He holds me, his hands on my waist, but then he let goes.
“Too soon?” I ask him, he smiles a little, which makes me smile. His smile makes his eyes light up, and I love it.
“If it was any later your bother will be watching us.” He chuckles a little, his arms still around my waist. I look at him a little confused why he let go of my lips. He notices and answers my question. “You just didn’t seem like the type of girl who would make the first move.” He says. I move my hand away from his neck, and move it to one of his hands. I am freezing cold, but I ignore it.
I see my brother’s car drive by, and I quickly let go of Archie. I say goodbye to Archie and run over to Tim. Archie doesn’t reply before I get into the car, after I shut the door, I can’t hear what he is saying.
“Are you alright?” Tim asks, looking at me as I put on his jumper. It’s so warm and soft. I nod at Tim, and look back at Archie, who is just looking at us. We start to drive off, and before I know it Tim is asking me about Archie.
“What were you guys doing?” He asks, I decide to tell him the truth, and just cut some parts out.
“I wanted to go to the river, and when I got there, Archie just happened to be there. It started raining, so we took cover, and then it started snowing. Then you showed up.” He also took off his jumper, and I almost fell asleep wrapped in his arms with his jumper on while he froze to death, and then we kissed, I think in my head. When we head home, I have a shower and get out of my wet clothes. When I get out the shower, I notice that I haven’t sung in the shower since my mother went missing. It feels good that I am getting back into the routine I was in before.
After meeting Archie everyday, at least once, he ends up asking me to be his girlfriend. Of course I say yes. I really like this boy, and I don't care if he is a year older than me, or that I havne't known him properly for long.
Weeks later, Tim finds out about Archie and me. It was Christmas day, and Archie gave me a little gift. It was a simple necklace with the tree of life charm connected to it. I now wear it all the time. Somehow Tim figured it all out, and now tonight Tim has very kindly got us reservations at a restaurant. He has been watching us for the past couple of months, probably to see if it is really worth spending money on our first date. I really can’t wait. Archie is collecting me in 1 hour. I have already gotten changed, and Tim made our father go grocery shopping. My father isn’t very great with dates; I don’t think he ever will be. I wear black dress that stops above my knees. It has a purple pinkish bow that goes around the middle of the dress, where my ribs start. I love it. I pick up some black flats – Archie told me not to wear high heels, I’m not exactly sure why, but I just went with it – and put on some make-up. Tim comes into my room, about 10 minutes before Archie is here. He helps me put on the silver necklace which he gave me when I was a child. It has a little cloud as the charm, with the number ‘9’ engraved on it. When he handed me the necklace, I was in hospital, I can’t exactly remember why I was in hospital, but I remember exactly what Tim said to me when he gave me the necklace.
“Always live beyond Cloud 9” Those words have been engraved inside my brain ever since he told me them.
There is a knock at the door, and I leave with Archie.
“Why do I need to wear flats?” I ask him, he looks at me and smiles, and then puts a kiss on my cheek. I look at the trees, which are growing new leaves, like I haven’t seen the outside in months. Some trees have blossom, and some have bright green leaves on them already. Archie lets go of my hip, and jogs to the side of my house.
“This is our ride.” He picks up two skateboards. I laugh at him, and quickly rush after him to collect mine. Once, we were out at the river and I told Archie about my bucket list I started to create when I was younger. One thing on the list was to skateboard. I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons why Archie decided to make me skateboard, instead of us just driving to the restaurant. Archie holds my hand for most of the journey there. I have never done this before, and luckily he has a few times, so he teaches me a few moves, and then I’m off. I feel the wind in my hair, passing my arms, and flying away from me. I put my arms out, and try not to close my eyes as I am, even though I really want to.
When we get to the restaurant, we are seated down and then Archie decides to come straight out with it.
“Zella, I’m…I’m…” He shakes his head and looks down at the table. I can just tell this isn’t going to be something good. He looks back at me, “I’m leaving.” I don’t feel any emotions at first, but then when they come, they hit me like a fast train.
“Where? Why?” It’s all I can say, no tears come out just yet, but I feel them rising up my body.
“Abroad, I don’t want to tell you just yet why. I’m still confused why. I just wanted….” His voice slowly disappears, and the tears start. I want to know why, but I don’t want him to feel any pressure to tell me, even though I still feel like he should tell me.
“What? When are you going?” The waitress comes and drops off the menu for us. I pick it up, but then don’t even bother to look at it, because my eyes will be on Archie until he leaves.
“I only just found out this morning, I’ve been packing the whole of today.” He tells me, I listen for that last sentence he will be saying which will tell me when he leaves, how much time I have left with him, how long until I fall in pain as he leaves.
“I'm leaving tomorrow.” He says in a squeaky voice.
