To Me She Was Pretty

Backwood Shenanigans, and Clare's Flustering First's Part 4

In the time it had taken Sam to back his trailer to the edge of the shore, and for Clare to help him push the little brown boat down the ramp, into the pure waters of Lover Lake---the evening light, had began to fade from the golden, cloudless sky.

Darkness soon swept the heavens, and the dancing stars came out to play. Clare silently watched their beauty in astonishment, while Sam watched her the very same way. Clare shifted her gaze to the boy who lived next door, the high moon showering him and her in a marvelous sort of pale, and almost magical light. "It's----it's unbelievably beautiful, more beautiful than I'd ever imagined it would be." The girl's body trembled from the coolness that had began to weigh heavy upon the air. "Are you cold?" Sam's voice was ever so soft, and calm, as Clare nodded a bit bashful. "Well, here----take this..."

Sam slowly inched forward, close enough for his lips to meet Clare's. The boy pulled a blanket free from the clutter of his supplies, and draped it around the girls shoulder's. He smiled. Clare smiled too. "There you go... That should keep you nice and warm." Several locks of moonlit hair, fell and hid Clare's face, as she dropped her head. The girls body trembled again, but this time, it didn't have a thing to do with the cold----but, with what was happening inside her heart, and going through her mind. "What's wrong?" Sam lifted the girls chin gently with his fingertips. "You can tell me..."

Clare sighed long and hard. She was trying to be brave, trying to dispel the nerves and ignore the butterflies swimming in the pit of her stomach. She turned and stared into the darkness of the surrounding woods, and wondered. Why did a boy, so wonderful, so thoughtful and kind, come to the middle of nowhere, to a place like this? Clare knew what had been twisting and churning within the confines of her own mind, and heart, but she desperately longed to know what was hidden, and weighing heavily on Sam's.

Was there a darkness as thick as the kind tonight? Was there some sort of hurt he didn't wear as a crown on his head, or a stain on his sleeve? Clare pondered such things for a while, before she parted her lips to speak. "Nothing's wrong... Everything's fine----Everything's, perfect...." Sam sighed with relief as his broad shoulders relaxed. He inched away slowly, and rested his body in the opposite corner of the wooden boat, his hands at his head. Clare wished she could be as comfortable, and careless as Sam was. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and did what her mind pleaded with her not to.

She laid next to the boy, and he welcomed her wholesomely into his arms, upon his firm, muscular chest. "Why do you come here?" Clare's voice was a bit low and shaky. "I mean, you told me already----but, why do you really, come here?"

For a long while, there was an uneasy silence between the two, nothing but the sound of creaking crickets and croaking frogs filled the night. "There's trouble at home----between my sister Georgina and mother, Dena. Ever since the divorce, since dad left mom, something hasn't been quite right. Something's been terribly missing, a piece of each of us----broken." Clare slowly brought a hand to her heart, immediately feeling horrible for prying. "I'm----I'm so sorry. I didn't mea----" Sam cut her off. "It's oaky. Don't' worry about it. You didn't know, and plus, I don't mind sharing. Not with you..."

The boat drifted further, and further away by a gentle current, as the moonlight pointed the way to dry land. Clare let the blanket slide smoothly off her shoulders. "We've made it to the other side." Sam took hold of the thick molding on the side of the boat, and pulled himself up. "I suppose we did."

The boy smiled, and dug through his belongings, until he found an old and rusting lantern. Clare watched Sam as he squinted, and inspected the piece of red metal in the dark for a moment, before she spoke. "You know, I haven't had it any better than you. You're not alone in your pain..." The boy looked up. He sat still and silent as Clare turned, and gazed into his curious, child-like eyes. "Just this fall, my grandmother died----and her death broke our family too. Dad became really angry, and mom, really distant. We all basically stopped talking to each other, that was, until mom introduced the idea of moving, starting completely over some place else, somewhere brand-new. Maybe, just maybe----it would help piece our family back together again..."