Petit Monde (Rye Beaumont)

FAMILY

Alexandria Anderson

   I wake up early today, so I could go for a walk whilst Avery and Nana are still asleep. After tying my hair into a bun, I take my phone from the bed and go downstairs. As soon as I step out on the porch, I feel the cold wind past by so I put my hands into the pocket of my jumper and start to walk down the sidewalk of Somerset. I walk past the park, where I usually go to when I was younger together with my best friend.

   “Alexandria?”

   I stop on my tracks and turn around to see Rye, wearing a jumper and a pair of jogging pants. He smiles at me and takes his earphones off, as he jogs over.

   “Why are you up so early?” I ask with a small smile on my face.

   “You know, I could ask you the same question.” he chuckles.

   I giggle, “Right, I just want to go for a walk before we head back to Slough.”

   “Well, uh, can I come with you?” he asks, looking straight into my eyes.

   “O–of course.” I stammer, but smile at him afterwards.

   Rye and I continue to walk down the sidewalk in silence, it feels so great to be back in Somerset; there really is no place like home.

   “I was thinking, it’s amazing how one place could make you feel something different and bring back so many memories, if you know what I mean.” I sheepishly say, looking down at the pavement.

   “Yeah, I do.” he replies.

   I take a deep breath and stop walking, I just look at the park and all the memories from when I was little just came back to me all at once making me feel sad all of a sudden. I snap out of my thoughts, when Rye suddenly takes my wrist.

   “Come with me.” he says and the two of us start to walk.

   “Where are we going?” I ask.

   Looking over his shoulders, he just smiles at me and continues to walk down the sidewalk. He takes a few turns without even letting go of my wrist, until we get to a beach. Rye and I just walk down the shore as we talk to each other, watching as the waves hit the shore which I find very serene and relaxing. As we walk, I receive a text from an unknown number.

fr: Unknown
     — Hey, Lexi ☺

   I furrow my eyebrows, don’t tell me it’s Matt – he’s my ex and he’s the only one who calls me Lexi.

   “Who’s that?” Rye curiously asks.

   “Just an unknown number.” I reply, putting the phone back into my back pocket.

   He furrows his eyebrows as he looks at me, “Aren’t you going to text them back?”

   “Nah,” I simply reply and turn around to walk away. “I, uh, I gotta go back.”

   “I’ll walk you back home.” he offers, causing me to look back at him.

   “You don’t have to, I’ll be okay, but thank you.” I assure him, smiling.

   “I am still coming with you.” he insists.

   “Alright,” I chuckle, even though years had already past; he is still very persistent. “why don’t you have breakfast with us as well?”

   He thinks about it for a second before smiling and nodding, “Okay.”

   Rye and I walk back to my grandmother’s house and when we get there, Nana’s already awake. We talk to her for a bit and when it is around 8:30 already, I excuse myself and go to the kitchen to cook our breakfast. Whilst I am cooking, I try my best not to think about Matt; what does he want now?