Edge of the Ravine

41

Chapter Forty-One

      Somehow, Layla and Rebecca each contrived for us all to spend a week in Italy. She scheduled herself for a number of odd jobs while leaving me and my dearest friend free to do as we pleased. And we did a lot.

      Never in my life have I talked as much as I did during the week with Rebecca. Nor did I have so much to listen to.

      As it turned out, the day she left me in London, they had traveled to Germany. While promoting their new CD with a couple of shows, they were approached by a video director who insisted on shooting their first video within the next two months. After finishing their PR tour, they returned to Germany to shoot the video of their first single, 'Beaten Down'. Listening to her explain the shooting process it gave me a much better insight to the video I had been obsessed with for a month.

      From there, her band short three more music videos for that alums before they headed back to the states. Back in a recording studio, it took them nine more months before putting the finishing touches on 'Edge of Everything'. It was then that Rebecca admitted that the song was inspired by my story.

     "You may not realize this now, Oliver, but your story is truly a triumph."

      Laughingly, I inquired, "how so?"

      Rebecca wasn't laughing. Instead, she looked at me with her eyes wide and imploring and said in a low tone, "because it's so tragic. I mean, look at how your childhood turned out. In one fell swoop, you were deprived of your entire family. And the only one to take you in was an irascible old woman who neither liked nor wanted you. It's depressing."

      My smile faded as the memories I'd tried so hard to push back started to come to the surface. "Amelia wasn't all bad, you know. She could have let me bounce around from home to home for years. Right up until I was thrown out of the system with nothing but the clothes on my back. Truly, I owe her a lot."

      At that moment is when Rebecca smiled. "That doesn't make it right how she treated you, Oliver. But that's where you become one of the most inspiring men I've ever met: because you can defend someone you've every right to hate. Most kids hate their own parents on less cause."

      I looked away, unable to meet her gaze. Not that she needed my encouragement to continue.

     "But even after such a childhood as that, and despite the hag, you had one of the most beautiful love stories I've ever heard. Out of all the desolation, you found love on the very edge of the world."

      I rolled my eyes as verses from the song slipped into her speech. Truthfully, however, there was a part of me that wished she could stop. Yet, for once, the ache that accompanied that wish wasn't unbearable. Instead of a stabbing, it was now a dull throb. And I could almost look back on that time of my life with a sense of calm observance.

      Smiling slightly to myself, I was just then beginning to understand how time had actually affected my emotions. The most drastic changes in my life had already occurred. And, though certainly the most painful, I was beginning to realize that those days were finally not the most important. Such a realization stunned me.

      Rebecca never even noticed as she continued speaking. "I'm sure you understand, now, how incredibly lucky it was for no one to realize what you and Alec were to one another. I mean, yes best friends are close, but not to see the love you had for one another every single day for years... I almost can't believe it." Rebecca paused there, staring up at the ceiling of our hotel room, her eyes distant as she thought of my 'triumphant' history.