The Harsh Reality Of Life

Different Pathways

There are those times where you need to cherish the moments you spend with the ones you love.

First night at the cabin meant there had to be a bonfire. A bone fire with a few acoustic guitars, hot chocolate and blankets. In the back yard of the impressive cabin, Lea,Tyler,Jessica,Nick,Chase,Chloe,Liam and Dean sat around the a-roaring flame.

"So who want's to play the next song?" Chase asked.

"How about Dean?" Chloe said in excitement.

All eyes landed on him. Truth was, Dean never sang but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a sucker for music. Even the soft tracks were one of his favourites.

"Errr...I don't sing." Dean said letting out a small chuckle.

"C'mon dude!" Tyler shouted.

The excitement of the group gave him a warm feeling in his stomach, it felt nice to be around friends, friends who are like family. See, the best kind of people that come into your life,make you see the sun even when it's cloudy. Dean was too used to people leaving. Slowly slipping away from reality, he feels like these few people can save him. Or maybe a certain girl.

"What about Maddie? She always sings back in town." Jessica informed.

"She sings?" Dean questioned seeming really interested.

"Beautifully..." Liam whispered to himself smiling.

"Where is she?" Nick asked. "She's seemed a bit lost today."

Jessica got up from Nick's embrace to find her. "I'll go and see-"

"No." Dean stopped her. "You should just sit. I'll go check on her."

"Oh, you don't have to do that." Jessica smiled.

"It's fine, really. Plus, we've ran out of marshmallows." He smirked.

Maddie just didn't feel like tonight was the night for her, too much was on her mind. She didn't want to tell the others about her secret until the end of the summer. She didn't want to ruin the perfect vacation that was about to start. It was a secret she was still deciding on.

Her mind was full of thoughts as she cleaned the dishes by hand by herself in the lonely kitchen, staring into a mist of nothing.

"Hey."

Maddie dropped the plate from her grasp, causing the two of them to hear a loud smash due to the contact with the ground.

"Oh my god. You scared me." She said startled, a hand on her beating chest.

He ran up to help her pick the sharp shards from the wooden floor carefully. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-"

She looked up at him and smiled. "It's fine.
"I shouldn't have sneaked up on you like that."
"No,really. It's fine. I didn't really like that plate any way." She laughed a little.

Finally cleaning up, they sat on the couch whilst hearing the others play a few tunes and goof around from outside. Maddie sat on the couch just inside the room. Silently daydreaming, she was practically in her own world. She didn't even notice if Dean was sitting near her or not. But he was; and he could sense something was wrong. Her expression was sad and her eyes yelped for help and warmth. She looked lonely and Dean knew what being lonely felt like. He still knows...

"Before I left, I could talk to you about anything." Dean said looking down at the floor silently with his coffee cup in his hand. Maddie's attention turned towards Dean. Taking the last sip, he placed the coffee which was now empty, onto the glass table and continued. "And whenever you were in distress, I was there, by your side."

"This time it's a lot different." She said sadly.

He turned towards her. "What's really going on?" She sat silent. "Are you even going to tell me?"

She sighed. "Things are just so different now Dean. I'm not the same person I was when you left. Situations are just so much different." He watched her closely, looking at every little detail that suggested that she was heartbroken.

"I...love Liam, I really do. The best thing was knowing that I'm his, and he's mine. I mean the way he laughed made me smile, the way he smiled gave me butterflies and now, everything has just stopped."

She turned to her good friend only to find him staring. He rested his chin on his hand, trying not miss a single thing.

"I'm listening." He whispered.

"I...uh- I shouldn't really be bothering you with all this. Now, you need to go out there, and have fun." She stopped and said.

He stood up with her. "Okay but only if you come out too."

"Dean-"

"I'm not talking no for an answer." He smirked.

And so the more and more she tried to be with Liam again, the more and more it felt like he was fading away. Was he? The bonfire was out but the stars were in up to light the sky.

"You still up?" Chase whispered walking out into the garden. Chloe sat, wrapped around in a thin blanket. He sat next to her shivering body.

She smiled and turned to him. "Isn't it beautiful? The silence and the stars. It's so calm and relaxing. It's like the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"I've seen something much more beautiful than this." He said looking at her get excited over the weirdest things. They sat and talked and laughed until they couldn't anymore.

On one hand, you had Chase and Chloe that were just friends but spoke lovers and that seemed like enough to them.

But then you had a boy and a girl who were drifting away,avoiding the question was all the could do.