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Post by Lela Porter on Aug 3, 2014 22:30:37 GMT -6
Lying out on the beach as the sun set, Lela took in a deep breath of the sweet salty lake air. Excitement buzzed all around her as everyone settled in to wait anxiously for the show. With only ten dollars left in her pocket, she had already bought a funnel cake and three glow sticks from the vendor who was pushing his cart up and down the sidewalk. Now all she wanted to do was dig her toes into the sand and enjoy the lingering summer warmth on her skin. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the kids running up and down the shoreline, splashing each other and squealing in the delight of the evening.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2014 19:55:46 GMT -6
As usual they had put in a full day even if it was July 4th, national holiday and all that. Well, on the other hand, so did all farmers for the animals needed to be cared for each and every day. Bobby knew it was just something he'd have to learn to get used to if he was going to stay. On that point he was still ambivalent. Of course that was something he had been all his life it seemed.
The local community was putting on fireworks once it got dark enough, firing over the lake so a place like the beach was a perfect spot to get a great view. Thus they found themselves that evening, relaxing and waiting for the show like everyone else. Bobby had been happy to go, not so much for the fireworks, yeah those were nice'n all but he'd seen fireworks before in his life. The same was not true for getting a chance to see Lela in a swimsuit. Hey, he was a teenage boy, of course he was curious, make that eager even.
Bobby had showed up at the farm with just a knapsack of belongings so that was one of many things he did not own, a swimsuit. So he simply wore a tee shirt and cut off jeans just at the knees, not that he was thrilled about showing his pale legs. It was a beach, thus sand and no need for either his sneakers or socks.
Spotting a vendor's cart that sold cotton candy, he decided what the hell might as well blow almost the last of his meager remaining funds and purchased two of those paper sticks with that delicious cloud of candy goodness. Hopefully Lela was a fan of it. It didn't take him long to find her as he scanned the beach, even though she was lying down. He padded up, the soft sand between his toes, it felt good.
"Hey! Look what I found," he smiled then sat down next to her.
"Back in my home town it's a patriotic tradition, you have to eat cotton candy at the fireworks or you're a traitor to our country," he extended one to her.
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Post by Lela Porter on Aug 8, 2014 15:43:49 GMT -6
Lela opened her eyes and squinted against the remaining light of the setting sun to find Bobby standing over her offering her a paper cone of cotton candy and talking about patriotism. ”Well, I wouldn’t want people to think I’m unpatriotic,” she chuckled, pushing herself up into a sitting position. She took the fluffy pink cloud of spun sugar from him and plucked a tuft of it, popping it into her mouth. She savored the sweet goo as it melted in her mouth, closing her eyes and letting out a small sigh.
She had been looking forward to a night of letting go for a while now. After struggling so much to make it on her own, it was nice to have a home and a group of people she enjoyed spending time with like this. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe and free. For the first time that she could remember, she actually felt happy.
The sand crept up the legs of her denim shorts and stuck to her legs while the breeze ruffled the edge of her cropped tie-dyed t-shirt and brushed her stomach and lower back. Holding tight to her cotton candy to keep it from getting sandy and ruined, she stretched, trying to release some of the tension in her sore muscles. She was getting used to farm life, but it still took its toll on her. As she extended her legs, her left foot brushed against Bobby’s and she giggled as she recoiled, ”Oh! Sorry,” She was beginning to feel lucky that the summer heat had already left a glow on her cheeks so that no one would see her blush. ”I guess I should pay more attention to where I’m stretching, huh?”
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2014 10:01:10 GMT -6
She accepted his offer of cotton candy, he had hoped she would eat that sort of thing and it was always good to be proven correct. He sat down next to her then and for a moment they both tore off fluffy shreds of the pink treat then popped them in their mouths. It was pretty simple stuff when you come down to it, teased sugar but he figured it's popularity came from the texture and that you usually ate it at fun places during fun times. This qualified in his opinion.
Lela stretched then and accidentally brushed his foot with hers. No big deal. She apologized for it though, which was sweet.
"Hey, it's fine. You can kick and bat me around all you want, I can take it," he quipped.
"Say...Lela, just out of curiousity, how old are you? I know you're not supposed to ask that of ladies but ..." he shrugged then added, "I'm seventeen although I'm sure you thought by my rugged physique and perfectly trimmed beard that I was twenty-five or something." Hardly, most folks thought him even younger than his real age.
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Post by Lela Porter on Aug 10, 2014 7:20:50 GMT -6
"Oh, well in that case!" she teased, playfully punching his are with all the force of a loose dandelion seed. It was easier to goof around and pretend she was beating him up than to sit there awkwardly, letting her imagination run wild with all the possibilities, good and bad, of what would happen if she let her guard down and really let him in. She was getting more comfortable with him though, enough to be sitting just a few inches away from him without squirming and self-consciously scooting away.
