The Four Seasons

Nineteen

A

"Is the bonfire ready?" I asked.

Zeke nodded, "yeah."

I nodded before turning towards the sound of the patio door sliding open.

"Hey guys, the safe is here. Chloe just dropped it off" Chase called.

"And we mean literally dropped it off. She threw it out the window onto the front lawn as she drove by yelling something about getting the hell out of this town" Zach explained.

Jack's laugh rang out from beside me.

"Nice" she snorted.

I smiled as I gazed at her. Her eyes found mine and I blushed slightly when I realized that she'd caught me staring.

Honestly, I'd given up on trying to figure out what it was she was doing to me. I just went with the flow and accepted the fact that I just loved the way she made my heart flutter; the fact that I sounded soft.

"Ready?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the key pad in her hands.

She nodded, putting her finger to the pad, "let's burn some secrets. Put the safe beside the bonfire and get ready to toss the files in. Let's get this over with."

J

I watched the fire eat away the files with everyone's secrets in them. They wouldn't be a problem anymore. I reached my hand out and wrapped it around Alex's. He gave me a bit of a shocked look before smiling and wrapping his fingers around mine

"Secrets, secrets, go away. Don't come again another day!" Wes sang dancing around the fire.

"Do you think if we pushed him into the fire-" Chase began.

"-he would just keep smiling like an idiot? Cause we do. He wouldn't even get mad" Zach finished, shaking his head at Wes.

I let out a laugh at the boys. Zeke just grunted before turning his attention back to his arm wrestle with Eli. Cassidy and Darren weren't even paying attention.

"Hey guys" Darren called, "I just got a text from Brock."

"What did it say?" I asked.

"He says he just got discharged from the hospital. He's headed home" he replied.

I smiled, "that's good."

"Is your dad coming for dinner still?" Alex questioned.

I nodded, "yeah, of course. He comes every other day."

Alex chuckled, "right."

As weird as it may seem, I was still living with the Seasons and their cousins. Honestly, there was still a lot that my dad and I needed to work through after so many years of him turning his back on me; even if it was just to protect me.

I rubbed my thumb along the back of Alex's hand, our fingers still clasped. I wasn't exactly sure what Alex and I were, but I was okay with that. For now, I was happy with just being.

I glanced around the backyard at all the boys. They looked so much more free now that the gang was done. They all looked so happy. I reached my fingers up and traced the outline of my tattoo, smiling slightly.

I hope you can see me now, Mom, I thought.

I nodded as my smile grew, the bonfire warming my face.

Everything was alright.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The End!