The Space Between Us

fourteen <3

I laid still in Caelums trunk with ice cream sat in my hair overlooking the beach. We came here to talk about whatever serious situation he's afraid to tell me about. We always come here.

It's still pretty bright outside, it's also gloomy. It rained all morning.

Caelum sat beside me staring into the somber sky. I wonder what he's thinking. Should I ask?

"Whenever you're ready to talk I'm listening." I state unsteadily.

His eyes meet mine at a rapid pace. They immediately soften and he takes a deep breath in.

"I'm scared." He says.

"Of what?" I question.

"Of how you might feel about me afterwards."

"It can't get any worse than me not talking to you." I reply.

I keep my blue eyes fixed on his green ones gently. He maneuvers so that our chests are facing each other instead of our shoulders. He reaches out his ring covered hand and opens his mouth to speak.

"Can I hold your hand?" He questions.

My heart does a somersault.

Did he just ask me to hold his hand?

Obviously I comply, I can tell whatever he has to say is heavy and he might need me to help bear that weight.

I'm willing to do that, for a friend.

"Of course." I slowly place my hand unto his and he places his other hand on top of them.

Shivers run through my body.

"Do you remember when I came over with that gash in my head?" He questions.

The gash is still there, it's healing pretty nicely so I'm guessing he kept taking care of it with the supplies I had given to him. The black eye on the other hand, it was atrocious.

"Yeah, how could I forget?" I chuckle softly.

He smiles at me,"Well I need to tell you how I received that gash."

I hold my breath.

"My dad and I kinda got into it and he threw a beer bottle at my head." He says expressionless.

"He what?" I ask, thinking out loud.

"And then he punched me for talking back to him. Hence the black eye." He releases his hand from mine and points at his eye before bringing it back down gently.

My jaw drops.

We sit in silence for a few moments before I worked up the courage to reply.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but how often does this happen?" I question.

"It used to happen almost everyday up until 5th grade, when I met you. From then on it's been super random. Depends on how he's feeling." He softly rubs his thumb back and forth against the back of my hand.

I squeeze his hand tightly.

"Do you know why he does it?" I utter.

"My mom died giving birth to me, I think it's just resentment." His eyes pull from mine and land on my hand enveloped in both of his.

I look at our hands as well and move to intertwine our fingers.

"I don't want you to think i'm pitying you. But I do have to say I'm sorry you've had to put up with this for so long." He continues rubbing his thumb now in circles on the back of my hand.

"That's why I was acting like a total douche after you asked me about it. I knew you would just keep questioning me and I wasn't ready to tell you." He keeps his head hung down low.

"I didn't mean to make you cry Astra." He says bringing his eyes back up to meet mine. This time his cheeks are red and stained with tears.

Is he crying in-front of me?

His eyes burn into mine, I reach my hand up to his cheek and wipe the tears away.

"Wanna do something fun?" I ask.

"What?" He replies in confusion.

"Follow me."

I leap out of the car and run through the sand until I reach the tide line. I quickly pull off my work uniform until I stood in my bra and underwear.

Be confident Astra.

I step into the freezing cold water and the temperature of my body immediately falters. My heart rate slows and I begin to run into the water.

The waves rush into my thighs causing me to fall backwards. I catch myself, making sure that I don't embarrass myself in-front of him.

I turn around and my eyes meet with an unbalanced Caelum pulling his pants off to reveal his naked legs and chest.

He stood before me in a pair of black boxers.

Holy shit.

His chest still shines under the gloomiest sky Ive ever seen. His once tear stained cheeks were now pink with color due to the chilly winds that rushed into his body. His perfectly sculpted chest caught my eye, not because of his abs. But because of the tattoo that sat on his lower abdomen.

It was a small moon with stars surrounding it. He approached me quickly wincing at the temperature of the water.

"We're gonna get hypothermia Peach!" He exclaims as loud as he can over the waves crashing around us.

"Maybe, but it's worth it." I reply at the same volume.

I then take a deep breath and exert the loudest scream that I can conjure up.

I look over at Caelum when I finish, "Let it all out, Peach." I say with an enthralling amount of adrenaline rushing through my body.

He does the same. His scream is blood curdling. It was so loud that I think people in Pennsylvania could hear it.

Shortly after the adrenaline died out we returned to his car, shaking from the winds along with our wet bodies.

We sat in the trunk of his car, once again. This time it was different. We were different.

He reached in his backseat and handed me his flannel, I wrapped it around my body quickly as I was freezing.

He jumped into the back next to me and pulled a blanket up and over us. He reaches towards my side to pull it up closer to my body until.

"Peach? What's that on your thigh?"