The Truth Of You & Me

Lore

Three days have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Officially, I am an adult today.

I stare at my reflection in the mirror and notice no physical changes. I give a sigh while I slip into my new red heels to go along with my pencil black dress. We were having our birthday dinner tradition and my grand parents flew in yesterday to be here. I adored them both, but there was something that attached me more to my grandmother. We had an unspeakable language. We always seemed to know what the other was thinking and finishing each other sentences.

As usual I was running a little behind and then immediately quickened the pace to get going. Arriving at the restaurant, it was packed usual. Not sure if it was saying a lot for the only real nice restaurant in town and nice it is. The scenery was romantic and the sunsets here are amazing. Walking up to the doors I could hear the sound of soft music coming from the balcony. Someone must be having some kind of get together tonight.

Making my move through the thick crowd I found my family already eating their appetizers.

"Sorry I'm late. Maggie called and was having a crisis." I said while sitting down at the table. My mother giving me a knowing glare. She was one to always be on time and I never have been. I guess another trait I took after my father. Grams grins at me over the rim of her glass. The dinner proceeded as such.

"Lore got accepted to Yale and Dartmouth. I think she is leaning toward Yale." My mother said smiling brightly at my Dad.

I let out a puff of air, "I'm right here. And no I haven't decided and nor am I leaning to one more so than the other."

My mom rolls her eyes as she does every time we talk about this.

"Anne, stop rushing her. She still has some time to figure things out. Plus, I have a thing or two show her before then. Like to actually cook something decent." Grams was always the spit fire. My grandfather on the other hand, wasn't really much of a talker, but when he did everyone listened.

Grams went on, "Now enough of this talk about school. Don't worry she will make the right decision."

Gram certainly knew to nip it in the butt, that's for sure. They continued anyways as if I wasn't sitting there. No time like now for some fresh air. Rising from my chair, my Dad gave me a knowing looking. I'm sure he was wishing he could step away also.

I made a quick stop to the ladies room to do a little touch up. My long blonde hair was still in its soft curl and thankfully hasn't fallen. The bright red lipstick brought out my smooth porcelain skin and the eyeliner sets it off. One last check in the mirror and I make my way out to the balcony. The sun is starting to set and I could definitely use the recharge.

Slowly, letting out a deep break I close my eyes and feel the last of the warmth from the sun.

"Wen, stay." Opening my eyes to glimpse the last ray of light and the lights outside flutter on. His voice continues to haunt me even in my waking hours. This exactly isn't normal. Right? I have undergone many of late night researching for answers to my repeating nightmare. The sorrow and despair I fell always seems to consume me. Most nights I wake up sweating and gasping for air. Then, others leave my throat raw and tears stained.

The voices at least have stopped, but every now and then a small whisper will break through. When I was younger my parents took me to see a psychiatrist. He putting me on medication and diagnosed with schizophrenia. Needless to say the meds never worked and I was a zombie all the time. I just learned how to hide it well after that.

Loud laughter coming up behind me has me breaking out my thoughts. Glancing over at the couple, I watched as they joked and laughed with one another. I was kind of envious of that.

How pathetic is that? Only being on two dates ever and both of them becoming a disaster. Which pretty much made me uninterested to get into any relationship.

I figure I have lingered out here enough and should join the family again. Squaring my should and raising my chin, I turned to head back. Bouncing off of a solid chest, strong hands steadied me up right again.

"My apologies." I felt the vibration of his speech from where my hands laid against his chest.

Raising my eyes, I'm immediately frozen in place. A slight shock zips through my veins from where his hands have a hold on me. I tack it up to thinking like a wanton women.

An image flutters just on the outside skirts of my mind and try to grasp at it. Two people in a loving embrace. The faces blur and finally fades away.

I blink rapidly clearing my vision. Finding my voice, "No worries." I unwrapped myself from his embrace and took at step back. I let my eyes roam his body in careless ease. The suit he wore was flawless on his body. It hung and hugged all the right places. His short dirty blonde hair was messed up in the usual perfect "I just got out of bed" look. The thought makes me smirk slightly. His eyes? Oh you know, the usual lady killers. His grin says I'm Mr. Confident and I know it. I can't help the rolling of my eyes at the thought of this guy. I've seen several like him and I can't say that I'm impressed.

Not bothering with the introductions I side step him and make my way inside. I give myself the victory dance on the inside as I made it to the doors without looking back.  Immediately, I'm cussing myself and give myself at one last glance. I mean guy wasn't bad looking.

His eyebrows are bunched together in a pensive state. The once sparkling eyes now looked dull and a sadness was in its place. He caught my stare and quickly pulled the mask back over his face. He once again smiled. Narrowing my gaze I whipped around and tried to back that image from my mind.

Why would he look so sad?