Ivory Shadow

Chapter Eight: Melancholy

The rain picked up outside as we both sipped our coffee. I stared out the window feeling slightly anxious not knowing what to say next. "So, You're mom works at the coffee loft, you're both pretty close, you love to draw and apparently you are snow white considering how you fed that deer. What else can you tell me about yourself?" he said matter of factly. I twirled my hair around my  fingers, not realizing how observant he had been. "Hmm, well I'm an only child, I'm sure that's why as you mentioned I am close with my mom. She's helped me through so much. I love all kinds of art drawing, painting, pottery I love creating something out of nothing. I could be outside all the time, It's so refreshing to my soul. Erm..." "Please keep going! I wanna hear more." he begged playfully. "What do you want to know? Besides I feel like I barely know you, so why did you're family decide to move here? And how did football practice go?" I tried taking the attention off of me. "Ok fine I suppose I can indulge you." he said sarcastically. "But why don't we do it fairly, 20 questions style?" "That sounds fair. Very grad school I like it." I chuckled. I could hardly remember the last time I joked around with someone. It felt natural. "Ok so to answer you're first question, my father is originally from the area, and my grandparents and other relatives live close by so we decided to come be closer to the family. And football practice went well, I'm really thinking I made the team! I'll throw that answer in for free." he winked at me. "Alright so now my turn, let's see. What is your dream job?" The questions went back and forth for what seemed like hours. I told him about my dream job of selling art and traveling the world if there was such a job. I told him about my past pets I've had, what kind of foods I preferred and disliked, He told me more about his family, what kind of tv shows and music we both liked which surprisingly we had very similar taste. It was such a beautiful moment just sitting there talking and joking. I felt we both knew we wanted to avoid the topic of our mental health, and not get so deep when all of our light hearted conversations lifted our moods. 

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat with you all afternoon Ivory, I actually have to pick up my little sister from soccer practice. I really wanna go out again though, would tomorrow be too soon?" he asked hopefully. "I have no plans, what were you thinking?" "It's supposed to be really nice out tomorrow, maybe I can take you to a place I like to go near my house?" I thought about being at his home, with his big family, I felt overwhelmed at the thought but Rowan made me feel so safe that I wasn't overly worried. "That sounds fun, what are we going to do?" he suddenly had a somewhat evil expression. "Oh, you'll see, I don't wanna ruin it for you! If you text me you're address I can pick you up, how about around 7?" 7 at night? That seemed so far away, my heart sank a little. Not to mention nighttime was when I was more likely to have panic attacks. I was determined though, not to let it hold me back from this. "Sure sound good. I'll see you tomorrow then." I said a little sadly. "Don't worry it'll be fun trust me. Bye Ivory."  I watched as he swiftly left the coffee loft. 

My mom slowly walked over and sat where Rowan sat. "So, Rowan huh? Not a girl." "Erm... No. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I was already anxious and I wasn't sure if.." I started to babble. "Sweetie it's fine calm down!" she chuckled. "He seems like a very nice boy, did you meet him at school?" "It's actually kind of funny how we met.." I then went into explain to her how we actually met in the woods first. She was mortified that I would go into the woods alone, but ecstatic that I met Rowan and we went to the youth group together. "And who knows, maybe you'll make more friends if you keep going! This is so great that you're meeting new people Ivory. Well I better get back to my shift, leftover takeout tonight?" "That sounds perfect mom. And thank you by the way." "What for sweetie?" she asked curiously. "Well, for everything really, but also for playing it cool with Rowan. We actually have a second date tomorrow." "Oh sweetie! You don't have to thank me I'm your mom I'll always be cool for you." she said hugging me tightly and laughing light heartedly. 

My mom went back to her shift, and I finished off my third cup of coffee, so I decided I would head out and go back home. Then rain and stopped, but the dark clouds stayed overhead. I saw a couple of girls I recognized from the group I used to hang around. "Hey look Jess, It's Ivy!" said a blonde girl named Kelsey. Then the girl next to her named Jess spoke up, "Ivy? Is that you? How are you?" she said loudly. "Erm... It's Ivory." I tried correcting them. "So I heard you're dating our soon to be star quarterback, that must be intimidating huh?" Kelsey said obnoxiously. "I don't really know... What do you mean?" my heart started to sink into my chest, and I was getting lightheaded. I was always nervous when I had talked to Kelsey in the past, she always made me feel unsure of myself and self conscience. "Well, I mean he is the new kid, and he's about to be very popular once he joins the team. Are you sure  you can handle that kind of attention? I'm only looking out for you, I know how sensitive you can be." My face turned all shades of red, I just wanted to get out of here and climb in a hole. Then I noticed another girl that I recognized from the youth group named Nala coming towards us. "Hey Ivory! I wondered where you went we should get going we don't wanna be late!" she said as she flicked her cigarette on the ground near the other two. "Right, um we have to go too, bye." said Kelsey with a disgusted look on her face. They walked away and I gave Nala a look of relief. "Thank you for that, I really needed to escape." I said with a deep breathe. "I could tell from way over there." she pointed to the small park in between the coffee loft and clothing shop. "Now that they are gone, we can go have some fun, what do you say are you in?" Nala said with a mischievous smile on her face. I wasn't sure where she was going with this, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to.