Golden

by Leah Adams

  Life made you wonder about the real meaning behind it.

  I began to look at the metal fence that surrounded the park. The fence kept the forest and everything in it out. Things like bears and mountain lions, but they already seemed to stay away from the parts where there where tons of people.

  My eyes went back to look at Luria. I saw that she and a little girl were both playing together. I smiled at her and then saw that she frowned at the little girl only for her eyes to look at me briefly.

  She smiled at me and waved. After I waved back I leaned back. I pulled out my cell phone and began to call Beth and see how her date went. It rang only two times before I heard her voice.

  “Hi Bonnie, what’s up.”

  I laughed. “Nothing, how have you been?”

  “Good.”

  “That’s great. So I can just assume that your date went good.” I asked her with a smile.

  “Yes it did, but guess what I saw last night on said date?” Her voice held clear sarcasm.

  “What?”

  “I saw Angelica with her tongue down Damon mouth and you clearly flirting with Jay.”

  I hit my head with my free hand. “I was not, and why didn’t you say hi and tell us you were going to be there for said date?”

  “I didn’t want to mess up your flirting and Ang make out session. You didn’t tell me either, I was like I would just talk to you about it later at school, by the way I told our other friends and they have a few choice words for you and Ang.” I rolled my eyes and groaned. “Well anyway he asked me where I wanted to go and I was thinking I didn’t want to make this first date to romantic you know…so I said why not that club.”

  “How in the you know what did you get in?”

  “His older brother works there, but that is so not the point, did you get to kiss Jay? I mean if you did I am so….”

  “No! I did however throw my drink at the jerk for trying to kiss me.” I laughed.

  It was quiet for a few moments and then I heard her chuckled. “That is so Bonnie, sexy hot guy and you throw your drink in his face. At least it seemed Angelica got luckily. How is she?”

  “She is sick.” I told her wondering what she would think about that.

  “I guess she would be after the night I bet she had.” Beth laughed. “I wished I could say that same, but only a small kiss on the cheek was all the action I got.”

  “So you had fun?” I asked now knowing Beth wouldn’t think Damon had anything to do with Angelica.

  “Yeah, it was really fun up until that fight broke out in the club.”

  “A fight?” I asked my mind trying to wrap around the words she had just spoken.

  That was why everyone was running out of the club. I thought and was now really paying attention to Beth words.

  “Yeah, everything was going nicely. Then all of a sudden for no reason at all Nathanial just punched a guy. Everyone started to scream and start to run out of the club. He was really going at the guy Bonnie; soon Leon came up from behind him and pulled him off. He looked pissed to, like he was upset about something more than just Nathanial fighting, but Jonathan was trying to pull me out of the club so I wasn’t really able to get the full four-one-one.”

  I heard her laughed but I started to wonder more about that story. I needed to know what had happened, but I didn’t want Beth to know that. I knew if I asked her for more information she would start asking why I wanted to know.

  “Well I am happy that didn’t ruin your date.”

  “Yeah me too.” I could hear the smile that had to be on her lips. “We ended up talking about it and saying what a hell of a first date. He even asked me out again.”

  “That’s great Beth.” I said then looked up to see what Luria was doing. My eyes looked all over and I didn’t see her.

  “Yeah, I know. Damn I have to go Bonnie; I forgot to finish that homework, in history. I will call you later. Bye.”

  “Bye.” I said and hung up as I got up off of the bench.

  I was starting to panic. I looked over to see the parents where all talking and then my eyes landed on the little brown haired girl that Luria had been talking to. I watched her eyes and followed them.

  That was when I saw Luria. She was on the fence and was trying to go over it. When she got over the fence she looked back at me and frowned. It was like she was trying to tell me not to embarrass her.

  But I didn’t really care.

  “Luria stop!” I yelled and she didn’t listen, she just started running out into the forest. I began to go run after her.

  I went over the fence wishing that whoever had built this fence had built it bigger. I knew that the animals didn’t come this far in, but it was still dangerous. My legs were taking me all over the forest.

  My mind cursed me for not being very athletic. I kept trying to see if I saw her. I started yelling her name and running all over the pure green forest.

  I could hear the bugs and small animals all around me. It made me more afraid.

  The farer I got into the forest and couldn’t find her the more I thought the worst had happened. My mind kept hoping she wasn’t hurt. I knew she couldn’t have gotten too far. She was very fast and did have long legs for someone her age, but she didn’t have that much of a head start. But this forest was huge and it did have a lot of turns. She could have gone another way then I went. She was so little and if anything happened to her I would never be able to forgive myself.

  I fell over a small piece of tree root and hit the ground hard. A small whimper came from my mouth. I tried to get up, but I fall again. I used the tree next to me to pull myself up and tried to walk. I quickly felt a pain go right to my ankle the moment I moved.

  Just what I needed to do. I thought. Twist my ankle.

  I fought off the pain and tried to keep walking yelling out Luria name. That’s when I heard something. I turned to the side. There she was standing completely still. I walked over to her, limping and getting ready to yell at her for not listen to me, but when I got to her I stopped all my actions.

