The air around had changed from when I arrived Sunday. It was Saturday and I was ready to get in my aunts car and head to the airport. My things were packed and I had said goodbye to almost everyone.

I knew she’d be waiting for me on the beach. I walked out of the house and down the boardwalk. I let the morning chill wake me up as I scanned the tables by her favorite café. I looked towards the clear sky and smiled slightly as I thought of the five full days I was able to spend here. Today was the first day the sky was clear. Go figure, I spend a week here and of the five days I can be out and about, it rains.

I couldn’t complain, though. Those five days were probably the best days I’d see in a long time. “Lou!” I turned quickly as I heard her call my name. “Listen, Dork. My friends and I are going to the cabin for the day, are you in?” My smile faded as she closed in on me. “Don’t punk out on me now, Tommo.” She smiled at me, the right side of her mouth causing it to be slightly crooked. It was the smile that would forever be burned into my brain; it was a smile that held secrets. “Tomlinson?” She laughed and poked my nose.

Shaking my head and taking in a breath of fresh air, I concentrated on the question. “I’m leaving, Talli.”

“Oh….” Tallulah closed her golden green eyes, “Right, sorry. I forgot you don’t live here.” She looked back at me, matching my gaze. “Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” She turned then froze. Her hand reached into the shoulder bag hugging her petite body. “I want you to have these.” Talli faced me again, her hand slowly coming out of her bag as they clenched a small stack of black and white pictures. “I have copies of them all, but I figured you’d want these for, I dunno, memories?” She rolled her eyes and let go of the pictures as I looked at them.

The one on top was of me; I was in my wet suit looking on the ground after learning to surf. I smiled, remembering how frustrating it was. “I didn’t know you had this picture. We didn’t even meet until that night.” It was the day I had flown in. I was too excited to feel the jet lag. My aunt’s boyfriend took me out right away to teach me.

“I live on that beach and you were a new face. Come on, I take picture of almost anything.” She scratched her head, causing more hair to fall from her messy bun. “There are only 7, seems we were a bit distracted this week. I expected to have more.”

I flipped to the next photo. It was of her. The first day, day one, Monday. I’d taken it when she tried to teach me how to work her camera. Her hands were in front of her face as she told me where to focus it. I snapped the picture just before she moved away to laugh at me.

“Look, they are waiting on me, I should go. Have a safe trip.” I looked up to her moving in and kissing me on the cheek.

“Wait, can I have your number or address?” She pursed her lips together and turned to jog away. “Goodbye, Tallulah.” I whispered as I stood there, alone, for a few minutes, wondering why she would just leave. A simple goodbye, a few pictures. There was hardly a chance I’d see her again if she just left. I wanted to chase her. To follower her and demand a number, demand one last kiss. One last taste of her lips. But I couldn’t.

I just stood there, stunned, pictures in my hands and cracks slowly trailing through my heart. I felt almost nothing, like every switch in my entire body leading to emotion and pain, shut off. I felt nothing, but I didn’t feel empty. There was no proper way to explain what it was; there were no words to describe how I felt. Nothing, just…nothing.

The walk back to my aunts was short. The moment I got in, I was rushed to the car and put on the plane. The world sped up. I felt like a car in the express lane. Going 80 MPH as everyone sat patiently in a traffic jam. Before I knew it, I was sitting in my seat, flying through the clouds. 10 hours…10 hours until I was home.

It didn’t occur to me, at first, that I had carried the 7 black and white pictures on the plane with me. They were placed thoughtfully on the empty seat beside me. When I had brought myself back from staring wordlessly at the clouds for the first hour, I reached for the photos, the first one I took of her placed on top.

We had met on the boardwalk that night. We both were craving strawberry ice cream, when the guy called for someone who’d ordered the ice cream, we both reached for it. Of course, I let her have it and waited for the second one to come through. But she didn’t leave with just that. She smiled and offered her company.

