The House Across the Street

After that, I quickly got changed into a simple green floral dress and sandals (after a shower ofcourse). I was putting my hair up into a ponytail when I let my imagination get the best of me. Incase I didn't say earlier, just about every kid, teenager, even some adults own a bike. It really isn't needed cause like I've said before, wherever it is you need to go, take a few steps and you'd get there.

But I guess sometimes it does come in handy for when maybe where you need to go is a little far from where you live, or you're just feeling too lazy to walk, or you need to take a very beautiful girl to a beautiful place and you know walking there and back would be stressful and not as fun because on a bike she'd be pressed up behind and against you with her arms wrapped around your waist and if you just walked there,well...she wouldn't be able to do all that good stuff.

I smacked my lips together and my reflection in the mirror did same. I may or may not have applied a teeny tiny amount of the gloss I hid under my underwear drawer on my lips. I smiled at my reflection, she smiled back, and then I walked out of my room, out of my house and across the street.

I could hear her footsteps as she approached the front door and I prepared myself but I don't know why I bothered because as soon as she threw the door open all the air escaped from my lungs and for a while taking in oxygen just wasn't on my brain's agenda.

It was too busy taking in the sight of the gorgeous creature in front of me. She was smiling and it was...blinding. She had on jeans that looked like they had been painted onto her perfect legs and a simple white low neck long sleeved top. And she was smiling and it was...beautiful.

"Hi" she said.

"Hi" I said back a little breathless.

My bike was parked in front of her house with the tiny basket tied to the very end of the passenger seat.

It's sad that I was totally wrong. Oh was I awfully wrong. My imagination fell so short it was actually sad. Because now, now that she was pressed up behind and against me,with her arms wrapped around my waist, my earlier expectation of it being 'fun' just seemed like the dumbest thought that had ever brewed in my mind. It wasn't 'fun' atall, it was beyond that it was...magic.

It seemed to have happened in slowed motions when she got on the bike behind me. Slowly pressing up against me so I could feel every contour of the front of her upper body. It was delectably soft. And when she wrapped her arms around my waist securely like a belt, I had to remind my brain that oxygen was very crucial to the continuation of life and it's wondorous moments...moments like this.

At some point during the ride, after enjoying a few minutes of amazing comfortable silence, she questioned the basket and I told her we may stop somewhere and reminded her that we hadn't actually eaten anything since luch break at school. Thankfully, she didn't ask where so I didn't have to ruin the somewhat surprise.

On the way, I pointed out some places and things, telling a little history behind this and that. Some she found fascinating, and some made even I who had believed the stories for so long question it's authenticity.

"Wow" she gushed "This is breathtaking" she turned around to face me. I parked the bike, got the basket and walked over to her. "It is, isn't it?" I smiled proudly "Oh it's beautiful".

"Almost a year ago I found this valley and immediately knew that it was mine and mine alone"

"How did you even find this place it's so far from the town?. What were you doing all the way out here?"

I opened my mouth but no words emerged and I was afraid that the dark clouds of my past were about to destroy a beautiful moment before it even began "And what do you mean by your's alone? You mean noone knows about this place?" she asked too distracted by the valley to notice my earlier panic.

"Well" I cleared my throat "I came here one afternoon and saw a bunch of teenagers here and I proceeded to tell them that the valley was infested with snakes and I was sent from town to warn anyone that was around here. I said it and walked away. I saw a couple of them ride past me before I even got home so I knew it worked. And I guess they spread it around because noone has been here ever since then"

"Wow...you are diabolical" she said laughing and I joined.

We sat on the grass side by side and just stared out into the horizon. The sun was a little below the middle of the sky and the air was clean and light. We just sat there in peaceful silence for a while.

"Mr geography?" I asked with a little chuckle.

"What?" She said turning to face me.

"You called Tyler 'Mr geography' why?"

"Oh...he just sits next to me in geography and I can't remember his name and that's what I called him in my head. I didn't know I said that out loud sometimes my brain and my mouth have a hard time working together" she blushed.