  My eyes stared at the mountain lion that Luria’s blue eyes were staring at. I began to blink as the mountain lion stared at us. I saw it open its mouth and growl. I put my hand on Luria shoulder and felt her tense slightly.

  “When I say run I want you to run back to the park.” I whispered to her. She shook her head no. I wasn’t sure if that was from fear or her not wanting to leave me. “Just listen to me.”

  I was going to try and get the mountain lion to look at just me so that she could get away. I was afraid, but I had to get Luria safe. I was going to die. I knew I could fight off a lion, but that didn’t matter at this moment. Only Luria being safe did.

  “When I say go.” I said and I saw her shake her head yes.

  I took a deep breath and began to go to the side of Luria. The mountain lion was watching me and it opened its mouth growling. I think it was getting mad.

  My eyes saw a huge rock lying on the ground and I slowly went down to pick it up. The lion eyes were staring at me with an evil look. I knew it would be only a matter of moments before it tried to attack us. Once I had the huge rock in my hands I kept looking at the lion that had binned down in what I thought was an attack movement.

  “Run.” I said.

  I heard Luria feet began to take off and just was she did I throw the rock right at the lion that looked like it was about to go after her. The lion jump back and it eyes went right on me. My body turned and I was about to try to run-knowing full well I could not out run a lion- but I felt my ankle feel with pain and I hit the ground.

  Everything went black.

  “Bonnie, are you ok?” I heard an angelic voice asked me. I knew this voice but it sounded so much softer and sweeter to my ears then it used to sound. It couldn’t have been Jay, his voice never sounded like that, but who could it be.

  I slowly opened my eyes and saw that it was Leon. His grey eyes were staring down at me in wonder.

  My head hurt like I don
’t know what. I felt so hard and filled with pain. I moved my hand to my head to touch it. It hurt slightly but not enough to get a ouch out of me. When I brought my hand back down I saw that there was blood on my hand.

  “Leon?” I whispered not too sure if his name came out right.

  “You hit your head pretty hard, but I think you will be ok.” He smiled at me. “There is only a small scratch on your head, but nothing that will leave a mark.”

  “The mountain lion.”

  “It’s gone don’t worry.”

  “How?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He told me and before I could protest I felt his arms go around me picking me up from the ground as if I weight nothing at all.

  “Luria.”

  “I’m ok Aunt-t, I am so sorry.” I heard Luria tell me. Her voice seemed so far away.

  “It’s ok.”

  “I think I should take you to the hospital.” I heard Leon say. This made my eyes stare up at him.

  “No.” I said in a weak protest. “I just need to get some ice for my head and I will be fine.”

  His eyes stared into my mine and I felt a blush start to heat up my cheek. Man why was I acting like a girl. I hoped he wouldn’t notice.

  “Did you drive here?” He asked suddenly.

  “No.”

  “I’ll take you home then.” He said and then his eyes went down to Luria who had a smile on her face.

  It took him only moments for him to get us back to the park and by the time we got there I felt like I should tell him he didn’t have to hold me anymore. I knew I should tell him I could walk now, even with me being afraid that I would start to shake with fear of what could have happened.

  “I can walk.” I told him after we got to the park parking lot. “And you don’t have to take us home.”

  “No, I think I should make sure you get home safely.” He said with a soft small. “Are you ok, to walk?”

  “Yes.” I told him.

  He placed me on the ground and I rolled my eyes when I saw that we were right in front of a car. Something told me it was his. My eyes stared up at him as if saying very funny.

  He asked me if I was ok with walking with knowing I wouldn’t have to walk since we were already at his car. Leon shrugged his shoulders with a small grin on his lips.

  I stared at his car and admired its beauty. It was nice to look at, not as nice as Jay car, but still nice. Something told me that Leon didn’t like to show off as much as Jay did.

  My eyes looked down at Luria and saw her eyes looked as if they were in love. Something told me she would almost pass out if she saw Jay’s car.

  “The new Maserati!” Luria said. She could speak so well for her age and she spoke even better when it came to cars. She was such a little tom boy at times. “You must be rich.”

  I heard Leon laughed and I looked at him as if to say sorry for my niece. She was worried about me embarrassing her and here she was doing it to me. My eyes looked him over trying to see if he was embarrassed by her remark or not.

  Leon seemed perfectly unfazed by the remark and looked as if there was even a small blush on his pale cheeks.

  I smiled. I had never truly paid much attention to him nor the other forbidden four, even with him being in one of my classes, I had never tried to stare at him and find out more about him.

  To me Leon had always been the quite boy that sat in the back of class by himself and only said anything when called upon. He never acted like the rest of his brothers, who wanted attention at every turn. He acted as if he never wanted it.

  I had seen girls try to ask him out before, but he never went out with them. Now that I thought about it, he wasn’t even paying attention to any of the girls at that club. I didn’t even remember a time when he had kissed a girl. His brothers did all the time, but never him it seemed.

  Even with the forbidden four being a group that I didn’t know too much about, other than their womanizing ways, it was like I knew nothing at all about Leon.