”You’re right! You shouldn’t ever ask a girl her age.” she laughed nervously, skirting around his question. She really didn’t want to lie to him, but she knew that she couldn’t just go around telling people how old she really was. Besides, what would he think if he knew what she had been through that made he run away from home in the first place, let alone some of the things she had been through to get this far. Would he be scared away? Or would he try to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be alright now? She couldn’t quite decide which would be worse. In all honestly, she would rather just forget everything about her past. At the moment, the present was much better anyway. In the short time she had been at Silver Valley, it seemed that such an environment would be good for her. Indeed, she would almost dare to say that she felt happy.
She shifted uncomfortably now, searching the horizon for a distraction. Just when things had been going so well, her insecurities had to rear their ugly heads. She could only hope he would let it go and move on. She popped another chunk of cotton candy in her mouth and let it melt slowly. "Thanks for this by the way."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2014 20:43:20 GMT -6
She jokingly punched him on the arm, but it really wasn't with any force. Bobby just grinned but didn't even make a wisecrack because he had just stuffed a big wad of cotton candy in his mouth. His attempt at finding out her age completely failed though, in fact he wasn't certain if she was actually annoyed with him for even trying. She certainly shut up after her snappy comeback, there was a moment of uncomfortable silence before he finally spoke.
"Umm, OK, sorry," he shrugged and picked at the cotton candy again.
She was polite enough to thank him at least for the cotton candy treat.
"Like I said, it's patriotic you know," he referred back to his earlier quip.
He looked over to her then said, "OK, let's try this then. You come up with the next topic of conversation - in fact how about this? You can pick a question to ask me, any question, any question at all, and I'll answer it. Kind of like truth or dare - without the dares."
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Post by Lela Porter on Aug 11, 2014 9:43:47 GMT -6
"Okay then," she responded nonchalantly. Truly, she liked this new game just about as little as she did the first, but she wasn't about to lay all her cards out on the table. Now all the pressure was on her to keep the conversation flowing, which was not one of her strong suites. Still, as long as the game remained one sided, she would play along. She decided to keep things relatively light, but as embarrassing as possible, in the true spirit of the game. "Who's the hottest girl you ever kissed?"
She figured it would be best to start off sweet and simple, and get him reminiscing about fun things in his past. Gods knew, they both had enough bad to fill an encyclopedia, but this was a party, and she wanted to keep things as casual and relaxed as they possibly could be, for both of them.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 20:21:23 GMT -6
Lela didn't seem too enthused on his latest suggestion either given the tone of her voice but she at least considered it enough to come up with a question. And what a question too! So she was curious about his prior exploits kissing girls huh? Bobby was willing to answer honestly but he had a hunch she was going to be a bit bored by it, nothing too exciting really.
"Hottest girl huh?" he grinned, "You know if you think I'm this dude who had girls swarming all over him or was a real ladies man, sorry but that wasn't me. I can tell you exactly how many girls I've kissed. Ginger....at a Christmas party when a few of the girls were walking around holding mistletoe over various guys' heads. Ginger was decent enough, wouldn't call her hot...lukewarm maybe. It lasted like a second ....maybe."
He paused then continued, "So that leaves Danielle. I took her to a dance and on her front porch when it was over, we kissed. It was nice, she was nice too. As far as hot, yeah, most guys would say she was pretty hot. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Next week I found out she had decided to go steady with Bradley."
Bobby shrugged, "That's it. Not very impressive is it?"
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Post by Lela Porter on Aug 14, 2014 20:40:06 GMT -6
Actually, that was pretty impressive. Not many seventeen year old boys would admit to only having kissed two girls, let alone tell the stories without embellishing them, at least a little bit. Lela cocked a brow at the boy in response to his tale. She found herself wondering for a moment if it was just an act to make her believe that he wasn't like every other guy she'd ever met. Maybe it was. She couldn't be sure. "Bradley, huh?" she smirked. It seemed like there was more to the story there, and it was just so easy to get carried away with digging deeper into people's personal lives than they wanted her to go. "Was he a friend of your or something?"
She thought back on her years in school and how she would refer to her friends differently than everyone else, like how Brittany Hayes used to torment her in the hallways. "I had a friend named Danielle, well, Dani for short, but.." She promptly shut up when she realized she had blurted out a little piece of truth about her past. As insignificant as it might be, she couldn't take the risk of letting little bits like that slip through. Dani wasn't just her friend, she was her best friend and the one who encouraged her and helped her to get out when things got really bad. If it wasn't for Dani, she probably wouldn't still be alive today. How could she possibly convey what that girl had meant to her without getting into all of the details?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 10:12:50 GMT -6
"Oh yeah, Bradley," Bobby smirked, remembering the dude well though not fondly, "No, he wasn't a friend. He was starting tight end though for the varsity and he pretty much reminded everyone around him of that. He could have picked me up and broke me in half. That is if I was stupid enough to challenge him, which I was not."
For just an instant, Lela spoke up about someone she knew, it was just a tiny opening into her guarded past but then....she was done...or rather unfinished might be a more accurate term for it. Bobby slowly nodded.
"Danielle, I always liked that name. You know how I picture her? Taller than you...wouldn't take much though would it?" he grinned then continued, "Dark hair, nice eyes, decent looks no cheerleader goddess though. And nice...I bet she was nice."
He looked at her then wondering if he gave her an opening?
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