I wake up before Mason does. This is odd because usually, I'm the last to wake up when I spend the night. I take this opportunity to wake Mason up. I mean, I'm sure he doesn't want to be late to school right? I quickly run to the kitchen and grab a bottle of water from the fridge, it's ice cold which is perfect. I run back upstairs and creep my way to Mason's bed opening the bottle as I go. With one swift motion, I pull the cap off, tilt the bottle and watch as Mason gets soaked with the water. It takes a few seconds before he yelps and jumps up. I burst out laughing, feeling very proud of myself while Mason just glares at me. He leaps towards me and grabs the water bottle out of my hand, he throws the remainder of the water on me and I fall back from shock. Now we're both laughing, this is exactly what I needed to distract myself from everything. Mason reaches a hand out to help me up and I grab it and he pulls me up quickly, he's got a good arm from pitching in baseball.
"Dibs on using the shower first." I say once I'm up and Mason groans.
"Don't worry, I won't be too long." I say obviously lying because Mason and I both know that I take forever in the shower.
"I'll just use my mom's shower since she's already at work."
-
After my shower, I grab a hoodie and a pair of jeans from Mason's closet to wear. I walk downstairs and see Mason and Abby sitting at the kitchen table, they've both got empty bowls of cereal in front of them.
"Finally." Mason mutters as I enter the room, I smack him on the back of the head which makes Abby laugh. I'm about to grab a bowl to pour myself some cereal too when Mason announces that we have to go.
"Shotgun!" Abby yells and runs to the front door.
"No way!" I scream and break off into a sprint towards the front door. When I get there Abby is already at the car, standing next to the passenger's side door.
"It's locked." She says with a defeated frown.
"You guys are idiots." Mason says as he locks the front door. He unlocks the car and Abby and I wrestle to get to the passenger's seat. It's a pointless fight; she and I both know this, but it's way too late to back down now.
"Come on, let's go." Mason says honking the horn impatiently. I groan, let go of the door handle and get in the back seat. Abby has a smug smile on her face all the way to her school. Once we drop her off I switch seats.
"So are you going home after school?" Mason asks me.
"I mean, I guess I have to."
I just hope that everything will work out at home because as much as I hate to admit it, I really miss the way things use to be at home. I used to be very close to my dad and I just wish we could go back to that.
-
I don't see Noah much today, I'm not sure if I'm avoiding him or if he's avoiding me and I don't know which is worse. At lunch, he sits next to Jenna and they talk the entire time, he doesn't even glance at me. I don't have lunch today since I wasn't at home, but Mason shares his sandwich with me so I don't completely starve.
After school I meet Autumn outside, she's being very quiet because I think she's mad at me. I don't know what to say so we spend the first half of the walk intense silence. I want to talk to her though, I want to tell her everything on my mind so that she can make sense of it and tell me what to do like she usually does.
"Autumn, I'm sorry I wasn't home last night and that I didn't tell you where I went." I say sincerely. She sighs deeply and stares up at the sky. I look up at the sky too and see a cloud that looks like a burger, or maybe I'm just really hungry.
"Park?" She finally says after a while. The park is where we used to play when we were younger, we also used to go there a lot whenever we wanted to get away and talk. We haven't been there in a while. We start walking in the direction of the park, still in silence. I don't know what she's thinking.
When we get there she immediately walks towards the swing set and sits down on the left swing, I sit on the right. We swing back and forth for a while, I'm dying to break the silence.
"What's going on with you lately?" She says finally looking at me. I just keep swinging, I don't really know how to answer that. I don't really know what's going on with me either.
"You can tell me anything. I won't judge you."
"Come on, you know how things have been going at home. I just need time away to clear my head." That's only half a lie.
"I know it's more than that." She gives me a stern look as if she can see right through me.
I breathe in and out deeply, trying to keep my breathing steady. I stop swinging and put my arm out to stop Autumn too. She turns to look at me expectantly with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"I-..." I clear my throat, my voice sounding hoarse "I've been feeling a bit weird lately."
I don't even know if that makes sense, but she nods as if she understands.
"Okay, how so?" She asks.
I don't know why I'm so nervous, it's as if I already know what the outcome of this conversation is going to be before it even happens. That outcome scares me, but I power through it nonetheless.
"I think I have feelings for someone..." I trail off.
"Really? You haven't had feelings for anyone since Emma left. Who is she? Is she someone you had a one night stand with?"
"Uh, not necessarily..." I trail off again.
"Do I know her?"
"You know him." I say emphasizing the word. Then it's quiet again. I've been on the receiving end of way too many awkward silences lately. Maybe there's a book on things to say to fill silences, I could really use that right now.
"Oh," She says finally, "What's his name then?" She asks also emphasizing the word.
"Noah."
"Wow. I mean, I get it. He's hot." She says and I let out a little laugh.
"This isn't weird?" I ask her genuinely curious, I haven't really come to this realization until now.
"No, not unless you make it weird. You're a pretty awkward person August."
"Hey." I say defensively.
"So, you're gay?" She asks slowly as if she's being extra cautious now.
"No... I mean, I definitely like girls. I really like girls actually."
"Okay perv, I get it. So you're bi? Or pan?"
"What? I don't know, this is the first time I've ever thought about it."
"Okay, you don't have to label it yer. Or at all. Tell me about Noah, how did all of this start."
I proceed to tell her everything that has happened between Noah and me, as well as the things that almost happened. It feels so good to say everything out loud, I didn't even realize the effect this was having on me until I said it out loud. It's definitely like a weight has been lifted off my chest. Autumn and I talk until the sun goes down and then walk home, where I immediately walk into my room and close the door. It's great to finally be cool with Autumn again and now I'm a step closer to understanding everything that's been going on in my head lately. I spend the rest of the evening learning a certain One Direction song on my guitar and feeling like I'm up in the clouds. There's still a lot going wrong in my life, but something finally went right. Right now that's enough for me.
----------------------
Happy pride month, I know it just ended, oh well. August came out... kind of, that's great.
YOU ARE READING
It Always Rains In August
Ficção AdolescenteSeventeen-year-old August Wilson is a player, that's what his twin sister always says. He had his heart broken by his ex girlfriend so he shut his feelings off. But what happens when August becomes fascinated by the new boy in school, Noah Miller? ...
