Silence by Rebekah Shimer (best novels for beginners txt) 📖

his knees. I smiled at him, but I tried to push him away. He wouldn’t move from his spot, so I knew that I would have no choice but to go with him. I nodded and he jumped up from the ground. He hopped around and cheered like a little kid, which made me really start to laugh. Edwyn stopped his jumping fit and walked back over to me like nothing had happened.

He said, “Shall we go?”

“I have to get ready first.”

“You look beautiful.”

“Yeah. I bet I do, what with my uncombed hair, my teeth not being brushed yet, and my pajama bottoms.”

He smiled and said, “You know it.”

“I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

I walked back into my room and shut the door. I put on a pair of skinny jeans and a plain black shirt. I walked back out and saw Edwyn sitting on the couch, but he hadn’t noticed me come out of my room yet. He looked over when I walked towards him and he smiled.

He said as he stood up, “And away we go!”

I shook my head as he hooked his arm through mine and walked me towards the door. I looked outside and saw that it was raining. I grabbed my jacket quickly and put it on before Edwyn dragged me out into the bone chilling rain. We ran to his car and got in quickly before the rain that was now coming down in buckets had drenched us. He turned the car on and put the heat on full before we froze. He pulled out of the driveway and started to drive down the road. I turned the radio on, but made the music just loud enough for a little background noise so it wasn’t completely quiet.

He asked me, “Where do you want to go?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I don’t know. Surprise me.”

He smiled and said, “As you wish.”

I smiled as he drove out of town and down the old, paved road towards one of the bigger towns near ours.

He asked me after a few seconds of driving by plain fields, “So what do you want to do today?”

“Well it kind of depends on where you’re taking me.”

He smiled and said, “Fine. I’ll surprise you.”

I giggled a little and looked out the window. All of the fields were wet from the rain, but the rain was only coming down in a mist now. It was almost a peaceful mist as we were driving through the country. I smiled as we drove through the small town that we usually went to so we could hang out. He pulled into the town’s bowling alley and shut the car off.

He asked warily, “Is this okay?”

I smiled and nodded, “Oh yeah. I always love to beat you at bowling.”

He raised his eyebrows and said, “Did I just hear a challenge in your tone?”

I shrugged my shoulders cockily and said, “I don’t know. Did you?”

“You are so on.”

We opened the car doors and jogged up to the front doors. He held the door open for me and I walked in slowly. The bowling alley was huge. It was during one of their hours where the lights were completely out and only black lights were on. Edwyn’s neon yellow track shirt brightly shone, even underneath his jacket. We walked up to the main counter and Edwyn smiled at the manager. The manager was thin and wore western clothes. He had a white beard that was a few inches below his chin, but the hair on top of his head was much less.

Edwyn asked, “Can we get some shoes?”

The manager nodded slowly and asked in a raspy voice, “What sizes?”

Edwyn said, “Size eleven for me.”

I said quietly, “Seven and a half for me please.”

He nodded and handed us the right sizes. We walked towards one of the lanes and set our coats in one of the chairs.

He asked me, “Do you want any food?”

“I can get some myself. I’ll be right back.”

He nodded and started to get the machines ready for our game. I walked up to the front counter and ordered some fries for both Edwyn and me. I leaned against the counter and looked around while I was waiting for the fries to come out. There were only two other couples that were apparently on a double date. They were already almost done with their game and both of the boys were far ahead of the girls put together. I looked around some more and saw that there were old retro signs of guitars and bowling pins being knocked down.

There was a small TV that was playing some reality show. The manager of the store was watching the TV, not really making any movements. I thanked the cook for my fries and walked back over to Edwyn. He had set up the whole game and was waiting for me. I handed the fries out to him and he took a couple. I set them down on the table and walked back over to him.

I asked him, “Who’s going first?”

“You can.”

I nodded and picked out a bowling ball from the rack. It was the tiniest one that they had, but it was still slipping from my fingers a little. I walked up onto the lane and brought the bowling ball up to my face. I threw the ball down the lane and almost slipped. I heard Edwyn laugh behind me, but I turned around with my eyebrows raised when I had gotten a strike.

