The tale of two scales

together

Toni sat, huddled on a rock, the sea made desperate attempts to reach the girl but no wave was high enough. Her eyes were foggy and her face was drying red from the tears. Aspen stood to the side, his bare feet relishing in the comfort of the grass. His body and clothes dripped with sea salt, his face drenched in similar liquid.

"Why are you trying to push me away?" He yelled, the wind taking his words. Aspen didn't understand why she was pushing him away, why after all they've been though would she not want to talk to him. It started the day after they had figured out each others secret. Aspen had woken up, excited to meet Toni. The sun was warm, shining through his curtains as though it was pulling him towards the water. Reflecting off the ocean in a flurry of glitter. Begging him to join it. Unfortunately that day he had to help with Bernice's stall,  he had been hoping to catch a glimpse of wild, unruly brown hair, but no such luck. The next day was the same, and the day after that. By the fourth day, Aspen was beginning to get worried, was she avoiding him on purpose? Had she even been eating? Usually she would steal a daily basket and it would last Toni about two to three days, but she hadn't even been close to the town. On the fourth night Aspen had decided that he had enough. He put on his navy shorts, wrapping his red jacket over his body and climbing out of the window, he decided that he would swim to Toni's island.

The stars were bright and the moon shone proudly with the reflection of the sun to keep it alive.

This is where we left the predicament. Aspen had swum onto the shore, looking around for the wild haired person. He searched around the island, finding her cubby hole in the tree, and the large amount of Bernice's baskets ('so that's where all of them went') and finally, Toni. She was sitting on a rock near the edge of the drop.

"Toni there you are, I've been looking for you-" Aspen was cut off by a mumble, it had caught him off guard, so much so that he had her repeat it.

"Go away" She mumbled, curling in on herself more.

"W-What?" Aspen stuttered, he didn't understand.

The stars darkened as clouds overtook them, the comforting moonlight was blocked, slowly plunging the two into an inky night.

"What's wrong?" Aspen questioned, clearly noting that something was off, this wasn't Toni. This was something else, and aspen would get to the bottom of it.

"Nothings wrong, just go" Toni had gotten up and had started to walk away, when aspen grabbed her arm, hand still dripping from the swim, Toni's arm turned a light shade of purple.

"Tell me what's wrong"
Aspen tried and failed to convince her to open up.

"Nothing wrong okay"
Toni shook off his hand and carried on her journey.

The lapis boy couldn't believe this, had he done something?

"Is it me?"
Toni turned, a look of horror crossed her face before quickly answering to ease aspens worries.

"No goodness no darling, it's not you, you're the most beautiful amazing person I've ever met! It's not you"

"what is it then?"

Toni looked torn, she was stuck between her head and her heart.
Eventually she chose the safest option, her head.

"aspen I don't think that we should talk anymore, I don't think we can be friends"

His heart broke. It shattered into a million pieces and sat there, laying at the bottom of his chest until he felt the pieces, one by one, drop into his stomach and break into tiny shards.

"Why?" His voice broke, he was shaken, trying to keep back the tears that suddenly started spilling uncontrollably.

"because" Toni started "I don't want you to get hurt"