Flames Underneath by Nina G. (books to read in your 20s female TXT) 📕

being in it would be probably putting all her innocence in flames. There was a creak of wood and the screen door slammed. It was Gail’s mom. time to leave. As if I was actually even invited to be here. I looked back and slowly walked to the windmill as I was thinking how nobody cared about me. Who am I compared to this amazing girl whom was loved by everyone else. She might even have a boyfriend waiting for her to come back to heaven.. where she came from.

Chapter three: Gail


It’s a cold, cold night… I changed my clothes from a tank top and jeans to a white long sleeved shirt and shorts. I feel sick. I don’t know why, but it seems like the sudden rising and dropping of temperature harmed me… I stared at the reflection of myself in the mirror. Ugh. Ugly… at the background was my bed built up of wood – of course. But I have to admit. It’s beautiful. its got pure white silk sheets. on the corner’s were the stands that supports the roof like top of the bed still made of linen. A type of bed where only princesses sleep in. on both opposite sides of the bed were counters with table lamps striped with the color of blue and white….. the room’s too plain. Wait till I add all my stuff here. The lamps were on and they were the only lights in the room. Which reminds me of Danny. I tried to avoid flash backs, concentrating on myself again. My eyesight were blurry. That light.. where’d it come from? Was he literally shining or were my feeling making it all up? in my reflection I looked paler my eye bags were showing as if I were as old as the background. I closed my eyes, breathed in and then out, grabbed my phone and called Jessica. “ Gail!!! OMG! OMG! OMG!” that sure did put a smile on my face. “ Jessie…”I said trying to calm her. “oh my god! I missed you so much! How is it there?” she said enthusiastically.. “ its… its… nothing compared to home.” I said. Careful not to say anything bad about this place. “ oh. Are there any hot guys?” I smiled and suddenly remembered Danny. I frowned and tried changing the subject. “the weather here’s weird. In times it’s so hot and then it turns dead cold” “ yeah, but are there any hot guys?” she demandingly questioned. “ oh Jessie… promise me you’ll never change” I hopelessly said. “Sure. Sure. but are there any?” “sigh* yes…” I wanted to tell her all about Danny. “Who? What’s his name” Jessie said giggling.. “ you wouldn’t like him” its true. She really wouldn’t . Jessie’s all about six packed abs and stuff. Danny was a lot more than that. “oh come on.. what’s his name” Jessie said pleading. “Da-.. Brett” I really wanted to tell her but my gut said no. “oh my! That’s such a hot name!” Jessie encouraged. “Jessie. You’re in a relationship..” I reminded her. “right” she then again realized “how are you guys by the way?” I asked. “oh were fine. Nothing much going on actually” she said sadly.. after a long silence Jessie started sobbing. “Jessie.. what happened?” I asked “ oh its got something to do with this other girl named Lisa” she said trembling. “oh” I had nothing else to say. “anyway, about Brett” Jessie said with sudden change of her voice. Same old Jessie… “hey I gotta go. My mom’s calling me” I said lying. Without waiting for her reply I disconnected our call. I wasn’t interested on the “Brett” subject. I left my room and marched to the front porch ignoring my mom while passing through the living room

* * *
I was careful not to slam the screen door so that mom wouldn’t sense anything wrong. I felt the wood of the wall on the tip of my fingers. They brushed until they reached the chair I saw earlier. I sat, curled up, hugged my legs, and rested my chin in between both of my knees. The breeze swept my hair back and I tried breathing calmer than I was used to. The crescent moon haunted me of the things that happened earlier. I looked up at the sky and out of nowhere appeared a shooting star. A beautiful ball of mixed yellow, white and blue light just lost its rightful part of the ever mysterious sky. A tear brushed down my cheek. A star was taken away from where SHE belonged. Suddenly I miss all my folks from home. Jessica, Nana my mentors and… Daddy. I can’t hold the pain anymore. Yes, mom really is a book writer. But that’s only half the reason we’re here right now. Mom and Dad just got divorced. And I was caught up in between both of them. I sniffled loud enough for mom to hear. I wiped my tears using the sleeve of my shirt. But I’ll never trust dad again. Not after what I’ve seen he could do. Everything flashbacked on my mind…
It was one afternoon and I just came home from school. Things were fine. Just the usual. But by the time I were only inches away from the house I suddenly heard sobs and I ran inside. I stood by my parent’s bedroom door. It was obvious that they’ve been trying to calm themselves and control their voices. I couldn’t hear anything, just murmurs.
“how?! How?!. You ask me how?!.. Beth?!.” Dad suddenly yelled. “ of course I have.” he added with the same amount of anger. Mom’s sobs grew louder. I had to peek. I peeped my eye on the very slightly opened door. And saw that dad walked closer to mom and was shaking her by grabbing her shoulders. “ I’m sick and tired of you Elizabeth” I was already so afraid and leaned on the door. It fell open and both of them were looking at me. Anger faded in Daddy’s eyes “Baby” he whimpered…

