Tears of the Broken (36 page)

“
A
surprise, but—”

“
Come on.” David offered me his hand,
suddenly standing, when a second ago he
so
was not.

“
Hey, how did you…?”

“
Come on.” He reached down and grasped my fingers, hoisting me
off the ground, into his arms.

My
protest stopped instantly with the feel of his smooth skin—a whole
bare chest full of it—on the side of my face, my collarbones, and
the back of my forearms as he wrapped them around his
waist.

God,
just the way he holds me is enough to make me believe I’m loved,
like somehow, when I’m in his arms, nothing could bring harm to me.
Little bumps rose over my cheeks and across my shoulders—making me
shiver, but not from cold, though. Is it possible to get these from
touching somebody—from merely feeling the softness of their skin
against yours in places you’ve only dreamed of for so long, or am I
a freak?

“
Shh,” David said.

“
I
didn’t say anything.” I rolled my face upward to smile at him, but
my brow creased the second I saw his tightly closed eyes and the
ultra-still mask of concentration plastered across his face.
“David, what’s going o—?”

“
Shh.” He opened his eyes for a second, smiling warmly before
closing them again.

I
exhaled a laugh and buried my face against the small hollow at the
centre of his chest, where his kind of sweet, citrusy smell sent a
tingling sensation pulsing down my throat when I breathed him
in.

All
of a sudden, a strange puffing sound, like a light tapping of rain
on a soft piece of cloth, filled the air. David pulled me closer,
pressing one hand to my lower back, rolling my hips against him,
and the other to the base of my neck, forcing my face into his
chest. My cheek squished up into my eye and my lip jutted out. God,
don’t look down—this is
so
not my sexy face.

But
his eyes stayed closed—tight, and his beautiful dark-pink lips, set
perfectly into his golden brown skin, twitched, then turned up on
the corners.

The
pattering sound around us became louder and a flock of birds burst
out of the canopy above us—colouring the sky in reds and
greens—stealing the quiet with their chattering calls.

Silence fell over the island again as the birds disappeared
into the distant horizon. Then, I saw something move from out of
the corner of my eye, and felt a soft, silky tickle—like a feather
brushed my arm. I hid my face against David’s chest—shielding my
eyes.

“
It’s okay,” he said in a low voice. “You’re safe here, with
me.”

“
I
know,” I said, keeping my eyes closed tight as the desire to turn
my head, just an inch, and rest my ear over his heart threatened to
turn into action.

David gently kissed the top of my head and tangled his
fingers in my hair as his lips moved to the side of my face, then
brushed against my ear with a whisper, “Look up.”

Slowly, my eyes flicked open and I blinked a few times. “Oh,
my God.” I watched in amazement as a fluttering cloud of yellow,
and pale-blue butterflies filled the space around us like coloured
snow. “How is this possible?”

“
Anything is possible.” David smiled. I smiled back and
reached out as the glowing sun filtered down through the leaves and
lit the winged creatures in a soft, misty light. The butterflies
formed a circle, encasing us in a magical orb of nature as they
fluttered across my skin like tiny silk kisses.

When
David’s eyes met mine, the almost gem-like green stood out among
the pale colours of the butterflies. The corners of his lips
twitched into a simple smile and he looked up at my open hand. I
looked, too, just in time to see a blue and black butterfly land in
my fingertips and flutter its wings for a single moment, before
flying away. “David, this is so beautiful.”

His
eyes fixed on my face and he pressed the tip of his nose to mine.
“I know.”

After a smile, I let my lips fall softly apart, and my mouth
watered with the sweet, almost honey-like scent of his breath. If I
stay here too long, he’ll run away—he never likes to be this close
to me. But my mind took control, and my eyes closed as I inhaled
the heat of his breath on the tip of my tongue, letting myself
imagine the way his kiss would feel.

Then, the dream left my thoughts and touched reality. David’s
lips skimmed across the surface of mine, so softly, so hesitantly,
coming to rest just in front of my mouth as he breathed for the
both of us.

The
world stopped. Every sound, every brush of air disappeared until
only he and I existed. His fingers tightened on the small of my
back, and my heart tapped like a pen-tip on leather—tight and
anxious.

My
dress lifted a little when he closed his hand into a fist, bunching
it up at the back, then pressed his wrist into my spine, sweeping
me up onto my toes. As my face came in line with his, our lips
touched—moulding into the shape of perfection as each fine crease
along them lined up. He held my bottom lip in a seal with his,
breathing deeply through his nose for one long breath, then broke
away for a single moment before pulling me closer and holding my
lips to his again—tangling his fingers in my hair.

This
dream will be over all too soon. If I’m going to make it last
forever, I have to see his face. When I opened my eyes, the golden
beams of sunlight shone through the cloud of butterflies, and I
held back a smile.

This
has to be a dream. I must be asleep.

The
look of concentration remained on David’s face while he kissed me,
and I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my breasts against
his bare chest until I could feel the heat of his body through my
thin, red cotton dress. It’s the only thing between us now; I wish
it were gone.

With
a soft laugh, David pressed his hands to my cheeks and drew my face
away from his. His wide eyes displayed surprise and his lips sat
parted as he panted heavily, staring at me incredulously. “So, it’s
true. You’re
not
shy.”

My
cheeks flushed with the heat that rose up from my limbs. I wanted
hide my face. David smoothed his thumb over my lips—wiping away the
moisture from the kiss—and smiled. “Don’t be embarrassed, Ara. You
are so beautiful when you blush.” He pulled me close again and
whispered in my ear, “Are you happy here?”

“
Yes.” I breathed out, closing my eyes. “But it’s only for the
moment. You’ll be gone soon. And then I won’t be happy
anymore.”

“
You
will
forget about me one day,” he said in his soft,
deep voice. “I promise you that.”

