A Drop In The Lake

cutting the thick truth

Cameron

    Since Alessa broke up with me, I've been apprehensive to go home. I've seen her at practices and in passing, between classes, but the thought of my father asking about our relationship cast me into the hollows of schoolwork.

My dad knows about what happened to Rhea, and Alessa's role in it -- at least the version of it that is written on the tabloids, but I've refused to read the article in its entirety. I, more than most, know the dangers of taking a mere story-seller's word as truth.

But. As I sit in the driver's seat of my car, resting my head against the steering wheel, a sense of dread fills me. I miss Alessa, that much is obvious, but more than that I fear the role I will have to assume in order to win her back.

"Fuck." I mutter, pulling my keys out of the ignition.

I take my time, walking around the front of the car to grab my overnight bag out of the passenger seat. Before I head up the steps, to the front door, I lock the car, and with a final huff, erect the walls of melancholy inside me.

For the past two weeks, my father has been begging me to come home so that we can fix the "mess I made." But I've let it ride, building a story into a legacy.

"Cameron, is that you?" My mother's voice comes as I creep open the front door.

"Yeah." I sigh, closing the door behind me.

"We're in the office." Rings my father's voice, beckoning me towards him.

As I trudge past the entryway and down the hall to my father's office, blatant annoyance begins to color in my fear. But, as I round the bend in the hallway, I come face to face with the large, birch doors of my father's office, opened wide as if to shut me in. Inside sits my father, his desk partially covering him, and my mother soundlessly sitting on an armchair in the corner. Front and center stands the most infuriating sight of all, Absinthe, a woman as splintering and potent as the alcoholic beverage she's named after.

"Cameron, it's great to finally meet you," begins Absinthe, shaking my hand. "I would have hoped to meet under better circumstances, but as the world has it, the media never sleeps." She continues, her faint english accent stringing her words into a sneery comment.

My father said that Absinthe was a trainee under his PR agent, and that, at the time, she was a bubbly girl just trying to find her way. It seems as though, after years of following in the footsteps of a deceitful world, she has become rather hardened.

"Same here." I reply, slugging my voice into a tone of utter boredom.

"Cameron." Warns my mother.

Before I have a chance to turn to her, my father speaks up, "Sit. We have a lot to discuss."

I begrudgingly shrug my bag off my shoulder, letting it plop onto the floor, and take my phone from my pocket, checking to see if I have any notifications. When I do, a name that I hadn't expected to see pops up. I have got to stop underestimating this girl.

Alessa: I'll be here if you need me, but I also know you need space from me. Take your time, figure things out, but know when you do I'll be waiting for you. <3

At the sight of her text, my heart softens along with the stone cold walls built up around it. That was it. In a matter of seconds, and without actually being there, Alessa has managed to break down my tough exterior and replenish my childish desire.

"Cameron." Barks my father, cutting into my hurried reply.

When I look up to meet his eyes, I stare back at him with a strong sense of determination. It must have caught him off guard, because I could have sworn a flock of fear flapped around his eyes.

I made quick work of sending off my reply to Alessa's message, and sat in the chair across from my father.

"Yes?" I question, challenging the force that my father is currently attempting to barrade me with.

His eyes skip across my face for a moment and then to my mother and Absinthe's faces. For a moment he looks as scared as I was to leave the car, but the weakness quickly fades when he continues, "Well then. As I'm sure you already know, Alessa has made the headlines. Not in a good way either, and while you've resisted talking to me about it, you can't now, so please, tell us what is going on so that Abby can fix this mess."

His words clip out of his mouth in a calculated manner. Absinthe's sad excuse for reconciliation rings in my ears at the mention of her nickname. But as she walks around the desk to stand next to my father, her eyes focus on mine in utter seriousness. The look she gives me unlocks my welded-shut mouth and demands my understanding to be told. So I tell it. For the next forty minutes I sit in the clamoring heat of my parent's and Absinthe's glare, and tell them everything. Everything starting from the day I met Max to the day I lost Alessa. Each minute  fills my eyes with certainty as unknown details flourish to life in my recounting of them. At points I feel as though what I'm saying has no meaning as I jump between time and perspective, but as I finish off with the text I received from Alessa earlier, understanding dawns on them. Rather than look at me with an unapproving glare, they gaze at me with pity and vengeance, ready to seek out the malicious reasoning for Max targeting me in the first place.

"I see," hushes Absinthe's voice, cutting the thick truth of my words open. "Then if we're going to try and rewrite this story, we're going to have to start at the beginning. We're going to have to talk to Max." 

________

AYOOoo, 

so this weekend was Head of the Charles (HOCR)

probs the biggest regatta in the rowing world, sooooooooooooo. 

Any who, I was able to cheer on Peddie (luv yah) and my brother, and overall they all did really well.

I'd definitely look into going to HOCR next year if you're looking to see what the rowing world is like (it's beautiful).

Today's question is... 

what kinda mood you in today?

I know, I know, nothing original, but I just wanna check in with yah guys and make sure we're all doing good. Today I felt pretty happy, but also a bit frustrated because it took me a while to concentrate on the work I needed to get done, but it's getting done now!

I'll be back on Wednesday, till then, have an awesome week!