We just keep going on and on about anything we wanted to talk about.
I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke up in my bed with the covers over me. I got up and looked at the alarm clock on my bedside table. It was 7:00 pm. Then all of a sudden I heard a knock on my window. That must have been what woke me up.
I made my way to the window thinking it was a tree branch from the apple tree in our backyard but was pleasantly surprised. I meet the grey eyes of the beautiful boy before me. A smile crept on my face as I opened the window. I backed up as he made his way through the window and into my bedroom.
As soon as his feet hit the floor he was upon me. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to his chest. He held me so close that I could feel the rapid beating of his heart against my chest. "Julian?" I asked worried about him.
"Don't ever do that to me again! I was so worried that something bad had happened to you when you weren't there. What happened?"he whisper shouted. I pulled back to look at his face. He had distressed look on his face. I placed one of my hands on the side of his face, my thumb gently brushing back and forth against his cheek.
"Everything is fine Julian. Just look at me. Do I look hurt or injured in anyway?" I asked my eyes never leaving his. He did a quick look at me before shaking his head no. "I was just sent home from school to spend time with my parents. Who are just down the hall so you have to be quiet," I finished as I brought a finger to my mouth.
"I'm sorry I just… I don't know what I'd do if someone hurt you," he said with fire in his eyes. I quietly laughed at him, "Don't be silly, no one is going to hurt me." He nodded his head before pulling back to look around. "The rooms really do look similar, but I like yours better," Julian said throwing me a look over his shoulder.
I sat down on my bed as he walked all around the room looking at odds and ends. When he was done he made his way back to me and knelt down in front of me. He took my hands in his as he smiled up at me. It filled me with a childish happiness to be able to look down at him instead of up.
Julian did nothing but stare up at me with his crooked smile spread across his face. "Annabelle?" he asked cocking his head to the side. "Yes," I replied glad that the silent staring was broken. "Do you remember when I told you that I didn't know if I was falling for you or had already fallen?" "Yes," I smiled at him remembering how my heart had speed up when he said it.
"I have fallen so hard and deeply that there is no possible way back up. I'm a goner when it comes to you," he whispered as he rubbed lazy circles on my hands. Any reply that I would have had caught in my throat when Julian moved so close to me that I could feel his hot breath on my face.
"Will you let me love you, Annabelle?" Julian asked just before he placed his lips on my own. This kiss was soft and gentle and made my heart flutter. He brought his hands up and and placed one against my cheek while the other tangled into my hair.
He then deepened the kiss making his gentle placement of lips on my own harder and I scooted closer feeling a sudden urge for closeness. He pulled back only for a second so that now he was sitting next to me on the bed. This time when our lips met again it was me who joined them.
Julian gasped as if surprised by my hurried movements but allowed me to control the kiss this time. I kept it gentle when I got an idea to test out what Mrs. Waters had talked about and Julian had done.
I gently brushed my tongue along Julian's bottom cautiously at first and he allowed me in. I was so happy it worked but kept my mind on the task at hand. I thought about what Julian had done and repeated that. When a soft moan escaped from Julian it told me I was doing it right so I continued until we had to pull apart for air.
Julian rested his forehead against mine just smiling at me. "I love how you learn so fast," he said in between breaths. I tried to keep as quiet as I could while I laughed and then he started laughing too. I placed my hands over his mouth while I made shushing sounds at him. He stopped laughing and instead started kissing my hands. He placed a tender kiss on each knuckle and when he was done he held my hands against his lips as he looked up at me with his bright grey eyes.
"Hey Julian?" I hesitantly asked him. "Hmmm?" he replied with my hands still over his mouth. "What is your name?" I needed to know if my hunch was right and now was as good a time as any. He pulled my hands back and tilted his head to the side with his eyebrows furrowed, "Julian, you know that." I shook my head at him and tried to rephrase my question, "No I meant your full name."
"Can I ask where this came from first?" he laughed at me. "Please Julian, its really important." I sighed. "O-kay… Julian Christopher Waters. Why?" Julian asked with a quizzical expression on his face. It felt like all the blood had drained from my face and I couldn't come up with anything to say to him. I couldn't put together any of my thoughts.
"Is there something wrong with my name?" he asked and when I didn't reply he put his hand on my forehead. "You're burning up!" he whisper yelled, "you need to lie down Annabelle." That snapped me back to reality and I shook my head at him. "No no I'm fine, really. I- I just… its your name." I said trying to find the right words to use to tell him this.
"What does my name have to do with anything?" Julian asked with that same quizzical look on his face. "It is your name exactly," I started, "Its someone else I know with that last name. Is your Mother's name Catherine?" His eyes widened, "How would you know that?" He asked. "Catherine Waters is my couples teacher. She is the one who taught me about all of this," I said gesturing between the two of us.
"Wow," he said as he stood up. "What?" I asked hoping he wasn't mad at me for waiting so long. "The girl I love is taking romance lessons from my Mother," Julian said with a laugh, "at least she is teaching you the right way." "Hey," I whispered as I smacked his shoulder, "it isn't funny."
"It is a little bit," he said as he pinched his pointer finger and thumb together, "but that's alright because I'll always love you." He drew me into a hug as he whispered in my ear, "I have to go now." He kissed my cheek before walking back to the window.
When he was halfway through he stopped and turned to me, "Oh by the way, you look adorable when your mad." He turned back around when he was back outside and I stuck my tongue out at him. I heard him laughing while I closed the window.