Tuesday, September 18.
Arabella tugged on the hem of her skirt before sitting down on the steps. With a little sigh, she looked around at the hustle and bustle of Fifth Avenue before she turned her eyes down to her bag. She pulled out her packed lunch, a plastic container filled with a chef salad, and opened it up. She had been going to school for about two weeks at that point and she wasn't too sure how she felt about it. On one hand, she was loving it. Arabella was starting to make some friends and she was enjoying her classes for the most part. But on the other hand, she didn't really like it. Arabella missed her friends from camp. She missed the climbing wall, the arts and crafts, the smell of strawberries, seeing nymphs and satyrs in the feilds and the rush she got when she held a bow or a sword. Arabella leaned back a little bit as she chewed her salad, looking up at the building she was sitting at, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Whenever Arabella was in the city, she liked to spend some time on the steps at The Met. Lunchtime during school was no exception. Her school was just around the corner, so she was able to walk down at lunch.
"Arabella!" When she heard her name, Arabella glanced up and smiled when she saw a group of girls walking towards her. It was almost odd to see them walking. The girl in front, Olivia, was clearly the leader. She wore a headband on her head like a crown and the others walked a step behind her. In all honsesty, Arabella wasn't too sure why these girls wanted to be friends with her. As fasr as Arabella could tell from the talk around school, this small group were on the top of the pyramid. Olivia was queen and the other girls were her minions. Being around a god was easier than being around these girls.
"Hey, Olivia" Arabella said, smiling up at her and putting her bag down at her feet, making room for the others. She took a small bite of her salad while the girls sat down then dug through her bag for a bottle of water. "How's your day been?"
"Oh, it was good" Olivia said, taking a little thing of yogurt out of her bag and having a bite. "Are you coming to the party on friday? It wouldn't be very fun without you there"
"I'm not too sure, yet. I'll let you know before then" Arabella told her with a little smile and she looked down at her salad, which was a good thing because she missed the look that the girls exchanged.
"I saw you talking to James in English" Olivia said, in a tone that said she was trying to make a point. Arabella glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow. "Are you into him?"
"I..am I.." Arabella cleared her throat and she shook her head. "Oh, gods-God, no. He was just helping me with the work" She explained, brushing her hands off on her skirt. "I should get going, though. Sorry, I need to talk to Mr. Monard before class" She said, finishing off her salad and tossing the container in the bag. With a small smile, she waved at the girl before pushing herself off of the steps and walking back towards school.
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Arabella was happy when the ball rang that day and as she walked down the street, her hair blowing slightly in the warm breeze, she was thankful that she lived so close to the school. It only too her about 15 minutes to walk back home and that was if she walked slowly or took the side streets. It was a warm, fall day and Arabella was looking forward to getting home. She had a pile of homework and a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the freezer.
As Arabella walked towards her house, she looked down at her bag, digging through it to try and find her keys. Not looking where she was going, she walked up the steps to her home, trying to find the keys. "My gods, took you long enough to get home. I was starting to wonder" A voice said and Arabella squeaked, looking up at a familiar shape. Her heart was racing from the shock but it started to go back to normal when she saw who was standing in front of her.
"Ethan!" Arabella dropped her bag and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. She ahdn't seen him since she saw him at camp. She hadn't seen anyone or anything since she left camp and it was killing her. Arabella missed being able to share such a huge part of who she was.
"I missed you too, Arabella" Ethan laughed, hugging her tightly. He had a deep laugh, a warm laugh. She closed her eyes and buried her face into his neck, taking a deep breath. Seeing him was a high light in her day.
"How are you? How have you been?" Arabella asked excitedly, pulling away from him and tugging on the hem of her skirt.
"I'm good. I've been good" Ethan said with a little laugh and he put his hands in his pockets, leaning against the wall. "How about you? You look amazing. I almost never get to see you in a skirt" He teased and Arabella smiled, rolling her eyes a little bit.
"Well, who would wear a skirt at camp? There's too much moving to wear a skirt" Arabella said then thought about it for a moment. "Well...half of my cabin wears skirts.." She laughed and picked up her bag, adjusting it on her shoulder.
"Are you going to invite me in or are we just going to hang out on your doorstep all night?" Ethan asked and Arabella giggled a little bit. Her mind thought back to her bedroom, which was a total mess since she had pretty well put the entire contents of her closet on her bed in the pursuit of a cardigan.
"Come with me" She said and she hooked her arm with Ethan's. Together, they walked away from the brownstone and Arabella led him towards Central Park.
"How was school?" Ethan asked her, walking close to her.
