The Bad Boy From Boston

Skipping Rocks and Stepping Stones

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dean's P.O.V.

Leaves crunched beneath my feet. The only founds I could hear was the sound of birds and the brisk nature under me. The sound of April breathing softly as she walked beside me. This has to be the most peaceful place I'v been in a long time. For as long as I can remember.

"Dean?" I heard April ask me loudly.

"What? Yeah?" I asked while shaking my head, trying to get back to reality.

"Are you deaf or something?" She said giggling.

"Well you know, it does run in my family.." I said with a smile.

She smiled as well, then looked down at her feet and continued walking.

I reached out my hand, intertwined her fingers with mine and squeezed them. I had a habit of doing that.

When she squeezes them back, I feel like someone actually cares. Actually wants me. And that is honestly the greatest feeling in the world to me.

I looked up from our hands, and I see the pond up ahead. There is a little dock at the edge of the water for boats to get in. Off to the side of the shore I see a row boat. Now I've never used a boat before, so I'm not gonna do that cute "go on a boat road and have it conveniently rain" thing like in the Notebook.

Although, that would be cute.

But I'd rather not have us tip and drown.

When we reached the pond, we stood and looked for a minute.

"Have you ever skipped rocks before?" I asked her.

She looked at me with her soft green eyes. I watched as they lit up as the question set in. "No." She replied softly.

"I'm gonna teach you." I said playfully. I pulled her along to the edge of the water and bent down to pick up a flat rock.

"Okay, it's pretty easy. People always make it seem harder than it really is." I said. She looked at me confused and a little scared.

"Alright, first, hold the rock flat." I told her, placing it in her hand and guiding her on how to preform the task. "Have you ever thrown a Frisbee before?"

"Of course! I'm not that deprived!" She said laughing.

"Okay, well it's a little like that. Except you want to try to level it with the water." I said quietly, patiently.

I had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other along side her arm to guide her. As she began to throw the rock, I could feel her body tighten and her hold her breath.

"Breath.." I said softly into her ear. "Relax.." I brushed my fingers along her hand to loosen her body.

She drew her arm back and it almost seemed to perfect.

We both watched her rock skip across the pond almost too fast. It made perfect ripples. I followed one of them all the way to the side of the pond. Once it hit shore, I turned to face April.

She was smiling as big as I had seen her smile in a long time.

"That was amazing.." I said. "Better than I've ever done."

"I wish I could skip that fast." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

She looked back up at the lake. "All my life, nothing has really gone my way. Everything has been at a stop. Stuck doing nothing. No plans. No stepping on the next stone like we should, being together. Without my dad here, everything's so strange. We never really talk about it, but I know why we don't sit together at the table anymore for dinner. We're still waiting for him to get home from work. None of us wants to admit he's not coming home. It's just.. really hard.." I watched as she closed her eyes and tears collecting between we eyelids.