We spent the night talking and getting to know each other. When it was time to leave, we promised to meet back in the morning. I found her on the boardwalk the next day, a camera slung over her shoulder as she gazed out at the waves. I wanted nothing more than to run right out and surf, it was the whole point of my trip, but I ignored the urge and met up with her.

She didn’t take any pictures while we were together that first day. I was the only one, and it was only because I wanted to goof off. She took the camera away after that shot and refused to give it back. We ended up sitting under the pier as it rained heavily for most of the day.

Smiling, I moved the picture off the top of the pile and gazed down at a profile of me. I had a huge grin on my face. Though the picture cut off at my arm, I knew there was a laser pointed in my hand as I teased her kitten, Tyson. He was running all around the floors, sliding into walls and bashing his face into the floor. All just to get the annoying little red light.

I had seen the flash go off and quickly reached for her camera. Talli fought at first, but her fears of breaking the expensive electronic came though and she gave it up. I lifted it to my face and tried to get another photo of hers. But she hated pictures of herself. All I got was the back of her hair.

The photos were getting harder to look at. There was no way I could look at the next one. I knew what it would be, but I didn’t know how it would look. Setting the photos back down, I grabbed a notebook and pen.

It was as if the words just took me over. It was hard to explain how and why, but my hand was moving and lyrics were being written and I had no idea how something could come out like it did.

She’s just a queen in a crowded castle,
Whispers of her life spread all the time,
She can’t keep it private,
Tossing pennies and dimes,
A wishing well, perpetually deep,
He sinks to the bottom, slowly falling asleep

Nothing can save him,
Not a scream or a cry.
Just a queen with her love,
Tossed in a tower so high.

Slowly he’s floating,
The air so sweet.
If only she could see him,
As he climbs to his feet.

The pens ink started fading as I wrote the last word to the song. It was unfinished and there was no music. It was just words floating on a paper. Just a poem I’d never sing. It wasn’t my style. It felt so, hopeless. Like Romeo and Juliet. Yet, this had no ending; it was just a poem unfinished.

It would be so easy to just crumple the paper and toss it in the bin. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was in 4 hours now. The plane still soaring through clouds and words still trying to push their way out. Constantly, the phrase “You don’t learn to fly if you’re not prepared to crash” came up. I repeated it over and over in my head as I let my eyes wonder to the photos again.

The picture of the back of her head had slipped off the top slightly and revealed the image of a single black cat paw on wet pavement showing. I couldn’t resist looking now.

I grabbed just that picture and held it in front of my face. I smiled as I saw her hands frozen as they reached for Tyson.

Tallulah was so attached to the kitten; he was only a few months old. She’d found him wandering alone on the beach and took him home with her. Her mum didn’t like it very much. A strange cat being brought into her house. But she warmed up to him.

Originally, we planned to surf that day. She was going to help me with my balance issues and anything else she found. But the rain from the day before had continued to pour down. So we grabbed a few movies from the library and settled down in her living room to watch them.

After the first movie, we discovered Tyson was missing. Without thinking about jackets or umbrellas, we set out. Like she always did, she grabbed the bag that held her camera. It was long before we found Tyson chasing a piece of paper across a street a few blocks from Talli’s house.

She handed me her bag and chased after the kitten. When he finally noticed us, he stopped in the middle of the empty street and watched me. I took out the camera and took a photo just as Tallulah picked him up.

We spent the rest of the days avoiding the rain and watching the other movies. We made plans to hike to her family cabin the next morning, rain or shine.

I took the photo of that day and smiled. It was the best day we shared. Probably the only day that I would remember clearly in the future. Hell, it could have been a movie.

We packed a bag of food, water, Tyson and left. Most of the time, I wondered where her other friends were, but I never bothered to ask. I was enjoying my time with Talli; it was easy to say I was falling for her.
~•~

The hike up to the cabin was long, the rain didn’t start until we had finally settled down inside. She was giving me the tour and we heard the faint sounds of water hitting the glass of the windows. I had her camera in hand and took a shot of her reaching out to touch the water.

