among the fallen leaves

Chapter Eight

"Aurelia, honey, don't go too far onto the pier!" Ines shouted from the grass. They had taken a picnic to a historic landmark of the town for the day—an old lighthouse that stood out from the rocks of the coastline. It was red, blue, and white, and had gone unused for years. Aurelia and Hunter, the two partners in crime, stood in the middle of a pier, looking upwards at this giant pillar as their mothers sat in the grass, eyes wide open and scared as the waves crashed around them. The two just laughed as the pier shook under their feet, holding onto each other tightly as if the wood was going to give way at any moment and they would be separated from land.

It had taken some convincing, but Aurelia had calmed Hunters' mind the night before. After having finished their dinner, she took him for a stroll on the beach, explaining that it really was just her cramps and that nothing was wrong with her. Hunter wasn't easily convinced but realizing that there would be no real reason for her to lie to him, he eventually bought the cover-up she created.

"Maybe we should get off the pier," Aurelia laughed, her feet slipping a bit on the wet dock, "it's not very safe." Hunter nodded his head in agreement, holding onto her as they both made their way off the pier, Grace anxiously awaiting them at the top of the hill.

"I wish I could've gone on there with you, it looked fun!" The child pouted, eyes watering a bit at being left out of the 'fun'.

"Gracie, it was really scary. The wood was moving so much, if it wasn't for Hunter, I would have fallen off. You wouldn't have liked it." Aurelia comforted the girl, holding her hand and walking back to the blanket. Hunter sat down next to his sister and his friend, the sky slowly beginning to turn a golden shade as the sun made its way around.

"We should head back soon," said Holly, looking at her watch. "I'm sure your father wants to check in and see how we're all doing here." Ines agreed, the two packing up the basket and rolling the blanket. Aurelia, still sat in the grass—her head on Hunter's shoulder—looked up.

"Can we come back here tomorrow? I want to pick some flowers for the house and the ones on the hill looked nice."

"Of course we can, 'Re. We can even pack some food to bring with and make an afternoon out of it." Hunter smiled, his hand lightly touching her small one placed on the grass. She pulled it away quickly before catching herself and making it look as if she was swatting away a bumblebee.

"That sounds lovely, Hunter. Let's start walking before it gets too dark, yeah?" The girl ignored the confused look he gave her as she stood up, brushing off her long skirt.

There was a knock at Aurelia's bedroom door later that evening to which she opened, only to find Hunter with a plate of cookies and two bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream on the other side.

"Can we talk?" He asked as she took one of the bowls from his hands and immediately began eating the minty cold treat.

"What about?" She moved so he could walk through the door, placing the plate of cookies down and grabbing his own bowl before sitting across from her on her bed. Noticing the book face down on the pillow, he felt bad for a moment, realizing that she must have been taking time to herself for the night.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding—if you wanted time alone, I could leave the cookies and go," he motioned to the book, Aurelia almost immediately shaking her head no.

"Absolutely not, I wasn't even paying attention to what I was reading I was so bored tonight. I was about to go downstairs and make some hot chocolate, but this is way better." She smiled, placing the bowl down carefully on her quilt. "What's going on? You seemed serious when you walked in." Aurelia knew she was on thin ice with Hunters' questions and suspicions over their past 24 hours, so she knew to tread carefully around him until she could figure out what exactly he wanted to talk about.