My Youthful Days: Fireworks

Sparks fly and flames ignite

It was the last day of the summer festival, and Tristan and I were spending the day helping set up the fireworks display and some of the booths. It was hard work, but fun. Plus it kept my mind off of the incident from the night before.
We were just about done putting the tarp over our last Booth, when the rest of the group showed up. To my dismay, Katrina was with them. Our eyes met for a second, then I looked away; embarrassed. Lexy ran over to us, and and took a seat on the booth's counter.
"Aren't you boys hard at work?" she said in her playful voice.
"If I was hard at work you would know it," said Tristan with a big grin.
"Dude, must you always be like that?" Asked Walt, shaking his head.
"If I change, where would your nonstop fun come from?"
"Maybe from someone who doesn't think a rotten fart is news worthy," said Sutton.
"Yeah, or that announcing he took a huge s**t should be grounds for a parade," chimed in Davis. We all had a big laugh after that. Tristan and I finished up, and everyone decided to walk around town for a while. Just like the year before, the girls went to buy dresses for festival's final day, and we guys got to hold purses and complement them.
From the moment we left the festival grounds, I could feel Katrina staring at me; I was still too embarrassed to say anything though. After the customary shopping trips, we stopped at Green's Diner for a bite. I went to the to bathroom to wash my hands, and was drying them, when Davis walked in.
"Nathan, bro, you have to talk to her," he said to me.
"I know," I said, dropping the paper towel in the garbage, "I just don't know how to approach the subject."
"Dude you have been in love with the girl for two years now. You two are best friends, she knows almost as much about you as I do." He walked over and placed his hands on my shoulders, which being in the men's bathroom, made me kinda uncomfortable. "Just tell her how you feel, if it's meant to be it will be." He then turned and left. I stood there for a moment composing myself after our weird conversation, then followed.
When I got back to where we were sitting, everyone was gone. Everyone, except Katrina. She was sitting in the booth with her back to the door. I walked up to her and sat on the opposite side.
"Everyone said they had things to do, and would meet up at the festival tonight," she said as I sat down.
"Um, why did you stay back? N-not that I mind or anything," I said, still looking down.
"I knew you broke your cell, so I didn't want to leave you here alone not knowing what's going on."
"Thanks." I muttered quietly. We sat there is silence for what seemed like forever until she got up.
"Well I should be going, I have to get things ready for tonight."
"OK, so I will see you at the festival?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'll see you there. Later Nate."
"Later Trina." I watched her leave the diner, and head up the street. I sat in that booth for hours replaying the other night over and over. Each time sinking deeper and deeper into misery. It was almost past seven when I emerged from my sinkhole of self pity. I rushed home to the dorm to get changed. After a shower, a quick bite, and brushing my teeth, I put on my cloths and headed to the festival. By the time I got there, it was in full swing. I found them all by the entrance; they had been waiting for me. All the girls were in their new dresses, but the one that stood out most was Katrina. She was wearing an emerald green dress that matched her eyes. She wore her hair down, the flowing red lochs slightly covering half her face; her shoes purse and necklace all matched her dress. I had always thought Trina was beautiful, but that night she was gorgeous. I walked up and greeted everyone, and we entered the festival.
The fireworks display didn't start until ten, so we had a few hours to burn. We walked around looking at the different games, trying the different foods, and riding the rides. Before we knew it, it was nine thirty. Everyone was already heading to the viewing area to get a good seat for the show. As we headed there, I noticed Trina was falling behind; Davis noticed too. He walked up beside me and nudged me in the ribs. That had always been his silent way of saying "go for it idiot." I fell back, and walked beside her.
"What's wrong? You okay?" I asked her. She gave me a pained smile.
"It's these damn shoes, they're hurting my feet." I gave a slight chuckle.
"Wasn't it you that said beauty is pain?" She smiled at me.
"Actually, I may have borrowed that line."
"No kidding." We both had a laugh as it was starting to feel like old times again. We entered the viewing area, and found seats with our friends. The fireworks had been delayed due to "technical difficulties," which all of us took as Tristan had messed something up. As we sat there waiting, Glenn showed up.
"Hey there Nate, I hope no "hard" feelings about last night friend," he said with that stupid grin on his face.
"Go away Glenn, we are just here to watch the show," I said, starting to clench my fists.
"I wanted to watch a show last night, didn't you Trina?" At these words, I jumped up and stared him directly in the eyes.
"You know you drugged me. I would never have done that otherwise," I growled at him through clenched teeth.
"What do you mean drugged? I have no idea what you are talking about," he said, faking innocence. He looked down at Trina.
"But he would have put on a great show anyway, wouldn't he have Trina?" I looked back her, tears had started rolling down her face. She then jumped up and ran from the area. Glenn started to cackle.
"I bet she did like your perfo......" Before he could finish, I punched him square in the jaw with all my might. He spiraled backwards and hit the ground. I turned and ran after her.
She wasn't at the festival, so I wondered where she went. The forest edged the festival grounds, and that's when it hit me. I hopped one of the barricades, and a ran into the forest. When we were little kids, whenever one of us was sad we would go to a special spot in the forest. We called it our happy place. For some reason, I knew she would be there. It took me about ten minutes to reach it, by whichtime it was completely dark. If it wasn't for the moonlight shining in the clearing, I would have been lost. As I entered the clearing, there she was, sitting in the swing we built, slowly rocking back and forth.
"I thought I would find you here," I said, walking up to her. My sudden appearance startled her and she jumped out of the swing.
"Yeah my feet were hurting, and this place was close, so I stopped here to rest..... I'm going now." She started to walk past me.
"Wait," I said, "I have something I need to say."
"What is it?" She asked me. I took a deep breath, slowly let it out, and turned around to face her.
"Last night I wasn't myself."
"Well I know that." I put my hand up.
"Please let me say this. I wasn't myself because Glenn drugged me. Me and Davis had a argument, and I was pissed. I went out to get a drink, and Glenn was there with a bottle. I didn't know he laced it."
"That still is no excuse for what you did. You still haven't even..."
"I'm sorry." I took her hands into mine. "I am so sorry. I would never do anything to intentionally hurt Trina, I lo..." I froze, I was just about to tell her how I felt, finally put it out there, and I froze. She was looking me right in my eyes now.
"You what? What were you going to say?" Here it was, decision time. I could be a man and tell her how I felt, or a chump, and stay just a friend forever......f**k that, forever is a long time. I looked deep into her eyes.
"What I was going to say, was I love you." In the distance, there was a low whistle, and the sky above us exploded with light. "I don't mean as a friend or as a pretend sister, I love you like a man loves a woman. Trina, I love you." As she looked up at me her eyes began to swell with tears.
"About damn time you idiot." She said, grabbing me by the back of the head. I kissed her, and it was the best kiss of my life. As we stood there in each other's arms, the fireworks continued to above, as if celebrating true love's union. Within me I was filled with unparalleled joy. I had finally told Trina how I felt, and even better, she shared the same feelings for me.

LATER DAYS.....

Reviews

[Asakara Yoruto]

This will be a series? The story is pretty interesting, but I don't know what happened before.

[Matthew-Ryan Willams]

Yeah this is just a chapter from one of the series books

[Matthew-Ryan Willams]

Leave your thoughts I'm thinking of rebooting this series