18

64 6 1

by hipsterlarents

by hipsterlarents

"Ashton.." Raelynn whispers, once her hands where back to her sides. She pushed him away. She didn't feel a spark. She didn't feel anything. And it took awhile but then Ashton understood.

"I thought you- I thought I was something to you." He frowns, holding back the urge to cry.

"Ashton, you will always mean something to me. Always." The lonesome girl lets out a small sigh before looking back up at the teary-eyed boy. "But I don't see you in, that, way."

The tears in his eyes subside, instead, they flow freely down his cheeks. But the warmth of her stare warms his heart, not filling it with anger or sadness, but with hope. Hope that one day, he'll meet another girl as beautiful as she is.

"I understand." He smiles. And she smiles back. Because that's what she did. She made people feel loved when all she felt was hated.

"Thank you, for this evening Ashton. Goodnight." With a long-lasting hug, the girl lets go and walks up her front porch. But before entering the warmth of her home, she twirls around and hollers, "You'll meet her one day Ashton. I know it."

It was morning now, and all of their friends were going on their traditional camping trip before Christmas break.

"Remind me who's idea was having a camping trip before Christmas?" Donna, a friend of a friend, complains as she wraps her winter coat tighter against her body.

"It's barely even fall, you'll live." Stacey rudely snaps, clinging her arm around Michael's waist.

And then Raelynn ran over towards them. With her cheeks bright red and her nose runny, and her sweater paws with her adorable hat, she greeted them.

"What're you doing for the holidays?" Raelynn smiles, asking the surprisingly quiet Stacey.

"I'm going to the beach." Stacey smiles proudly, as if she's showing off her families wealth.

"That sounds fun." Raelynn says, before turning her direction towards Michael.

She didn't say anything, but neither did he. Mainly because he couldn't. But that wasn't true. And he knew it.

"I'm so cold," Stacey whines for the fifth time. Stacey was cuddles next to a stiff Michael as all the teens from their small groups chatted with each other.

Michael just sat there, thinking about everything. The decisions he made in the past, the way Stacey roughly grabs his face if his eyes would wonder, how some people would consider their relationship a little bit abusive, the way Raelynn's bottom lip curled as she talked, anything.

Then something dawned on him. He was lying to the people around him. And the one he loves most. The truth is, he could speak if he wanted to. He has the ability. All he needs is a surgery. When he was a young man, Michael started to have vocal problems. Years pass and then it turns out he had an infection. It stopped hurting for awhile, but left him speechless. But now he's old enough to receive another surgery, this time, removing the virus completely, and saving his voice. Sadly, he doesn't have the money to have that surgery done.

He knows, though, that if he told anyone, especially Raelynn, that they would immediately do something. So he keeps quiet. He absolutely hates the thought of someone doing something for him.

Even if he already knows that one specific girl has already done so much for him.

*****