Be My Eyes

11: Sweep You Off Your Feet

Tatty left an hour later and Iona's dad was out for work so she found herself home alone.

She looked at her phone to see she had several messages from Mike asking her if she was okay but there were none from anyone else.. she replied plainly saying she was fine, dissapointment eating away at her heart.

Iona decided to pick up an old hobby again and she lay down on the floor, reached under her bed and pulled out her old sketch books.

Flicking threw them she found mostly pencil sketches, the one lying on top was of a skull, the next was of a girl screaming and Iona didnt think it was very good. She quickly skimmed through each page and stopped on one. A door. She had sketched a door. She instantly threw the pile of papers away and got out a fresh sketch book, opening it to a clean page.

Her pencil hovered over the page for a moment, she usually just drew what she was thinking about, but at that moment in time she was thinking about Parker and didn't particularly feel like drawing him. The last image of him in her mind being his harsh eyes as he stared down at her.

Then she got an idea and began sketching away on her bed with her legs crossed as rain smashed against her window from outside the entire time.

She didn't stop drawing, until she heard her doorbell ring. She chucked the half finished drawing to the side and slid downstairs in just her pyjama shorts and a baggy jumper.

When she opened the door, the sound of the rain increased by 10 times and stood in her doorway was a soaking wet Parker.

"Iona! Before you slam the door in my face i came to apologise!" Parker spluttered, looking at Iona's hand which was still holding the door. She wasnt sure what to do or say so she just waited. "I'm sorry i snapped at you at Prom. It's only because i was angry at myself-"

"Parker come in! You will freeze!" Iona cried, unable to watch him shiver as rain poured on him any longer.

"No! I need to finish, i wanted to ask you to prom okay! I wanted to go with you...i know these are probably hollow words now you and Mike-"

"Mike and I what?" Iona asked, shivering from the cold air.

"Arent you? I saw you?"

"No." Iona answered, realising he thought that Iona had kissed Mike "i didnt kiss him Parker, i dont like him that way" as soon as Iona said that, Parker's eyes glinted with delight and he smiled, shuffling his feet slightly.

"So you would have said yes, if...if i had asked you?" He asked and Iona felt so relieved that he was here she just nodded. Parker grinned and grabbed her arms, pulling her out into the rain.

She stumbled foward as he brought her right to his chest and rain poured down on her, soaking her instantly from head to toe.

"You idiot!" Iona looked down at her bare legs, now dotted with raindrops and she glared at Parker as he started laughing. His hair had flattened on top of his head and was dripping down his face, raindrops settling on his lips...his lips.

Iona felt her heart beat faster as she stood in Parker's arms, breathing deeply. She heard thunder rumble in the distance but ignored it.

"so much for Prom then huh" Iona breathed heavily and Parker smiled.

"Iona Grey may i have this dance?" Parker said, turning on a slow song on his phone and putting it in the doorway. Iona was smiling too much to say yes so she nodded, and let Parker position his and her arms because she felt numb from the cold.

Iona leaned her head against his chest as they danced in the rain, her bare feet cold against the concrete.

Parker swung Iona out at the length of his arm and spun her back in to his chest so she was looking right up at him, her back pressed against his chest intimatly. It seemed like time was passing in slow motion and they leaned closer, their lips so close and almost touching when they both pulled away as car lights came flooding through the rain, along with the sound of a car horn.

Parker quickly grabbed his phone as Tom, his stepdad, got out the car, slamming the door shut behind him. He looked furious and as Iona saw his motorbike outside her house she knew why he was so angry. Parker had taken it to get here...Iona felt a stab of guilt as Parker spoke.

"Hey Tom, what brings you here?" Parker asked innocently but Tom wasnt having it and he grabbed Parker, gragging him to and shoving him into the car where his mum was sat in the drivers seat looking exasperated.

Tom waved awkwardly at Iona as he got on his motorbike that Parker had clearly taken without permission. Parker was in for it now, Iona knew Tom never let Parker ride it.

She stepped back under the shelter of her house and watched from the doorway as Parker's parents drove away again.

She shut the door, feeling suddenly exhilarated as she stood, making puddles on the floor. She threw all her clothes in the wash and showered, before getting into comfy leggings and another woolly jumper.

She went back to her bed and found the half finished drawing so she got to finishing it, working faster than before so she was done within an hour and she heald it up. A Phoenix.
.......

"Come on!" Parker cried impatiently, bouncing into the woods in a hyperactive nature. Iona followed as quickly as she could, with Tatty and Razor right behind her. They had made it a week into the summer break already and Parker was now dragging them back into the woods, for no apparent reason this time.

"You know Tatty, a bear was actually sighted in these woods the other day!" Razor exclaimed casually and Tatty flashed Iona an exasperated look.

"I know you are joking!" Tatty sighed, walking past him.

"Well dont expect me to come running then if you walk right into one!" Razor said with a shrug of his shoulders, picking up his pace slightly.

Tatty turned around, walking backwards, her face twisted in a look of utter arrogance "oh, you'll come!" She grinned, before spinning back around.

Razor said no more after that as they bounded through the trees. "Give it a rest would you?" Parker sighed from the front but Iona knew he was smiling. She half jogged to his side and bent round to look at him curiously.

Parker made almost no movement, except the extremely slow rotation of his head to face her, his face showing an ammused, questioning expression.

"Yes?" He said quietly and Iona quickly stopped looking at him.

"Nothing..." she hummed, placing her hands behind her back innocently. She was smiling inside but she didnt know why, she also had the immense urge to swing her arms around him. Little did she know, Parker was having a similar thought.

As the sound of the river met Iona's ears, Tatty cried "last one there is a rotten egg" and bounded off. Just as she did, Parker jumped up to Iona with a smug grin on his face, grabbed her hand and started running.

When they reached the river he said "so who's going in first?"

Iona, who still had her hand in Parker's, had a sudden moment of realisation! "That's why you told us to wear shorts!" She cried.

"Do i have to push you in?" Parker asked, turning to just Iona this time and when she said nothing he scooped her completely off the floor so quickly she couldnt stop him. "Right then! In you go!"

Despite Iona's cries of protest, Parker flicked his shoes off, lowered himself down the bank before half jumping half sliding into the water, Iona in his arms.

Coldness spread through her body as they became fully submerged and Parker let her go so she could rise up to the surface again. The water wasnt exactly deep so it was an easy job.

"You idiot! It's freezing!" Iona cried, instantly but Parker still hadn't come up and Iona tried to see him through the water but couldnt. After a few moments, he still hadn't come up and Iona instantly started panicking, Tatty and Razor were just getting in a little way down the river and hadnt noticed. Iona thrashed in the water but there was no sign of Parker anywhere.