Illusive

Chapter Nine

"Are you sure you'll be alright? You don't have to go to the party," I assure Gigi as we sit in my truck parked at the end of the driveway of the booming house.

"Yes, Atty. I'll call you if there's any major problems. It's just a girls get together at Mya's," She says and puts her hands on my knee to reassure me. I cock an eyebrow.

"I promise," she says and holds up a pinky and interconnects it with mine. I nod my head and smile as she closes the door behind her. I drive away after watching her walk through the front door of the house. As if the things going on in that house could be any better than the things going on outside.

After parking and on my walk to my picnic bench under the pavilion again I can't help but worry. I have such a bad feeling about Gigi going to that party and I didn't want to act overprotective but I did try to convince her to not go. I really tried but there's only so much you can say without coming off in a bad way.

I round the bend slowly to the pavilion and I spot a shadow of a small purse on the picnic table. My worries all stop suddenly and I listen to around me instead of my thoughts. A distinct and quiet humming sounds from near the riverside on the other side of the pavilion. It musically continues as I inch my way closer to see who it is.

A blanket comes into view over the small downward hill towards the river and I can spot the silhouette of someone lying on the blanket, a curvy bottle top protrudes the top of the shadow leaned up against a bunched up part of the blanket.

The figure sits up slowly and the moonlight shimmers over their figure as I'm close enough to identify who it is, "Skye?"

She turns around to face me and her smile radiates happiness and good feelings as she smiles at me.

"Atlas! I was hoping to find you here," my heart leaps while he mentions my name, "Come sit, please."

I walk over without hesitation and this whole occurrence whirls my mind to all sorts of places. Between this and Gigi my mind can't help but be raging all over the place. My heart accelerates noticeably as I sit down next to her, bottle of vodka in her right hand of course.

I decide to lie down next to her and take in everything in this dark blue night, the sound of the river rushing by ten metres away from us, the trees whooshing gently in the breeze, the soft fleece blanket beneath my fingertips and the rest of my body, the wind that gently sends small chills to me, the smell of the fresh air combined with river water and Skye's perfume, and my sight drowning in black from the depths of my eyelids.

"How long have you been here?" I ask with my eyes still closed. A soft small finger graces my lips to hush my words.

"Shh, silence speaks better than words," Her words roll off her lips smoothly, each word making me feel more and more intrigued about what may roll off her tongue next.

I don't know how long we laid here but it felt like an amazing eternity and better than anything I've ever felt before.

"When is your birthday?" She asks me. I hear her body shuffle around the blanket from under us and I open my eyes slowly. She sits upright with the bottle of vodka tipped to the sky as her question hangs in the air still.

"It's next week," I tell her as she brings the bottle down from her lips.

"Oh wow, that's awesome. Do you celebrate?" She asks as she lightly drags her finger up and down my arm softly with quiet eyes.

"Not really," I say, "Sometimes we have family over but I don't really have many people to celebrate it with anyways. It's just another number and another year and I'm pretty sure I'll get another one anyways."

"But what if you don't?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if you are to go tomorrow?"

"I don't know, I highly doubt I will anytime soon though."

"You never know, how ironic would it be if you died tomorrow?" She jokes and we laugh together as her finger still gently strokes my arm.

"Well, that would really suck to be me then."

"But seriously,"she tones it back down, "what if you were to go tomorrow? Wouldn't you want to remember your last birthday, or your last moments with certain people, or your last moments just breathing? Don't you want to remember or be remembered somehow?"

"Well, who wouldn't. I would want to remember my last moments with everyone, I hope they would with me too but I don't know what they would be."

"Why don't you live that way then?"

"Live what way?"

"Live like you'll never see some people again. Cherish them, smile with them, tell them how you feel about them. What if it really is the last time?"

I remember the last moment I shared with my Grandfather. He told me something similar, well he always has been telling it to me since I was young. Why haven't I listened?

"Just think about it," Skye replies to my silence and drags her finger around my face and around my lips. My phone rings and my heart races at the sound.

"I'm sorry," I tell her as I sit up, "I have to get that."

I walk over to the picnic bench where I left my phone as it vibrates erratically. Gigi's name shows up on the phone and I swipe the call open. I glance back at Skye as she keeps sipping her vodka again.

"At, can you pick me up and drive me back here again? I need to pack a night bag, pretty please," Gigi asks over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course," I reply with my eyes still set on Skye. She says her thanks and goodbye and i look at my phone as the call ends. I've been here for two and a half hours with Skye. I turn back around and I'm startled by Skye being so close.

"Hey," I say to her, "I have to go now."

"Okay, I had to leave soon anyways," she says with a smile. She throws her arms around my neck and pulls me into an unexpected embrace.

 What ever happened that night made me feel different, very different. I can't say it was in a good way or bad. But something in the universe is brewing and I don't think I want to know what.