"No, you're not going. You won't ask me again, Zera." The finality dripping through my mother's tone has my fingernails clamping down on my palm and my eyes burning.
Yet it still failed to seal my mouth shut, "Why can't I go? I used to go to the lake from time to time. Why not now?"
She heaves out a sigh, her stare burning my skin with the irritation oozing out of it.
One thing my mother despises the most is talking back in the wrong tone.
"You think Lilly didn't tell me what happened there the last time?" She pins me down with a sharp look.
My eyes go wide. My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water.
"I wish you would understand why I am saying this, Zera." She looks at me with that look in her eyes, that one I hate the most. It's as if she's tired of me. Disappointed to say another word.
"Mom, I do understand!" I kept my voice low. "I do understand. But I just—I just want to go. I'm tired of always staying inside. I'm just— you know what? Okay. I won't go to the lake. I will go somewhere no one is." I felt my vision get blurry.
I'm just so frustrated.
It's Friday. And I'm supposed to Meet Arlo at the Ocean like all the other times in the past month. But mom is home and she isn't letting me out. I've been whining til afternoon and nothing happens. I can't tell her I'm going to the Ocean since I don't even know she knows about its existence. Well, she will definitely know it, won't she? But not me going there, though.
"I just wish you would understand me too, Mom," I whisper.
"Zera…" Her eyes soften, her voice a whisper which contains her compassion in it. "I understand you, my dear. But I'm concerned."
"Don't be, Mom. I'll be fine."
She stares at me. Her lips pursed together as I waited for them to open and let the words I want to hear fall out.
But she didn't give me a word. She just nodded.
"Can I go?" My eyes dilated.
She nods again.
I don't have enough time left so I run but not before I heard her say: "Stay safe." And I return a quick affirmation before running away. I run, run, and run until I don't have to anymore.
I'm at the ocean.
God, I can't breathe. My lungs are burning up and screaming for some air. I give it as much as I can as I suck in cool air hungrily.
The roar of the ocean invaded my ears and let me know I'm home. This is where my heart lies.
"Aren't you a little too late, My Zera?"
My heart tripled over at the way he calls me 'My Zera'. It was last Friday when he called me that. I was so embarrassed that I became as red as a tomato. And Arlo took pleasure in seeing me like that.
He won't stop calling me that after he realizes the effect it had on me.
My eyes ride up to Arlo. He is so painfully handsome that I need to bite down my lips so hard that I won't say anything that would embarrass me.
"I was about to return."
"Thank Heaven that I made it on time" The words came out without my consent, and heat sprouted on my cheeks.
He laughs. The sound of it vanishes away all the bad days I have this week.
"Mom was at home," I say as I walk toward him, slipping out of my chappals as I do.
The cool sand bussed the sole of my feet pleasantly, "She didn't let me out. Until I made a huge fuss and she could no longer say no."
"Mh-hm" He smiles down at me.
A small wave comes and gives my feet a wet kiss. I walk further into the ocean as in a trance.
Soft fingers curled around my wrist ever so gently and I'm struck by electricity. My eye is twice its normal size and suddenly I'm conscious. I'm knee-deep in the water.
Arlo tugs me back until only tiny waves can reach us. He let go of my wrist but I could still feel his fingers gracing my skin. He stood close enough that the back of our palms brushed against each other. Yet it wasn't close enough. Never close enough for me.
"I heard there is a festival in the mountains." He whispers.
"Ah, yes."
"I always heard about it being the greatest fair in all of the mountains. And I have always wanted to see it by myself. Now that I come to Alvera more than I ever thought I would, why don't I go to the fair too?" He chuckles. A soft sound that fades into the breeze.
"Won't you go?" He asks.
I have never been to any festivals. I wasn't allowed. No grays are allowed.
His fingers are on my wrist again. My skin tingles. My heart dances. And my breath catches. A million butterflies take birth in my belly.
I stare at him. He stares right back at me.
The words are flowing out of me even before I know it, "Grays aren't allowed to go. My family goes every year. But not me. Never me."
Something flashes in his eyes.
Silence settled in the space between us.
"Do you want to go?" He asks, his eyes staring into my soul.
"I do. But I never could."
"Oh, You can." A wicked smile curves the corner of his lips. He's so damn gorgeous. I can't look away. Oh, I could never look away from his flickering lavender orbs.
"You will go with me, My Zera."