"That's cute" I said smiling.

"What were you guys talking about anyway?"

"He said there was something important he wanted to ask me and I guess he was about to before you came"

"Oh he must probably hate me"

"Nevermind that. If it was as important as he claimed, he wouldn't have left. I turned and he was just gone"

"That's odd" she said

"That's exactly what I thought" and we fell back into that comfortable silence.

---------------------------------------------------------------

CORN

The ride here was nothing short of a dream. But it wasn't a dream because I was wide awake and I was there...behind her...against her. I had wished the ride would never end but it had to. It had to so we would be here; here in this beautiful place. It looked like something out of a fantasy novel and pair that with Jade, it looked like heaven (at least my heaven).

Sitting there beside her sharing that peaceful silence, my mind began to wonder and like it always did, it eventually landed on a thought. James. Whenever I'm a little out of space, I tend to have these thoughts in my head...but they're never in my head-

"I don't think it was one time"

"What?" Jade asked. I turned to stare into her confused face. There was no stopping now...

"I have these thoughts sometimes where my mind just tries to convince me that he did it one time and he wasn't strong enough to handle it and that's why he-" I stared hard into the horizon.

"Corn, who?"

Her voice was soft "James...my brother. That's why we moved. He overdosed on drugs and...it killed him. But I don't think it was one time"

"I don't blame him too. My parents really wanted him to get into that school and they made it very clear enough times that not getting in simply wasn't an option for James. I guess the pressure was too much on him"

I was still staring out into the horizon. I was slowly slipping into that memory. That dark dark memory "You know what I think?" I smiled a little but I could feel my eyes start to burn "I think he did it a few times and it worked and that day, he just wanted to see how much he could really take" I could feel the tears now hot on my cheek

"I do blame him. I blame him for leaving me. I blame him for leaving the image of him sprawled out on the floor in the middle of his room forever imprinted in my mind. He knew how much I loved him...how much I needed him and he-"

I sniffed loud and wiped my face messily and then I continued talking. I could hear myself recounting that day in detail for the very first time...to someone else...to Jade and she was quiet. She didn't make a sound. She just listened as I spilled my guts. By the time I was done, my face was a mess and my throat was sore. I felt raw...open, like I was naked. Stark naked. I could feel the breeze on every part of me and I was cold. I heard Jade sniff and I turned to her but she wasn't staring at me she was staring at the sun that was just starting to set.

"He hits me. That's why I avoided you for two months" she turned to me and she was crying. I wasn't expecting what she said so I just stared with a look I'm sure was between surprised, confused and sad.

"My father, 'Father Christopher'" she said with a disdainful look on her face "It was that goddamned retreat. He wasn't supposed to catch us Stephanie and I. We had been planning for weeks it was supposed to be our special day...a memorable day. It was too. A day I would never forget. Up until that moment, I never really knew the extent of my Father's anger. My three months of recorvery let me know though"

She turned to look at my face that was wet with a fresh batch of tears "I loved her Corn. And he took her from me. When he saw us in my room after dinner that day, he reminded me in his usual way not to repeat my mistake" she took a shuddering breath

"He scares me Corn he really does. And the day Stephanie left, I realized that I did not want to spend the rest of my life here...with him. There's a huge box I had made hidden deep in my closet and I'm saving Corn. It's hard but I am. I have been, and I know it's not small anymore. One day I'd leave this place, leave him and all my bad memories behind here and never look back. One day"

It was quiet for a long time after she was done. Both of us seemed to be lost in our dark thoughts.

I gave a sad chuckle then and she turned to me "Sorry, I just never thought you'd bring me to such a beautiful place and I'd end up just pouring all my trauma out on you" she chuckled too and said "Yeah, and my only reasonable response was to unload my own trauma as well" she laughed then and I did something that was more a messy snort than a laugh and we went on for a complete minute if not two.

It was a little strange given that we each just bawled our eyes out. When we both calmed, Jade was wiping a tear from the side of her eye and my stomach hurt.

"Do you miss her Jade?"