She didn’t let the rain let us down this time. She took the camera, set it on the couch and pulled me out as the water pounded on us. “Dance!” She commanded, gripping my hands and pulling me towards the dock.

“Why?” I questioned, pulling back and brushing my hands through my damp hair.

She smiled and shrugged, “Haven’t you ever wanted to dance in the rain?” Her arms flew above her head as she spun.

I joined her and for a while, we just danced to the music of the raindrops on wood. When she was done dancing, she pulled me close. “Can you do me a favor?” She asked me. I nodded, gazing into her eyes. “Have you ever seen the Notebook?”

“Of course I have.” I answered.

“Kiss me like he kissed her. I want to kiss in the rain.” I froze. It was hard for me to understand why she was asking me to do it. We hardly knew each other, we hadn’t even hugged before.

I sighed, “Their kiss was full of passion.” I laughed, “We hardly have that in us, don’t you think?”

“Well, we’ll never know unless we try.” She pulled back, her smile growing more mischievous.

This time I didn’t sit back and ponder the idea, I reached forward and crashed her lips into mine. I kissed her as hard as I could. From the moment her hand grabbed that strawberry ice cream, I had never had an idea of what perfect beauty was. I could never describe true, heart throbbing beauty. She had me from the moment I locked eyes with her.

She was right with me, her lips moved with mine, her arms around my neck. We didn’t rush to do anything, we just kissed. We gave it our all and with our all, I could feel the butterflies trying to break free. I was falling, crashing towards the ground. I wasn’t ready for her, she was wild, she was free. She was everything I’d ever want.

We parted after a while, soaking wet. Tallulah pulled me by my hand into the house and smiled. “Thank you.” She gripped the tank top she was wearing and pulled it off. I almost turned away, but noticed she was wearing her bathing suit. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. “That was everything I hoped it would be.” She pulled off her shorts and walked away, leaving me to watch as the bathroom door shut.
~•~

“Sir, would you like anything?” My attention snapped back to the present. The flight attendant stood over me and smiled.

“No, thank you.” I put the picture down and checked my watch. I had about an hour before the plane was due to land. I had one more photo sitting on the seat. Just like the first photo, I had no idea what it was.

I sat there for a minute, collecting my thoughts. There were so many possibilities as to what it could have been. I found it foolish of me to be sitting here, worried about a photo. So I finally just picked it up and that was when I felt something, I felt the hurt I should have felt 9 hours ago.

The first thing I noticed about the photo was Tyson under the bed, all you could see was his little back paws. Above him was my arm. If the bed wasn’t there, I’d be resting it over his body. Next, at the bottom of the photo were Tallulah’s bare legs. I assumed there was nothing else above that. Seeing as I woke up to her asleep just as I’d left her the night before.

It was strange how this photo came to be. We lost track of time after drying off. We cooked some food and ate dinner. When we finally noticed the time, it was already getting dark. There was no hiking back.

I could assume that she planned it all. Us alone at a cabin in the rain. The city so far away. It could easily be pulled off.
~•~

We decided together to relax and wait for morning. We lit a few candles and played one of the board games on the shelf.

The game got boring pretty quickly. The daring little Talli quickly offered a new game. “Let’s play Connect Four.” She turned and grabbed the box from the entertainment center.

“Connect Four? We’ll just get bored in 5 minutes.” I went to stand, but she dropped the box on the coffee table in front of me. I looked at her, my eyebrow raised in confusion.

She bit her lip and looked at the box. “I don’t want to play traditional Connect Four.” I tilted my head and looked at her. “Okay, so the rules are the same, we take turns putting the little flat thingy—“

“Flat thingy?” I laughed, “We usually call them discs.”

“Shut up, Tomlinson.” She smiled, “I won’t even get to the good part if you keep interrupting.” She brought her hand to her neck and kept her eyes contact with the box, “Anyway! Each round, there is a winner, obviously, if you lose, you have to take something off.” Slowly her eyes found mine.

