And there it was. Summer. The season where everyone would be loving and hating the outside world. For me, summer was the season of freedom and delight. The sun would shine on the whole world, giving us the feeling of warmth and happiness. At least that's how I feel summer would be.
I had to work and help out Dad and Roger on their shop for a few days. Sometimes, Alvin would help-though the main reason why he's in the shop is because he wanted to get away from his mom's chores. Sometimes, Tobias would visit and help too.
His visits made my days better. Most of the times he would be such a flirt and who would whisper things on my ear. "You look really good in that tank top," he'd say and I'd grin like an idiot.
Roger was, I'd say, stunned when I introduced Tobias to him. "He looks like he's straight out of a greek god painting," he'd say. And I'd smile. All of us would.
Those days made my summer warmer.
***
The trip to France was an ultimate go-go. We're leaving on Thursday afternoon. Alvin was too excited, he spent the rest of the days sleeping at our house and not on his own.
Then the day came and all of us were packed in the airport. Nico, Benedict, River, Briar, Tayla, Manta, Alvin, Tobias, and me. The whole group wouldn't shut up for the whole afternoon. But I didn't mind.
When we were at the boarding gate, all of them were still talking. Except for me and Tobias.
I kept staring at the large window in front of us. The golden light once shone on us again. I liked being under the warm sunlight. It made me feel alive.
Tobias nudged my shoulder. "You good?"
"Yeah." I kept staring outside. It's irresistible to watch the world. It's beautiful. Just incredibly fucking beautiful.
"You're quiet."
"I am." Tobias didn't answer. That's when I looked at him. "No. I mean... fuck. Sorry, yes, I'm good-completely fine-I'm just watching the outside world."
He looked outside. And then he smiled. He must've seen how beautiful the world is. I remembered the thing that I said to him months ago. To you, the world is like photography, a form of art, as I know it, that you can easily take and appreciate. For me, the world is a weird place. I'll never know what secrets this world hides and what treasures it contains or what undiscovered things are simply uncharted.
The world was still, indeed, a weird place. I've said it once, but I'm gonna say it again, it was also just as beautiful as the universe. It was, no doubt, true that I'll never know all of the secrets that this world hides. Or whatever treasures it contains. But that doesn't matter at all.
The thing is, you don't need to always look for something big just to make your life interesting. You don't need to discover every other secrets of the world just to determine whether the world is beautiful or not. Sometimes, all you need to do is just look around somewhere near you. You'll never know how beautiful the world is if you're not gonna start looking at somewhere small.
"You love the sunlight so much, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do." I said. "It's like the most beautiful thing in the whole universe."
"I thought I was the most beautiful thing?"
"In the world, it's you. In the universe, it's the sunlight."
"How do they connect?"
I rolled my eyes. "I don't know, Tobias, it's just plainly so beautiful."
"Well, I'm glad I don't have competition." He laughed. A few minutes later, we were on the plane. And we flew outside the borders of New Jersey-travelling all the way to a whole new place.
YOU ARE READING
Elliot
Teen Fiction[Unedited] College freshman Elliot doesn't care much about the world. School, video games, smoking, skateboarding: his life revolves on those things only. He is put into a miserable episode when he had his break up with his girlfriend. But then he m...
