Walking on a Tightrope

Chapter 16

"Tucker, you don't have to yell." As I sit up I shield my eyes from the blinding sunlight. "The instructor asked me to come get you, it's noon now" I glare at Tucker for waking me up before I nudge Skylar to wake her up. She had fallen asleep just a few minutes ago, and I didn't want to wake her but I needed to. She looks so peaceful when she sleeps and it took so much effort to fight the urge to leave her be or join her, but ultimately I had to get her up. "Skye, wake up. We need to go" her eyes flutter open, and once she sees me she smiles ear to ear. She sits up and climbs off her board still groggy from her brief nap. The three of us walk to the shore to wrap up camp for the day, and week. I ask Skye "How will the instructor feel about you sleeping on the job?" without hesitation she responds "He typically doesn't care. Especially on the last day of camp and with such a short amount of time left. Let me go give him my report then I can take you and Tucker home." she smiles and kisses my forehead then takes both of our boards and lie them down underneath the pavilion before going to speak with the instructor. I look to my other side and see Tucker standing with his arms crossed a raised eyebrow and a glare on his face that I know all too well.

"What?" I ask. He sighs audibly. "I'm not even going to say anything anymore. If anything goes wrong you'll be held accountable. Now that camp is over you should actually end things, we only have two more months of high school left,  and I don't want you to fuck this up. I'm going to go get washed up, I'll meet you guys by the car." and he walks off in his typical dramatic manner. I run to catch up with Skye right as she has finished speaking with her boss. "Hey Blake, are you ready?" I let out a breath from exhaustion. "Yeah, Tucker is going to meet us at the car. Let's go" I end my sentence with a wide smile before grabbing her hand in mine.

The car is silent as we drive Tucker home, and after dropping him off we stop at the nearest diner. Once we're seated, we get one medium fry each and share a cookies 'n cream milkshake together. We spend the whole meal together just talking about our interests and laughing as we make inside jokes only the two of us would ever understand. I have never felt better, being with her is the most wonderful feeling in the world and I would love to make her my wife someday. I can't say I feel perfect as the guilt of hiding a huge secret from her still looms over my head. It seems like such a small thing, me being closeted. And it really is, but the fear of losing her is too great. I have lost everyone else in my life, except my parents because they weren't really there to begin with. The only friend-like figure in my life is Parker and Tucker, and that's a stretch. We don't always get along the best after everything that happened over the last two years, but we both understand how much is at stake in our personal lives if our secrets were to be released in this town. Once we finish up eating we pay for our food and walk out hand in hand, still laughing from some of the things we came up with. But that's when I see her. I let out a small gasp at my surprise.

I pretend to drop my phone so that I can release my hand from hers inconspicuously. In front of me is Olivia the longest best friend I ever had, if I could even call her one. To me she was everything, I fell in love with her so blindly without even knowing that I was loved her. To her I was a burden most of the time and she kept me around for the times I wasn't. I grab my phone and walk quickly to the car before Skye can grab my hand again. But there is no point to it, because Olivia is walking beside who I assume is her boyfriend, Tyler. Back when we were on speaking terms she had liked Tyler for a little while, but they rarely talked let alone hung out together. She never really hung out with boys unless she was dating them and with his arm around her it's likely he is her boyfriend. I make it to Skye's car without Olivia even noticing me, I guess she never really did. When we get into the car Skylar doesn't act as though she had noticed anything, so I doubt she did. On the drive home I ask, "So what are we going to do now that spring break is over?" She thinks for a moment then says "Well, I'm going to your prom and I'll continue to work at the beach. I'm not going to college so I have quite a bit of time on my hands and whenever we both are free we can go on a date." I smile at the thought of going on regular dates with her. Doing things like we just did, going to diners and many other beach dates. I really fell for her quick this week, and as scary as it is and as much as it could jeopardize my relationships with the other people around me, I don't regret it. Being with her this week has been the most fun I've had in years. 

She pulls into my driveway, and I exit the car before walking around to the other side and kissing her through the open window. "This week has been great. I have homework to get done all weekend, but I'll talk to you whenever I'm free." I turn around to leave, but she grabs my  arm and says "Blake, I'm really glad I met you this week. I can't wait to see you next, this week was the best I've had in a while." I look at her and smile "Me too" and kiss her one more time, ending our day, and week, on a high note.