The Summer at Lake Minnetonka (Completed)

XVI

(Kind of short, my apologies on this one.) 

July 6th, 1983.

Wednesday

It had been three days since my confession to Prince, and we still hadn't spoken since then. I decided to give him his space since I could risk bothering him too much about this. Even with this, I still wanted to give him the guitar as a gift but I wanted to modify it for him with something that suits his style. So, I sent the guitar off to the shop this morning with specific orders that would remain a surprise.

Today was also the day Khalia and I had planned to take a look at some colleges and drop her off to a summer ending camp as a counselor. It was best to start her off early for her junior year coming up next month. I sauntered down to the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee, I could just smell the fresh grounds of coffee beans in my nostrils.

Just as I'm finishing my cup off, does Khalia drag herself into the kitchen. She moves toward the window above the sink, opening it to let in fresh air. I immediately shrank back from near it once a strong gust of wind blows into my face. I let Khalia eat her cereal in peace for the time being, heading upstairs to change into a plain striped button up and jeans.

"What's with the white boots, sis?"

"What's with the bed head, sis? Come on and hurry up, I don't have all day." I ruffle up her hair a bit before pushing her to get up from the chair. It takes her ten minutes to get ready, not even bothering to put on much makeup. She barely needed it anyways.

An hour into looking around the University of Minnesota, Khalia knew it was the one for her. We had barely gotten to look any others so I told her to keep an open mind. By lunchtime, she had begun her interrogation about Prince and I.

"What happened? You seem a bit down."

"Nothing really," I really didn't know how I felt about all of this. It just didn't seem right, I mean, all the things we were doing together and he didn't feel the things I felt too? There had to be a reason behind this.

"Obviously it's a little more than nothing, don't bottle this up inside. It's not good to do that."

"I told Prince I loved him."

"WAIT WHAT?!" Khalia screams at the top of her lungs, disturbing everyone in the surrounding area.

"Would you keep it down?"

"What did he say? Did he feel the same?"

"That's the thing, he walked off without saying anything to me," Reliving the memory didn't help my running thoughts. Khalia's expression shifts to one of anger and annoyance.

"So you mean to tell me that this dude has the balls to take your virginity and all this mess but can't say that he loves you? Let me get my hands on him."

"Don't bother, I'm going to talk to him later once I drop you off at the camp."

I do just as I intended, dropping Khalia off and getting her out of my hair for a short bit. I head straight to Prince's place, after making a quick stop to pick up the guitar for him. This setback is not going to stop me from giving this gift to him. The streets are empty, as per usual, so I know I can slide inside to the Prince's room with no trouble.

I tap lightly on the window, finding Prince listening to some tapes in his radio. Once he notices me outside, he cuts off the music and lets me inside. He looks fairly surprised to see me here, almost like he didn't expect to ever see me again.

I still manage to greet him warmly with a peck on his lips as he moves back over to his bed.

"I thought you were mad at me," he quietly states.

"I never claimed to be," I thought this might be the best time to give him the guitar so I gesture to him to wait a minute before hopping back up to grab the huge box I brought with me.

"What's this?"

"Open it, dummy," A smile breaks out onto his face as he pulls apart the paper and throws the lid off the box, his eyes fill with a light that I hadn't ever seen before till now.

"No way, no," He holds up the familiar guitar to look at it in the light, running his hands over the sleek and intricate surface of it. I take hold of it, placing the strap on my shoulder as I get ready to play it (well, not really.)

"I got it modified with something just for you," I said, grinning, "Watch this."

I aim the headstock directly at him and I lightly spray him down with some water, earning a laugh from him as I stop. "You seriously put that in a guitar?"

"Sure did, you love it, I can tell."

"Thank you for this, I really appreciate it. You really didn't have to give me this guitar, since it belonged to your f-"

"Look, I wanted to, besides that guitar was never really my style anyways. I know you'll take good care of it."

A silence falls between us for a few moments, and I'm about to bring the incident that happened at the lake but Prince beats me to it.

"About that night.... I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"You know, for walking off like that. What you said really took me by surprise. No girl, or anyone else really, had ever really told me that they loved me. I guess I just kind of didn't know how to respond is all."

It must've taken a lot for him to apologize like this, usually he didn't really care for whether or not he hurt someone's feelings in any situation. But, he still didn't respond back yet to my confession, I guess that's fine for now since he's still processing everything. There was no point in rushing him to say it back.

"I accept your apology, but don't you ever walk off on me like that again. You can talk to me about anything. I won't judge."

July 8th. 1983.

Friday

I don't know what compelled me to invite Prince with me to my parents' graves, but here he was following behind me every step of the way to them. It was quiet between us as I lay down flowers on the grass in front of their headstones. Just as I back away from them, Prince speaks up.

"I love my parents, I really do. Things are just hard but to lose them like you lost yours, I don't think I'd ever be okay. They always used to be that couple everyone would look at in envy but now I don't know anymore. I see a lot of myself in my father, but I don't want to become him or have a relationship like my parents, not ever."

"Good, you shouldn't want to be like... that. You're a good person and everyone, well mostly, knows you are deep down. Only you have the power to stop yourself from becoming like your father, whether you like it or not," Feeling as though we've overstayed our welcome, we head back in the direction of the exit.

Slowly but surely, Prince was getting somewhere within himself.