I sat there, wide eyed and getting really hot. She wanted to play Strip Connect Four. I’d never heard of a thing like that. I blinked a few times, “Well, that does make things more interesting.”

“You know what, it’s a bad idea.” She reached for the box.

I placed my hands on hers. “Do you really want to play?” She bit her lip and shrugged. “Look, let’s watch a movie instead. You don’t have to please me with provocative games.” I could see her relax a bit. She put the box away and turned the TV on.

Saying I didn’t want to play the game was a lie. Since the kiss in the rain, I wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off and take her as mine. I wanted to lift her, her legs wrapped around my waist as we kissed and I tried to remember where the bedroom was. I would fail to find the bedroom and retreat to the couch.

The shame about thinking everything I was, I was slowly getting aroused and she didn’t seem to notice. I cleared my throat and stood, walking towards the bathroom. “Be right back.” I said, feeling my cheeks turn red as the extra space in my pants started filling up.

Talli didn’t listen to me, though. She was right behind me. The moment I shut the door, she was opening it and in seconds, the space between us was nonexistent.

My suspicion of not finding the bedroom was proved wrong pretty quickly. Soon I knew what the sheets felt like on my bare back. How the bed formed to our bodies and how she fit perfectly against me.

I no longer had to wonder about her. I was able to see everything, to touch everything. She opened herself fully to me and I fell asleep with her wrapped in my arms.

The following morning was quite. It wasn’t the awkward after sex quiet you get when you sleep with someone new. It was the kind that said everything. Just the looks we had as we ate a couple granola bars. The way we just sat on the front porch and watched the rain fall. The world seemed so small those last two days. I forgot that I was leaving, that I wouldn’t be back for a while. And, I forgot that I might never see her again.
~•~

It was hard, sitting here on this plane, looking at the only proof that I had her. I’d fallen in love so fast. I’d fallen and the fall was long and hard. The impact left so much, yet, I hardly felt the pain. Part of me wished the plane was a car. That, I could just turn it around and take her in my arms again. Take all of her again.

But this wasn’t a car. There was no way I could U turn a plane. No way could I ever figure out her last name. California was so big, and despite the unique name she held, there was hardly a chance I’d find her.

The more I thought of her, the more I begged myself to do something. Despite that part of me that screamed, that told me to think logically. The closer to home I got, the more I missed her. The more I regretted standing on that boardwalk as she jogged away.

Realistically, I did the right thing. I was a singer song writer looking for a break and she was a photographer getting ready to ship off to school in some unknown state. Though our dreams could be paired side by side, there was no use in me holding her back or her holding me back. If fate had us planned for more, we’d meet again one day. But I knew, deep down I knew, I’d never see her face in person again. I’d never kiss her lips again. In time, I would be okay with that. But for now, as the plane slowly descended into London, I longed for her.

Tallulah showed me life, she showed me love, and she showed me more than I could ever share. I could never forget her, even without pictures, I could never forget her crooked smile or her golden green eyes. I’d always remember the freckles on her shoulders and back. The way she laughed and the way she said my name. She was something that would be burned into my brain forever.

Tallulah was my sun. The object that lit up the rainy days. And every time I find myself caught in a storm, I knew, I’d always remember those five days of summer.

Notes

Ah!!!!!!!

So this was fun to write, yet it hurt my heart so much

I did this because of a challenge. The challenge was to let people pick 1 of 5 songs for you to write about and to play the song on repeat as you write. I did that, and Five Days of Summer by Joe Brooks is now at 143 plays on my itunes. Thanks for that. xD It's like 143 times more than every other song kjsfgjklhsdgkdg xD

I did pick 7 pictures that could go with my story. Look through This Album. They ARE in order.

This is one of my favorites right now. It has so much heart put into it. I hope you enjoy it

xx Bambi