Welcome to Serenity

The Past Never Truly Leaves

Ty's POV:
I slowly walk up to Annie's house. I take a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Hey-" I start to say before I notice who is opening the door.

"Hi Tyler."

"Mr Sullivan!" I say shocked as Ronnie Sullivan, Annie's dad, stands in doorway.

"Annie tells me that you are taking her on a date." He says with his arms crossed.

"Uh... yeah. Um-" I streds before Ronnie laughs.

"Don't worry mate. I'm not gonna lecture you or scare you like Dana Sue's father did when we started dating. And please call me Ronnie. Mr Sullivan just makes me feel old." Ronnie says as I relax.

"Daddy, please tell me you're not intimidating Ty, we want the date to start before he realises how weird we are." I hear Annie say as she approaches the door.

She's wearing a short blue wrap dress and white sneakers. "Hey you." Annie says smiling widely.

"Hi. You look great." I say politely, very aware that Ronnie is standing right next to us.

"Should we go?" She asks noticing my discomfort.

"Sounds great." I reply as I quickly start walking to the truck.

* * *

As we drive Annie turns on the radio. Better Than Revenge by Taylor Swift comes on.

Annie immediately sings along. "Come on!" She laughs as the chorus is about to start.

I give in as we sing in unison. "~She's not a saint and she's not what you think. She's an actress, whoa! She's better known for the things that she does, On the mattress, whoa!~"

"~Soon she's gonna find stealing other people's toys, on the playground won't make you many friends.~" I look over and smile as Annie sings along, using her phone as a microphone.

"~She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind, there is nothing I do better than revenge.~" We sing along before Annie turns down the radio.

She turns to look at me and laughs. "You have been keeping this a secret from me and my spy Kyle, what are we doing for our date?" Annie asks.

"It's a secret! I can't tell you otherwise it wouldn't be a secret." I laugh as Annie pouts.

"Fine then." She grumbles crossing her arms.

* * *

"We are here!" I excla happily as Annie smiles.

"Okay, close your eyes." I say as I get out and open her door.

After a quick walk I whisper into her ear, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Annie gasps as she looks around.

"You can see all of Serenity from up here." She laughs amazed as we look over the town.

"Now for dinner. We have sandwiches and lemonade" I say as I grab a picnic blanket and basket from the back of the truck.

"Perfect." Annie smiles as we sit down together.

* * *

"How's Katie and Maddie?" Annie asks as we sit down to eat.

"Mum is working pretty hard at the spa. Cal has been coming round once a week for dinner with us. Katie likes him." I explain.

"That's good. How are you with Cal and your Mum dating?" Annie asks.

"I want Mum to be happy, it's just strange seeing her with him." I explain as Annie holds my hand.

"I get it. Mum doesn't know I know she likes some guy she works with at the farm. She's been singing in the shower and dancing in the kitchen again. It's getting irritating now." Annie laughs.

"I don't think I've seen that one." I say aloud noticing a scar on her palm.

"That was from a shard of glass from the car crash." Annie explains.

"How's your Dad?" She asks, quickly changing the subject.

"Don't know. I haven't been talking to him much." I admit, knowing it sounds selfish.

"You have to give him a chance." Annie states.

"Why? He ruined our family? He knocked up some nurse and left his wife, the mother of his children, for her and she ended up leaving him!" I reply angrily.

"You of all people should understand! Your Dad did the same thing!" I yell, unleashing all my anger on her.

"Hey!" Annie snaps back. "We have had this argument before."

"Then you understand why I don't want to be anywhere near him!" I scream, which startles Annie.

"My whole childhood people told me how much me and my Dad are alike. They all said I was gonna be just like him when I grew up. I don't want to be anything like him! But, maybe it's in my blood, messing everything up!" I yell tears welling up in my eyes.

"Hey." Annie says softly, cupping her hands around my face. "You are not your father."

"I don't want to hurt you again." I say crying.

"You won't. I know you. You are the sweetest human being ever, you're just angry. Mostly at your Dad and God, but maybe even a little at yourself for not being enough for your Dad." Annie says as if reading my mind.

"But, he is just a man who did the wrong thing. He had a wonderful family and so much love around him and he gave it up. That's on him. Not you." She says pushing the hair off my face.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. You deserve better." I whisper hugging her tighter.

"Hey. I love you." Annie cups my face in her hands, forcing me to look her in the eyes.

"I love you too."

* * *

After a less eventful end to the picnic we packed everything up and hopped in the car.

We talk for a while until we get a little tired so I put the radio on.

After noticing her being very quite for a while I look over to see Annie looking down at her arm, a deep scar is trailing down her forearm. The doctors believe she must have scraped her arm against a rock while she was drowning.

"Hey." I say as Annie is brought out of her trance.

"I'm right here." I whisper as I hug her against my chest.

"You're okay." I lightly brush my finger along the scare.

"The past never truely leaves, does it?" Annie asks, sighing.

"I wish I could tell you that it gets better, but I don't know." I say as I kiss her forehead and rub her back as a small tear runs down her cheek.

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Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this part. Sorry it has taken so long to finish writing this part. 2020 was a very difficult year for a lot of people for a lot of reasons, but I can say that one good thing that came out of that dark time, was this story.

I know I'm not exactly Shakespeare but I get to look forward to getting to release a new part and getting to know that others love these characters and their stories as much as I do. So thank you for being a light in so much darkness for me.

Follow me for updates on when a new part has been released and ideas on upcoming parts!

I hope you're having a lovely day where ever you are in the world! 🧡