"Ugh...so boring and so long" Arabella rolled her eyes and yawned. "It makes me miss the ancient Greek lessons" She teased, nudging him a little.
"Of course" Ethan laughed.
"I actually stubbed my toe the other day when I was in school and I cursed in ancient Greek. You should have seen the weird looks I got" Arabella giggled. Ethan laughed at her story and pulled her closer to her.
"I would have paid good money to see that" He teased ad Arabella rolled her eyes, smiling.
"I'm sure you would have" Arabella said with a roll of her eyes. They stepped into Central Park, starting to walk along one of the trails. They walked in a comfortable silence for a while. It was nice. Arabella was able to feel relaxed around him, simply because he knew about the most important part of her life. She didn't have to hide anything around him. They walked around the part for along time. A lot longer than Arabella thought they had. They didn't need to talk, not really. They pointed out funny things they saw, she told him about her school and the girls she met there. It was nice.
The sun was starting to set when Ethan walked Arabella home. The afternoon had passed so quickly but Arabella was happy. Together, they walked up to her house again. The windows were dark, which meant that her father was still at work. "I had a good day" Ethan said, putting his hands back into his pockets and smiling down at Arabella. She gave him a little smile back.
"What, uh..what took you so long? I was kind of expecting to see you two weeks ago.." She asked him in a soft voice then cleared her throat. "I mean...after the way that we left things, I just kind of assumed that I would see you sooner. I don't know..sorry..forget I said anything" She took a breath and looked down at the ground. Ethan was silent for a moment but then he placed his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up so that she was looking at him. Before she could say anything, Ethan bent down and he pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss.
"I was worried that you wouldn't want to see me or that you would have forgotten" Ethan whispered then pulled away a bit. Arabella looked up at him, taking deep breaths. After a few moments, she smiled and nodded. "Look...I have to go. I can't miss my bus. But I'll see you soon. I promise" He said and he kissed her again.
"Okay.." Arabella breathed and as he walked away, she brushed her fingers across her lips. She stood there for a long couple of minutes then turned and walked into her house, trying really hard not to freak out.
Arabella took a deep breath and slowly climbed the stairs to her bedroom. When she got there, she started putting all of her clothes away. Arabella's mind was swimming and she had no idea what to do. Finally, when her room was clean, Arabella grabbed a notebook and a pen then walked out to her balcony on the roof.
With a sigh, she looked out over the skyline then started to write.
Dearest Hunter,
I know that this probably seems weird. I mean, we hardly even know each other but I'm still sitting here on my balcony and all I want to do is write a letter to you. How have things been at camp? Have I missed anything? Did any of your brothers blow anything up yet?.....Did you blow something up yet?
Thigns have been okay here. My dad is at work a lot, though and my brother is back in school. So I spend a lot of time on the couch, watching sappy love movies alone. It makes me wish that I knew my mom more than ever, you know? I was never alone at camp. I'm alone here.
School is going well, too. My dad has me going to a really amazing private school and I couldn't imagine going to any other school. My dyslexia makes a lot of the work difficult to do but the teachers really want as many students as possible to go to an ivy league school. So they offer a lot of extra school help.
A couple of girls from school have started talking to me and I wish that I could say that it's a good thing. They're total bitches. Luckily, I haven't been on the bad end of it, yet, but I've seen them do some really terrible things. The way they act, you'd think that they were royalty or something. This girl, Olivia, is the head bitch in charge and she is scary. I think that she could beat Medusa in a staring contest. No joke.
I guess I should get to the whole point of this letter. I've been ranting on about school because I've been avoiding the whole point of this letter. I don't even know how I'm going to say it. It feels so big and monumental. I guess I should just..come out and say it.
Ethan kissed me today. I should be happy. I should be jumping up and down and dancing. I should be writing in my diary and drawing hearts with his name in them. But I'm not. I'm writing this letter to you. I'm writing this letter to you because when he kissed me, I saw your face.
We hardly even know each other. We didn't get a chance to really become good friends or anyhting like that but I can't stop thinking about you. After that night on the beach, everything just got so much more complicated and I had to leave that camp but, gods, I miss you. I think that we could really have soemthing. I can feel it when I'm around you. We could have something special.
I couldn't wait until summer to tell you all of this and I'm sorry for leaving. My mind is a jumbled mess and I just...I needed to let you know how I feel.
XXOO
-Arabella.
Arabella scanned her eyes over the letter before tearing the paper out of the notebook. Gently, she folded it up and slipped it into an envelope. She closed her eyes and held her close to her heart, praying to her mom for guidance.