The screen door just slammed, mom came out. “Sweetie?” she called. “right here mom.” I responded. “You okay?” she asked. “I’m fine” of course I lied. She sat in one of the seat’s arm rests, hugged me by an arm. And tried resting her head on top of mine for seconds. “Isn’t it just beautiful here?” she protested. “Yeah, just like any other country movie” I agreed. “A movie indeed” she added. “The lighting’s all set already” she said. Which made me stare up at the sky, and focus on the crescent moon. Since I was a little girl, I’ve been imagining things that are in the same shape as the moon. Whether it’s full, quartered or Crescent. The crescent moon has always been reminding me of Daddy’s smile. But by its full glow, tonight … it’s Danny’s.

* * *

“Nikki Chilton and Brett Larkin together” the teacher announced. Then Brett and the blonde girl stepped forward. So that’s her ever popular identity. *pfft.. “ Elisha Ortega and Arvin Damon together” the girl who smiled at me and got away from the hall monitor stepped forward along with an emo looking boy .“ Ronina Davis and Logan Henderson together” the exotic looking foreign exchange student and hey, what do you know? The hall monitor stepped forward. “Abigail Simone and Danny Flay together” my heart just did a back flip. I tried calming myself down and reminding myself that this was a project. Even though we have to dance together, I’m probably blushing again. My hands were all sweaty and cold. I wiped my hands on my shirt, And he held my hand and his hand felt very warm on mine. This is so unfair. The assurance of him as confident as ever didn’t do me any good. All pairs held their positions and then played the music.

He pulled me in gasp* again with the melting. He placed his hand on my waist and we were gliding. My head was bent down staring at our feet. I hope he won’t realize that I’ve only been copying everything he has done. “keep your head up” he demanded. I looked up and noticed him pulling quick glimpses on the teacher observing us. Wait a minute… I looked back at him and his eyes were showing. I was trying to decide what color it were. A mixture of brown, red and orange. Beautiful.
He probably noticed me staring at them. Suddenly he bent his head and along came his hair. The kaleidoscope colors were no more. Why’s he trying to cover his eyes? Was he afraid I’d use them as windows to his soul? Well he’s wonderful. No doubt about that.
I stared blankly into space and listened. We probably were on the bridge of the song. Then Danny quickly declared “now spin” he raised his hand holding mine and I spun. He pulled me back and I voluntarily placed my free hand on his shoulder. As if it never wanted to leave him ever again. My arm wouldn’t allow space between our bodies. It pulled in Danny by the neck and in a second we were face to face. Whoa! Easy girl… the song slowed down as if it were to end. We circled once more and I let go.
“That’s it for today everybody tomorrow we’ll…” and that’s all I’ve heard. I’ve been concentrating on my breathing and staring at Danny at the same time. He’s acting all cool like the bonding between our bodies that happened to us earlier was something he was already used to. Uh-uh he’s not getting away this time. “you left me last night” I protested. “I guided you home didn’t I?” He corrected. He did have a point. Oh no, what am I going to say?. “you left me in the middle of the road” I complained. “Which is only about 10 paces away from the house.” He added. I couldn’t just tell him that I expected him to open the front doors of the house, escort me inside and kiss me goodnight. I hated this. I had nothing more to say. I can’t believe it. I’m actually speechless. Never in my life was I wrong. He left me a smug smile and walked out the gym. That’s the only time I’ve noticed that I was the only one left inside the room. I screamed to release my anger and muttered to myself how