Keep Our Secrets

Knock knock.

"Yeah?" I yell out? The door creaks open and Josh steps in. I roll my eyes. "What?"

"What the hell happened?" He looks pissed off.

"I dunno. Go talk to Bailey. I'm sure she will tell you allll about it." I spit out, turning back to my desk.

"Come on Jake." He says. I set down my pencil and rub my eyes.

"I forgot one small thing, and she blew up on me." I turn and look at him.

"Well. What did you forget?" He asks.

"She asked if she can come to stay earlier, and I forgot to check with mom if that was okay." I answer. He nods. I sigh. "Is she okay?" I ask.

"She's pissed, but she's fine." He looks down. "She ran off after you talked to her last."

"What?" I stand up.

"She's just probably at the shack. She goes there when she's upset." He says. I walk past him and head outside.

Walking along the trail through the woods, memories from my childhood flash.

"Bailey! Wait up!" I run after her.

"Hurry up Jake!" She giggles. "I wanna see the stars!"

I look up at the sky, seeing how the sun is close to being set.

"Josh!" Bailey screams! "Your gonna get hurt!"

"A broken arm never hurt no one!" Josh yells. He leaps from the tree and falls flat on his back.

The big oak was the tree we would always climb. Always racing each other to the top.

I reach the shack and climb the creaky stairs.

"Bailey?" I murmur.

"What?" She answers. I push the stable door and it squeaks open. Walking in and see her sitting on the floor staring into space. I stand there for a moment, but she doesn't look at me. I carefully sit down next to her.

"Can we talk?" I ask. She just stares forward. This is going to be interesting. "Uhm." I look down at my hands trying to figure out what to say. "I'm sorry." I look at her. She peeks her eyes over at me, but quickly looks back at the wall. "I shouldn't have yelled at you." She shuffles a little, but eventually turns and looks at me. She takes a deep breath, and folds her knees to her chest.

"I'm sorry too." She whispers. "I don't know why I yelled. I guess I was just looking for a reason to be mad."

"Why?" I ask.

"I don't know." She starts playing with the rings on her fingers. "I just.. I guess I just wanted to find a way to let off some steam, and I took it out on you." She looks me in the eye. "I shouldn't have. And I'm sorry." She finishes. I nod, and she looks back down. Just by the look on her face, I can tell she feels really bad.

"Let's make a truce." I state. She looks up at me and nods. "When one of us is angry, we tell the other. No matter what it is. And we explain instead of yell. And we listen instead of speak over each other." She softly smiles. "That's our biggest problem. We both are constantly wanting to be heard. So why don't we listen to each other." I smile back.

"Okay." She giggles. I hold out my hand, and she shakes it.

"Alright. No more arguing. I hate arguing with you." I chuckle. She just stares up at me, still holding on. I look down at our hands, and I feel myself get hot. I look back at her, and her face is also red. We quickly drop hands, and I stand up. "Uhm. I think mom finished dinner." She nods and stands up.

"Thank you." She says.

"No problem." I answer. We walk back to the house in silence, just letting our footsteps and the outside noises fill the empty space. Even though I don't talk to her much, and she drives me up the wall, she's actually one of the only few people I feel comfortable sitting in silence with.

We get back inside and Josh runs to me.

"So?" He asks.

"So?" I question back.

"Did you apologize?" He asks again. I just nod and head back to my room. I sit back in my chair, and sit for a moment. As I think myself into the abyss, a slow melody starts to form in my head. Running over and over again, i quickly jot it down on paper. I grab my guitar and play it, and as I finish I feel myself grin.