"Yes, I really do" she said softly

"So do I" I whispered

We fell back into silence and watched the sun as it dipped lower and lower. I could feel her pinkie rub against mine and I let them twine together before turning my hand over and we laced our fingers together, holding hands tightly.

I looked at our joined hands and then up at Jade who was staring at me intensely. He eyes were so very green. A little darker. I was drowning...slowly and she was leaning in...slowly. Her other hand cupped my cheeked softly...delicately and as the sun gave it's last light of the day, illuminating her eyes and making it look almost unreal, her lips touched mine.

My eyes were shut but I could feel her head tilt and that deepened the kiss and I was lost, utterly lost in this moment, this kiss,..her. She pressed forward gently, and I could feel myself leaning backwards until I lay on the soft grass. Our lips stayed together through that movement and was only getting deeper and deeper.

I don't know how long we stayed there in the slowly increasing darkness, but we were both lost in eachother. All I could think of was Jade and how I never wanted this kiss, this moment to end. And it didn't for a long while.

When we both parted to take much needed lungs full of air, it was completely dark. The moon was out, but it's light faint and the stars had scattered themselves over the dark velvety canvas of the night sky. But nothing sparkled as much as Jade's eyes and I was staring into them. I could see them despite the darkness and I was lost in them.

"We have to go so they don't declare us missing" she whispered with a beautiful smile. I reached up and gave her a deep lingering kiss before responding "Okay".

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JADE

We were practically inseperable now. It's been two weeks since that day at 'kiss valley'...that's what we're calling it now isn't that cute?

Anyhow, we spend almost every moment together now. We walk to school together, have lunch, walk home, I go over to Corn's some days when I have 'assignments' and we work on it together.

I mean, sometimes there really isn't an assignment, but if you see how good our french kissing has gotten, I think you'd agree we've been doing our homework. And we lock the door so don't worry.

Even with Corn's lack of Christian belief, she comes over to the church for evening mass on the days when doing 'assignments' would be a little suspicious to my Father. I mean, assignment workload five nights in a row? I think that would raise suspision and have my Father at the principal's office.

He wasn't really comfortable with how close we had gotten and although he hadn't made it known through his words...or actions, I could see it in his eyes. I could hear it in his 'heading over to the West's?'.

The night I got back from kiss valley, he had questioned my absence. I had blamed my lateness on my evangelism, claiming I had seen some teenagers who looked like they had fallen off the path and whilst bringing the word of Christ back to them, had lost track of time. I didn't exaggerate it that much though. I feel bad about that lie and I did ask for forgiveness from the Lord, but I didn't want him getting suspicious. And even though he still seems a little, he hasn't had any reason to hit me-...I mean, confront me about it.

Corn and I were trying to be careful around both our parents. To Corn's we were just best of friends, so the hiding isn't as much when we're over at her's. And a few conversations they'd had with my Father let him know they were happy about it and would like it to stay that way. Corn says it's just for their selfish reasons as they were happy she was more involved in the church, but I think they were just happy to see their daughter smiling a little bit more. And the fact that I was the reason for that, sends my heart singing many times.

...

I was humming a little tune and couldn't help the spring in my step and the smile that threatened to split my face in half. Today, Corn and I were heading over to kiss valley for something a little special.

It's been three weeks now and things are going really really well. My father's suspicions are still at the same level. He was trying to keep an eye on us as much as he could, but between his church duties and confession, and weekly activities, there was only so much he could monitor.

I still attended a few church activities...with Corn. She sat next to me everytime she was at the church now and it was incredibly impossible to focus with her beautiful self in such close proximity.

We didn't 'accidentally' graze our feet or pinkies together and then share little giggles. That would be insane as we always sat at the very first bleacher right in front of the Reverend. 'My position'. I couldn't complain though. Corn was there with me. Right next to me and she always seemed at peace and focused on the service. And the choir.

Parents suspicions were not outrageous, we were becoming professional french kissers, having deep conversations and sharing even deeper kisses after, we almost knew eachother inside out.