  I could very well say that Jay was self-centered, Damon was a jerk, and Nathaniel loved his older women, but Leon I couldn’t place.

  My eyes stared over the paleness of his skin, it was even paler then Angelica’s who had once called herself a vampire. His hair was blonde a pale white blonde that looked as if it hadn’t gone through that stage of getting darker like Luria once pale blonde hair-now a sun like color-had done. Leon beautiful grey eyes that looked like if you stared into them to long you would get lost into the mystery that was Leon.

  He was taller than me and but not as tall Jay, who could very easily tower over me. Leon height wasn’t what one would call intimidating. He looked to be only a few inches over average height for a man. His built wasn’t even that bad. He was slender but muscular just not as muscular as Jay, who six pack body would make anyone green with envy.

  His eyes caught mine for a brief moment and I think I saw him turn red slightly. I put a small grin on my lips and he put his hand on the back of his neck rubbing it as if he was now very nervous.

  “Let me get the door for you two.” He said after my eyes had looked away from him. He opened our doors and I smiled warmly at him.

  “Thank you.” I said as did Luria.

  When he got in the car and started the ignition for some reason I became nervous. My eyes turned to look at him and I saw that there was a small smile on his lips like he had just heard an inside joke that I was not in on.

  As I looked away and watched the road I began to wonder how in the world I had gotten myself into this. Here I am letting another person in the forbidden four drive me home.

  Chapter 4

  Wanting to Know

  After I told him how to get to my house it didn’t take him long to get us there. I figured it wouldn’t, we only lived ten blocks from the park. So by the time I had gotten too nervous with him sitting next to me he was pulling up to my house. It had been so embarrassing having to listen to Luria in the background singing to a song that she that must have been playing in her head.

  He had kept the same small smile on his lips as he drove, making me hope he didn’t think I came from a weird family. But as I thought about it I had no idea why I cared what he thought about me or my family. It wasn’t like he was my friend or even someone who I spoke to on occasion. He was just in the forbidden four. That’s it.

  But that explanation that I had come up with in my head didn’t stop my stomach from twisting and making me want to just hurry up and get out of the car. I had no idea what was wrong with me. He is just a normal guy I kept saying in my head. It just had to be because I was still in shock from almost being killed by the mountain lion. Then having it be him in saving me must have made me feel this way.

  “Thank you.” I said putting my hand on his car door handle. It was cold and felt nice against my warm skin. “And thanks for the saving me…..well….thanks.” I wasn’t too sure what to say about that. I was just too much of a smart mouth to know how to really say thank you to him. Saying thank you for someone saving my life seemed so weird for me, since I was the one who helped those around me or so I liked to think.

  “Not a problem.” He said then his eyes looked up into his mirror so he could look at Luria. “Luria, would you mind if I talked to your auntie for a moment?”

  Her face lit up with a bright emotion that I had never seen on her before. I think she was just happy that someone was asking her for permission to do something for once.

  “Ok, I want to play in the backyard.” She said and started to get out of the car. “Thank you, Leon.” She smiled and got out, closing the door, and letting her long legs take her to the backyard of my house.

  There was a slight frown on my face at the fact that I had no idea what he wanted to talk about with me. We had never truly spoken before. I don’t think we had even said two words to each other before this day. So I had no idea what he would want to speak about with me.

  I kept my eyes staring straight before me. I could see all the tr
ees that were on my block to the houses that were perfectly lined up on the next block. There were a few children that ran around outside playing with each other. The sun was shinnying so brightly down upon them that I was sure a few of them gain more color on their bodies by the end of the day.

  “I hope that was ok.” He said and something told me he was talking about Luria.

  “If it wasn’t ok it’s too late now.” I grinned proud that part of my attitude had come back.

  “Yeah, I guess I should have asked you before I did that.” He said as his grey eyes turned to look at me. “I’m sorry for that.”

  I stared at him with a blank look. He made it so hard for me to snap at him and think that he was a jerk. It was easy for me to yell at Jay and call him names, but Leon it was really hard to even think of such things. He was so sweet and so nice. I found it hard to want to yell at him.

  He seemed like I guy who if I got to know better, I would gladly call my friend.

  “It’s ok.” I said hoping my voice didn’t show the pure nervousness I was now feeling. I felt so weird not to feel like I had everything in control and that no one could make me feel otherwise, but sitting next to Leon I felt like he was the one in control.

  I knew that he was just as nervous as I was by the way his cheeks were blushed and how he kept his hands firmly on the stirring wheel like he was afraid to move them. He was so unlike Jay that it was weird that the two were friends let alone brothers.

  My mind still didn’t believe the brothers thing that all the girls in the school believed. It wasn’t that they looked nothing a like more that they didn’t have one thing out of all of them to say they were indeed brothers. Even Luria and her brother had the same nose, big eyes, and lips. The little boy even cried all the time the way Luria had done and in a way still does when she doesn’t get her way.

  But at the same time it was more than just those reasons. It was just something about them that told me they were not brothers. They seemed like they were all close enough to say they were brothers, but there was something off about it.