Messiah GXG : BOOK ONE (Completed) The Other Side Of The Game Series

NINETEEN

G R A C E

The sweet sound of the flowing water, and small waves created by the slow and mirrored paddles of both our feet greeted my ears. Along with the music of the birds hidden in the trees, and the cool but gentle wind passing by.

The cover above our heads served as a barrier between our vessels and the beautiful sun above, as I continued to lay against the comfortable cushion seats of the paddle boat that was obviously custom-made because I had been paddle boating before, but it wasn't like this.

If the comfort wasn't any indication, the black paddle boat with a gold outline and a gold M on each headrest said it all, along with an armrest between us.

Everything listed combined to create the most peaceful space for me to rest in, and even though I was surrounded by all this, something felt off, and that something was her.

She was as quiet as usual but it was different this time, it wasn't the same and I wasn't sure what—

"You okay?" I questioned with a frown after cutting off my own thoughts, but I made no move to look in her direction as my gaze remained on the body of water ahead.

"Uhm, yeah," She replied, and the answer had me gazing down at my feet as I continued to paddle. "Why?"

"You're just quiet,"

"Am I not usually quiet?" She asked with a small laugh, which had my gaze lifting to align with hers.

"Yeah, but it's different somehow," I expressed, honestly, hoping that she would return with the truth, and I watched as her gleeful expression diluted into a frown at my words. "A different quiet than what I was getting used to...with you,"

"I'm sorry,"

"No, don't apologize," I told her, almost immediately after the apology left her lips. "I just want to know if you're okay,"

"Okay?"

"You just don't seem like yourself today," I added, looking at her, and after a few seconds of silence I accepted the fact that she wasn't going to talk and simply shifted my gaze back to the water.

"You remember those two kids you were telling me about?" She asked, and the sudden sound of her voicing had me turning my head towards her once again with a frown. "The boy and the girl who can't get along to be specific,"

"Yeah," I agreed and she nodded, before turning her head to look down at her paddling feet but I didn't remove my own eyes from her.

I just watched.

"You know I had sumn like that growing up,"

"Really?" I asked, not hiding my interest in her words.

"Yeah," She confirmed. "We would disagree a lot, I didn'r like him because he had too much of an ego and he didn't think before he did shit, and he ain't like me because I think too much. We were just opposites clashing at every point that we would meet,"

I began to soak up her words while releasing a hum instead of words. Just in case she wanted to continue I wasn't looking to interrupt by unknowingly taking the mic, when I knew her act of talking was rare.

After I realized that those were her final words, I then began to create my own to keep her talking.

"Did you guys ever resolve it?"

"We did, at least we learned to live together," She replied. "But now I wish we never did and would have remained separated, at least sometimes,"

A sigh escaped her at the ending of her words, and I picked them up to soon realize that the short reveal was her answer for my question.