Turns out that even though we'd both had our fair share of trauma, we had a few good days too. We traded stories of our happiest days, our worst fears, dreams, aspirations and sometimes, we just lay together and whispered lovely nothings to the other. Just weilding our bodies together and sharing one breath more than enough for us.

As I took one final look at my choice of outfit, I was delightfully pleased. The shimmery emerald green lacy dress, complemented my eyes well. I never wore this dress. It was a gift from my father's sister when I was four. I had fallen in love with it when she had shown it to me. It looked too big at that time, but she assured me that someday, it would fit me perfectly. And now it did.

A few weeks after I turned five, Aunty Celine had come into my room to tell me that she was leaving to the big city for good. My liitle five year old brain, had found it hard to understand why. She was my family. The mother I never had. Why was she leaving to the city, she didn't have family there. Her family was here. I just couldn't understand why.

I stiil remember the look on her face that day. She had dark circles over her red puffy eyes. And during the weeks before she left she was always sniffing and as she sat on my bed telling me she was sick and needed proper care that she would only get in the city, I could see she was sweating and looked very uncomfortable.

As I hugged her and pleaded she stay, I could see it was a hard decision for her too. It was hard to seperate our crying forms and after a while, Aunt Celine begged my father to let me come with her to the train station.

I never got the chance to see my father's face that day. I never got the chance to gauge his feelings through his expressions. Was he happy, devastated, crying even?. I never got to check and I guess even if I did I probably would not remember because all I can remember that day was wrapping my crying self around my Aunty, holding her shaky hand on the car ride over to the station and watching her slim frame board the train and wave at me through the window before my father dragged me away.

Turning back and staring at her wet face that matched mine, I knew something bad was happening. She wasn't just sick. I never saw her again. That was the second person to leave my life.

I sniffed and wiped the sides of my eyes. I didn't need to put a dark cloud over today so soon. It promised to be a good day. I had my hair up in a pretty bun. Tiny studs in my ear. And I put my smile back on. I tapped my sandal covered feet together and walked out my room. Imagining the look on Corn's face when she saw me and excited for the day ahead.

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CORN

I just put the picnic basket on the end Jade's bike in front of my house. I had gone over to retrieve it and the basket earlier. I had put together a ham sandwich we would share and honestly the thought of the healthy snack she had brought that first time at kiss valley still haunted me. It was horrid. I packed better snacks. Two bottles of fruit juice and water. They could barely fit into the basket. And I was riding today. I was so excited.

As she walked out and across the street toward me, she looked like something out of a dream. A beautiful, magical dream. Her creamy skin contrasted against the shimmery green dress. As she got closer, she gave a little twirl and I almost swooned.

She looked breathtaking. My eyes couldn't seem to find a place to focus on. The low neck of the dress gave me a view of a little cleavage. Just a little. Peppered gracefully with freckles. The sun was out this fine Saturday and her freckles come to life like stars in the night sky when she was kissed by the sun. They would only become more pronounced throughout the day. Much to my delight. God she was gorgeous.

"You like it?"

"Jade, you look so beautiful" I felt flushed "I may be underdressed" I said looking down at my jean shorts and yellow short sleeved top with buttons down the middle.

"Corn I don't know if you know this, but you'd look good even if you wear a trashbag" it caused me to laugh but she looked serious as her eyes travelled the length of me.

...

"Ugh God" Jade moaned "that was really good" she wiped the side of her mouth.

"It's just ham Jade" I giggled

"Still it was really good" she said before taking a sip of juice. I looked at her slender exposed neck and watched as she swallowed and then ran her tongue over her lips. My mouth going dry. She turned to look at me and smirked

"Perv" it made me laugh even though I could feel the heat on my cheeks.

"Well, you're really taking this anniversary serious. I mean look at your gorgeous dress. You could have at least given me a heads up" I said smiling.

"Anniversary?" she asked with a look on her face I couldn't read.

"Oh..um...I didn't mean to say that...I just thought...forget I..forget I said that..I just thought-"