My Autumn with April

Seven

~Elliott~

I don't have a fucking clue who that guy is but the way his eyes keep dipping to April's chest is pissing me off and we've only been at the fucking reception an hour. The girls had put all of this together for some of April's guests but it meant the island was rammed with more tourists than usual. Great for business and the inside knowledge meant I'd put on longer hours for tonight. Doubling the kids' pay and giving them a later start so they were happy. People could get their drunken fix then before climbing on a 2 hour boat back to the city at 1am. 

But with tourists came assholes that were looking for someone to run off with for a few hours. Someone new they could stick their dick in without any responsibility and now Autumn was off the market, the percentage of available women on the island dropped significantly. I wasn't about to let April sleep with some guy who probably had as much respect for her as he did the sand on his designer shoes. 

I couldn't blame him, mind. She looked beautiful on a day to day basis but today? Today she'd put these soft curls in her hair and pulled it slightly back from her face. She'd tied half of it up with a dark green ribbon that matched her silk dress and the colour looked phenomenal on her. I'd struggled to take my eyes off her all day. She's flawless. 

"You know-" Noah said from beside me at the far end of the space. "You can just admit you have feelings for her. You don't have to pretend you don't." I turned to look at him, scowling before looking back at April. She laughed at something he said, nose crumpling as she leaned forward slightly. Her hand rested on his upper arm and if I grip this bottle any harder I'm going to shatter it. "Don't even try lying about it. You've been in love with April since she was 12 and fell out of the tree when you had to play savior." 

"I'm not in love with April. I'm sure I saw him slip something in her drink though." 

"Mhm. Whatever reason you need to tell yourself tough guy." Noah rolled his eyes as I headed across the beach towards her. The guy looked like a total ass. His hair is dyed blonde and pulled up to obviously try and make him look taller than he is. He's smirking at her and when he nods his head back towards the exit from the beach I up my pace, having to compress my anger before it sprouted and I punched someone who didn't deserve it. 

"Hey, Love." I wrap my arm around April and she chokes on her drink. "Sorry. I got caught up talking to Noah. Ready for that dance now?" April turned her head up to me, eyebrows pulling together. 

"What are you doing?" 

"Asking you to dance." She scowls harder and looks back to the guy quickly. "Please?" She sighed and nodded, letting me grab her hand and pull her out to the packed dance floor. I wrapped an arm around her waist, gently tugging her a little closer. I felt a hell of a lot better now I had her attention on me and I wasn't watching her flirting with some dick head. 

"Why did you do that? I was enjoying talking to him." 

"Please, the guy hardly lifted his eyes from your chest for long enough to tell me what colour your eyes are." April rolled her eyes.

"I don't see you interrupting Maya and Wyatt over there." 

"That's because Wyatt isn't wanting some half assed one night stand where only he gets what he wants and leaves Maya alone." I clenched my jaw at the thought of douche bag running out of April's house without even finding out her name. "Besides. I'm sure I saw him slip something in your drink." 

"You did?" I nodded. "Well-" 

"Noah's keeping an eye on him with the other grooms men. Don't worry about it." She nods quickly. "I like you're hair like this."

"You do?" I nodded at her, tracing my fingers over the soft fabric of her dress. "The curls?" 

"All of it. The curls, the ribbon. I've missed your natural color. It looks good on you. It's definitely my favourite." She smiled, a light blush growing on her cheeks as she avoided my eyes. "Wanna hear a joke?" 

"Absolutely." 

"What's the difference between jelly and jam?" She pondered for a second. 

"I don't know El. What's the difference between jelly and jam?" 

"You can't jelly a clown into a car." She laughed at me. That nose wrinkling as she leaned her head down onto my chest for just a second. 

"That was good." 

"Right" 

"My friend told me one a few years ago that nearly made me wee laughing." 

"Oh well now you need to tell me it." 

"Okay. Ready?" I nodded. "And the Lord said unto John; 'Come forth and you shall receive eternal life'. But John came fifth and won a toaster." I barked out a laugh, loud enough to have a few heads looking our way but I didn't care. I had April in my arms and nothing else really mattered to me right now. "Noah was just talking about the time you fell out of a tree when we were kids and scraped your knee and banged your head." April's smile didn't falter as she peered up into my eyes. 

I could still see that quiet 12 year old girl in there right now. Her eyes aren't tear stained. there isn't a speckling of blood on her forehead but to me, we're still 12 and 14 and I still want to carry her home and kiss every place she's ever been hurt and make sure no one ever has the chance to do it again. 

"I remember that night. My dad was so mad I made you carry me home." 

"You didn't make me carry you home. In fact you bickered with me for the whole walk that you could indeed walk." 

"And you still didn't let me." 

"Well, where else was I going to get my ego boost that day?" She giggled. "I got to carry a pretty girl home and kiss her cuts better, you got to rest your legs. It was a win win." 

"I'm sure there were prettier girls on the island needing help." 

"No, you were the only one." God, I could kiss her right now. I want to know how she tastes. Is her lip gloss flavored and if it is, what flavor? Is it cherry? I feel like she looks like a cherry kind of girl. Or raspberry. But I could have her pegged all wrong. 

"APRIL!" April turned her head quickly towards Autumn calling her name from the edge of the dance floor. Her and Maya held up their champagne glasses and April looked back to me. 

"I- uh-" 

"No, I get it. Go have fun. I'll come find you girls later." I slowly pulled my hands off her and took a step back. April turned, running over to the girls and taking her drink s the all headed down to the sea front. Maybe next time.