I
shook my head. “No, David, I’ll never forget
you
. I’ll love you for the rest of
my life.”

One
corner of his mouth turned up into a smile. “That, my love, is what
I’m afraid of. Because I…will love
you
…until the end of time.” He
wrapped his fingers around my wrist and rested my hand against his
heart, then, with his other hand tangled in the back of my hair,
pressed my face into his chest again.

We
stood together in the endless embrace and watched the miracle of
life swarm around us for a while. But all it did to feel him so
close was make me fall so much deeper in love with him—so much that
I’m sure I’ll die when he goes away.

Chapter
Thirteen

At
dinner, my salad gave no consolation as I absentmindedly poked it
with my fork. I’m losing David. He’ll be gone by winter and there’s
nothing I can do about it—not even a magical first kiss can
save
happily ever after
.

Our
dreamy afternoon was followed by an intensely silent drive home,
with me trying so hard not to burst into a snivelling, needy
teenage girl. I didn’t even get to go hide in my room and sob when
I got home, because Vicki needed help with dinner, so the grief has
just been accumulating. And now, my chest feels like I swallowed a
rock.

Vicki watched me closely the whole afternoon—dinnertime being
no exception—and Dad, oblivious to my emotional state, talked with
Sam across the table about his History project with Mr. Adams. But
I didn’t care for any of it. I just had my first kiss. All I wanted
was to go upstairs and waste my evening dreaming about it—or maybe,
in my case, crying.

“
Ara?”

I
looked up from my plate. “Hm?”

“
How
was practice this afternoon?” Dad asked.

Practice? Oh, yeah, David told him a lie to get me out of
class. “Um, good. I’m gonna perform a piece of music from a movie.”
I smiled and continued my all-important fork-assault on a
carrot.

“
You
mean going to, not gonna,” Dad added sternly.

I
shrugged.

“
And
you have your friends coming over this weekend, don’t you? Emily
and Alana?” Vicki asked, taking the salt from Dad’s
hand.

I
nodded.

“
How’s your mythology paper coming along?” Dad
asked.

“
Good,” is all I said, borrowing Emily’s shrug. It isn’t good,
though—I haven’t even started it.

Though they all sat silently then, and the feel of their
stares burned into my face until Sam started laughing; Dad looked
at him with a raised brow. “Something funny, Son?”

“
Ara’s in love,” Sam teased.

I
sat up straight in my chair and scowled at him. “I am
not.”

“
Yes, you are. You wanna marry
David
.” He laughed,
poking his fingers in the air at me.

My
cheeks went really hot. Dad looked at Vicki, and a smile crept up
under her lips. “I think you’re right, Sam.” She pointed to my
scornful face. “I’ve seen that look before.”

Okay, Dad, time to step in—stand up for your only daughter. I
pleaded with my eyes, but Dad broke into laughter, too.

Traitor.

“
I’m
sorry, honey.” Dad wiped his mouth and placed his napkin on the
table. “But I think your brother may be right.”

Damn
it. I shouldn’t have sat here and thought about David. Now they’re
all going to ask questions, and worse, expect answers.

“
I
wondered why you were so eager to go to school.” Vicki covered her
smile with her hand.

“
Well, I guess we’d better have young David over for
dinner—discuss the dowry,” Dad joked.

“
Dad?” I whined and hid my face in my hands. How embarrassing.
But they’re right. I’m painfully in love with this guy—for all the
good that’s going to do me.

“
So,
I guess he’s taking you to the Fall Masquerade, then?” Dad
asked.

I
looked up. “The what?”

“
Oh,
yeah.” Vicki heaped a spoon-full of potato salad onto her plate and
smiled. “Ara’s never been to a masquerade, has she?”

Dad’s eyes lit up. “No, she hasn’t. Well, this’ll be exciting
then.”

“
Wait, what’s the Fall Masquerade?” I asked,
confused.

“
Every year, during fall, the town holds a masquerade for
high-school seniors—like a school ball, but for the whole town,”
Sam said. “You have to wear a mask and a giant dress—totally
lame.”

“
And you know what that means?” Vicki
squeaked. "We get to go
shopping
.”

“
Well, David hasn’t asked me yet.” Thank God. “When is
it?”

“
They’ll put posters up soon. It’s usually held in early
autumn,” Dad added.

Hm,
a ball. I guess it would be pretty fun to go to a real ball. The
last one I went to wasn’t really a ball at all. It was an end of
year ‘Formal’, and my ‘date’ was my best friend, whom my mum
actually had to
pay
to take me, because he thinks wearing a penguin suit is an
indication that you want to mate with an arctic bird. And since he
didn’t want to mate with me, he’d told my mum, it was going to cost
her. We had fun, though, Mike and I, but the Formal was no
masquerade.

Almost as if Dad read my mind, he asked, “When’s Mike
coming?”

“
Oh,
um, his interview is next Monday, so he’ll be here on the Tuesday
some time.” I smiled widely as I spoke, tapping my feet rapidly
under the table.

“
How does
David
feel about that?” Vicki asked
in an evocative, feather-ruffling tone, without looking up from her
theatrical diversion of dishing out the salad.

My
shoulders dropped and an involuntary sigh escaped my lips. “David?
Why would
he
care
about my best friend coming to stay?”

Vicki’s expression suggested the obvious; she didn’t even
have to speak. My lip curled. “David doesn’t see it like that. He
knows Mike’s my friend.” How narrow-minded can you get?

“
Well, we’ll just see, won’t we?” She rolled her head to the
side. “Ara, sometimes a girl as young as you can misinterpret
things, see them as more innocent than they really are. Mike’s a
fully-grown man—” She placed the salad back on the table, “maybe he
feels differently about you than you do about him.”