He started to cough to cover it up and said, “That was good. Good job.”

I laughed and said, “Your turn.”

He got up and threw the ball down the lane with as much grace as a ballerina. The ball flew down the lane and knocked all of the pins over with one hit. He turned around and I laughed at his expression.

I said, “Let the game begin.”

He laughed and said, “Now, now. Let’s not allow this get the best of us.”

We both laughed and I walked towards the lane. I picked my bowling ball up and threw it down the lane with a little more grace than the last time. It went all the way down, but it went into the gutter at the very end without hitting any pins. Edwyn laughed behind me, but I just turned around and glared playfully at him. The ball came back up the lane and I slowly grabbed it again. I threw the ball down with force that time and it ended up hitting seven pins. Edwyn gave me a pat on the shoulder when I came back towards our seats. He grabbed his ball and threw it down the lane. It hit all of the pins again and he threw his fist into the air. He was smiling hugely, which made me feel better about losing. At least he was having a lot of fun.

He sat back down and said, “Beat that.”

I shook my head and said, “I don’t think I would be able to after that amazing display.”

He laughed as I took my ball again and threw it down the lane. It continued like that until the game was over, with Edwyn beating me by fifty points. I laughed when Edwyn asked me if I wanted to play another game.

I asked, “What so you can just beat me again?”

“I’ll go easy on you.”

I laughed and punched him on the arm. He jokingly rubbed the spot where I had punched him, which made me punch him again. We were both laughing when we walked out of the bowling alley after two more games, both of which Edwyn had beat me, even though he said that he was going to go easy on me. He held open my car door and gently shut it when I had gotten into the car. I looked outside while he got in the car, but started to squeal when he shook his head to get rid of the drops of rain that had fallen on him while he was walking to the car. He leaned closer to me and shook his head even harder. I recoiled against the door of the car and put my hands up to block some of the rain, but it didn’t really work.

He grabbed my hands and put them down so I would get the full blow of the water droplets. After a few seconds, his hair was almost dry and I was covered in little drops of water. I flicked my hands in the air to get the water off of them and glared at Edwyn. He laughed and drove out of the parking lot. I couldn’t really tell what time it was since it was raining outside, but I couldn’t read the time off of Edwyn’s broken clock on the dash of his car. The clock on his dash hadn’t ever really worked ever since he had bought it, but he didn’t have enough money to fix it, plus he didn’t really see the reason to get the clock fixed since he could’ve just looked at his iPod to see the time.

I asked him, “What time is it?”

He moved his iPod out of his pocket and handed it to me. I turned it on and saw that it was a little past three o’clock. I knew that my mom would’ve figured that I was out with Edwyn, so I didn’t really see the need to call her. I turned Edwyn’s iPod off and put it in one of the cup holders underneath his dash. I watched as the windshield wipers wiped all of the droplets of rain off of the windshield, only to have to do it again and again from the continuous fall of rain.

Edwyn broke me out of my trance when he asked, “What time do you have to be home?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “My mom’s never really home anyways. She’ll probably not even notice that I’m gone.”

He nodded and continued to drive in silence. I looked over at him, only to find out that he was looking over at me. He turned a little red when he realized that I was looking back at him.

I asked him, “What?”

He shook his head and said, “Nothing.”

“Oh come on. What were you staring at me for?”

“I just-never mind.”

“You just what?”

He sighed heavily and asked after a minute of silence, “I wanted to . . . ask you if I could . . . hold your hand?”

I looked at him for a minute, noticing how darker of red his face was becoming.

I smiled and said quietly, “Yes.”

I held my hand out and he slowly took it. He rested both of our arms on the center consol and continued to drive with a little happier expression than before.

I said quietly before I looked back outside, “Thank you.”

He looked over at me and asked, “What?”

I looked back at him and said, “I said thank you. I’m flattered that you asked. Most guys would’ve just taken my hand. Thank you for asking.”

He smiled and I could tell that he was happy from my reaction. We drove the rest of the way in silence, knowing that we were both putting off the inevitable.

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Audrey

 

When we broke the outer ring of town, both of