Be My Eyes

12. Any Less Than Stunning

Iona sank under the water, fighting to keep her eyes open but the water was so murky she could hardly see a thing. She heald her breath and began to swim, looking for Parker anywhere but she couldnt see him. Despite swinging her arms through the water in the hope of being able to grab him she came back to the surface alone.

She felt colder now, looking left and right "Parker?" She called his name in case he had surfaced else where. She began to half run, half swim down the river calling his name.

"Hey Guys come here!"

Iona's heart nearly leaped right out of her chest as she heard Parker's voice call from ahead. She started swimming urgently down the river until she saw him, leaning against the bank, chest deep in the water.

Iona launched herself at him, pulling him tightly to her chest, gripping his back so hard she wouldnt have been surprised if she left nail marks in his back. This startled Parker slightly and he didnt have time to return the hug as Iona had already pulled away, examining him as he watched in utter bemusement. He was bleeding! His head had a nasty gash on the top left corner but he didnt seem bothered by it.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Iona gasped, sputtering water everywhere as she spoke.

"Hit my head, floated off abit, but look-" Iona had hit him accross the head on his non injured side, cutting off his speech, the casual way in which he spoke infuriating her. "What was that for?" He stammered.

"You idiot! You could have drowned! You scared the living daylights out of me!" Iona cried, trying to calm down her heart down.

"Sorry, sorry!" He exclaimed as Iona hit him again on his shoulder. "Okay i'm sorry i wont do it again!" He laughed, almost keeling over into the water.

Iona gave up being angry and let her head fall against his chest, she could feel his hard sternum through his soaking top and could hear the rising of his heart beat. "Dont worry about me" he said softly, putting his hand on the back of her neck, using his thumb to stroke her wet hair.

"I can't help it" she replied quietly, looking up so their faces were only inches away from one another and Iona's gaze drifted to Parker's lips like it had done that night in the rain. Parker still had his hand on her neck and she almost pulled up towards him when a voice broke the connection between them.

"What is it Parker?" Tatty asked, wading through the water as if it were a thick sludge, Razor was right behind her.

Parker straightened up and Iona floated backwards so she wasnt so close to him, her cheeks hot unlike her freezing body.

"I found this!" Parker announced with a throaty cough as if to re-compose himself (this made Iona smile) as he held up a soggy object, and the reaction from his friends was quite minimul.

"Urr Phoenix, buddy that's uhh... what is it?" Razor asked, sinking into the water and lying backwards as if in a swimming pool. Tatty swam over to get a closer look.

"It's a book!" Parker cried and Tatty scrunched up her nose at it.

"You can't read it!" She said as if Parker had gone mad! "And i can't feel my toes, so i'm getting out!" Tatty stated bluntly before wading to the bank and pulling herself free of the water.

Razor stayed floating on his back while Iona went to look at the book. "What do you think? Is it readable?" She asked and Parker turned it over to examine the front cover which read 'In The Autumn' but the colours on the front had run, making the images blurred.

"Sounds boring!" Parker groaned before throwing it at Iona's chest. She caught it with her hands and looked at it again, she thought there was something quite beautiful about it, and with that they all got out of the river.

Iona walked the short distance home in her soaking clothes, later that day and to her dismay her Dad's car was in the drive. She stepped inside and her dad peered around the corner with a big grin on his face, it only faltered slightly when he saw the state of her.

"I got let off work early! So i could spend some time with you, i havent been here much and i thought we could go out for a meal" he said slightly sheepishly and Iona felt guilty for not having been here. It was enough that he was here, let alone that he wanted to eat out!

"Dad that sounds amazing! I'm uhh going to change and...shower and stuff!" She mumbled, rushing past him, ready to wash the murky river water from her hair.

"Yeah okay!" He answered awkwardly, going to sit on the sofa.

.....

Iona had just come back from their meal and she had never felt so full and fat in her entire life, she felt extremely self conscious of her body and hurried off to bed as quick as possible.

The book 'In The Autumn' was sat on her radiator and she took it off to find it still slightly damp, despite that, she sat in bed and began to read it, the writing mostly pretty clear, the occasional line, word or paragraph being illegible.

About two chapters in she got a text from Parker. She placed the book down and picked up her phone to read "I'm bored". Iona sighed to herself, rubbing her tired eyes but without noticing, she was also smiling.

"How lovely" Iona responded and within a few seconds he replied.

"What ya doin?"

"Reading the book you found"

"Really?! Can we not face time?" Was what his next text said, accompanied by a sad face.

"No! Just had a meal out and look hideous!" Iona typed back quickly, looking down at her belly and then daring to imagine what her face looked like!

"I doubt you look any less than stunning but fine. I will see you tomorrow." Iona felt butterflies in her stomach as she read the text, but she was confused.

"Tomorrow?" She asked, now panicking that she had forgotten something important.

"Meet me in the woods by the old oak tree? Midday ;)"

After that Parker stopped responding to her messages and she eventually gave up, put her book away and fell asleep.