Summer Rain

XVI ~ Secrets

{Colors - Halsey}

...You're ripped at every edge, but you're a masterpiece, and now you're tearing through the pages and the ink...

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June 21st

        My heart raced as I reached the sight of the boys arguing. Their voices were loud and filled with a venom that had clearly been brewing with the growing resentment between them, left unspoken until that moment. I had no idea what was going on, but my hand latched on to Elliot, who was in the middle of spitting his words at Benjamin like they were bullets and he was the target. The feeling of my icy cold fingertips touching the burning hot skin made him jump, frozen as he turned to look at the face which seemed to comfort him, soothing the anger that was overtaking him.

        Poppy's cries as she defended Benjamin from her brother's onslaught of vicious comments continued as I held tightly to Elliot's arm, a tableau moment passing while Elliot appeared to calm before me, his eye glossed over with emotion which he tried to blink away.

    "Elliot..." Poppy began, her voice shaking. "We aren't doing anything wrong. No one needs to know about Ben and me!"

      At least I didn't have to break the news to him, I thought to myself.

    "Poppy, you don't get it! He's scum, and he'll use you and leave you like he does with everyone else!" Benjamin's brows furrowed at his disdain for the indirect comments made about him.

    "You don't know him as I know him! He's changed!" Poppy pressed a gentle hand to Benjamin's chest, while he remained silent in the entire encounter, clearly not handling the confrontation.

     Her eyes stared up at him with a look of complete infatuation. Her assured faith in Ben gave Elliot no comfort or satisfaction, and before Elliot could say any more, I spoke to him, my voice low and calm.

    "Elliot, let them go. You're angry, and you will say things I know you don't mean. That's enough." I regarded him as he breathed deeply as though latching on to every word I said, trying to regain some mental clarity. I knew that I was needed.

    "Poppy, let's go, babe." Benjamin finally spoke, ushering Poppy away to calm down, his arm holding her against him tightly, but the cautious glance over his shoulder to me signalled he wasn't done talking.

      I urged Elliot to do the same and head back to the solidarity of his cabin.

    "I'll be there in a minute," I promised him as he began making his way there, his body tense and his face lost as he turned away from me, walking down the path.

     'What happened here?' I asked myself. Question after question continued to surface as I replayed the scene I encountered before me. I wasn't surprised my Dad hadn't noticed I'd left the poker table since both he and Tim were extremely drunk and were likely to have fallen asleep on the card table. Why was there so much tension between Benjamin and Elliot? What was the history between them that made them so bitter towards each other?

     I stood stagnant in the cold night air, confused and deep in thought while I calmed myself down. Benjamin's frame appeared from the trees as he made his way back up the lawn to where I was glued. His face was shadowed, and his emotions guarded as he stood before me. Before he even had a chance to speak, I interjected.

    "Whatever you do, please don't get him fired." Before I could take it back, I bit my lip and stared down at my shoes that were being swallowed by the damp grass. He eyed me slowly before nodding defeatedly.