The Azuli by Cassidy Shay (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📕

also knew that Carl had never been able to resist the pleading look in Jack’s eyes and the begging tone in his voice.
“Because… she’s just Penny. She’s smart, gorgeous, fun, and just… perfect. When they were telling us about the project, I told them that I’d do it willingly and without any objections as long as they let me choose who I do it with. They said I could. It was just a coincidence that they chose her for the experiment beforehand. Originally, they had her paired up with Ben. But I couldn’t stand to see her get married to someone else. Because… I love her.”
What? Carl… loves me? He chose me on purpose?

I thought back over the last couple years, and realized that I could have seen it. I just hadn’t been paying attention. But here had been plenty of times when Carl had done something that you normally only do to someone that you like, or, as Carl said, love.
Many times, he had been in a conversation with me and had just reached over to put my hair behind my ear. His hand had always stayed at the back of my head for longer than necessary. I’d ignored it each time, because I couldn’t think of an explanation, and I never would have expected the obvious.
There were other times when he would hug me, if I were having a bad day of wasn’t feeling good. He had held on to me, tightly, for a few seconds longer than was comfortable for me. I always assumed that it was just because he was trying to comfort me.
If there were two empty seats, he had always chosen the one closest to me. I hadn’t ever really thought about why he did that. There were also the unnecessary touches, when Carl would reach for me or touch my hand for, what seemed to me, no reason.
But even with all these clues, Carl’s proclamation of his love for me shocked me. I didn’t know how to react, so I tuned back into the conversation.
“So all the complaining and all that - that was an act? You are perfectly okay with all this, as long as you get to marry my sister?” Jack was really yelling now, and I decided to go back to my room. I knew that stepping in to stop the argument would make things worse, and I didn’t want to stand there and listen to the rest of the conversation, so the option left was to walk away.
For the rest of the day, I didn’t speak. When Carl and Jack came to get us for dinner, I didn’t say a word. When I slipped my hand into Carl’s, I didn’t let out a sound. I didn’t say anything when Mary came up, hugged Jack, and sat with us while we ate. I didn’t open my mouth as we walked back to my cell, and I didn’t say a word when I closed the door without giving Carl his hug or kiss.
The next morning, I slept past breakfast. I would have slept longer, if it weren’t for Macy shaking me. She’d brought me some food and told me that my parents had arrived and were talking to Jack. This meant that I had a couple minutes to get dressed and ready to see my parents. I got that done just in time before they knocked on the door.
Before I opened the door, I thought about all the things that I could remember about my parents. I remembered their cheery attitudes. In public, my mom and dad always had smiles on their faces.
I also remembered that they had been very involved in the community. Many of my days were spent at home with Jack and Aymie, the babysitter who lived a couple houses down the street. My parents were always at charities, or protests, or other events around town. Once Jack left for the Academy, they spent more time out, and I spent more time with Aymie. Despite their busy schedules, though, my parents always found time to spend with me.
The thing that I remembered the most, though, was that every night, my parents would play cards. But they never played together, and they never said a word. They each had their own game of solitaire going, and they would play, in silence, all night if they had to, until they won their games.
When I opened the door, I was shocked to see the people that were standing there.
The two adults that I remembered had up and vanished in the ten years that I’d been gone. My dad had a big mustache, sprinkled with long gray hairs. He had a large, shiny bald spot on his head, and the hair that was on his head was gray instead of dark brown. When he opened his mouth, he was missing a tooth, and the others had a yellow tint to them. His lips were chapped, making them bright red and cracked. His eyebrows were weirdly shaped, and the hairs were long and resembled tentacles of an octopus. His brown eyes had seemed to grow smaller, while his double chin and midsection had grown much bigger. His nose was bigger than I remembered, and his skin looked pale. He had a few moles on his face, and a big one on his neck under his left ear.
My mom had changed too, but not nearly as much as my dad had. She’d gained some weight, and her teeth were a little yellow, but other than that, she looked the same. She had a tall forehead, with a few scars from chicken pox, just like me. Her eyebrow hairs were short and thin, not long and bushy like my dad’s. She had crow’s feet by her brown eyes, along with a couple bags under them. In the places that age had destroyed my dad’s handsome appearance, the years had gone easy on my mom.
“Oh, Penny!” my mother exclaimed. “Dear, it’s so great to see you!” She embraced me in a long, warm hug, as if wanting to make up for those ten years when she hadn’t been able to hug me. It startled me at first, as her hugs had become unfamiliar. I had grown used to Macy’s hugs, not my mother’s. But as soon as I got over the initial shock, I wrapped my arms around her. My father soon joined the hug, and the three of us stood in a tight huddle for several minutes. My mother began to cry, and that’s when we broke up our hug.
“It’s okay, Mom,” I said, wiping the tears from her face, “I’m here now. You don’t have to worry about me any longer. Hey now. Sh.” She kept sobbing, so I held her close to me. I looked to my dad for help. I didn’t know how to deal with this.
He pulled her off of me and looked into her eyes. “Gloria, you need to calm down now. We are here to see our children, and to watch them marry the man and woman that they love.” I winced as my dad said that, but didn’t say anything. “There’s no reason for tears today.” He guided her out of the room and down the hall.
When it was just Carl, Macy, Jack, and I, I collapsed onto the bed. “This is going to be the most exhausting week of my life,” I said. “Every time I’ll be having fun, I just know someone will bring up the wedding. How am I supposed to deal with this?” I asked no one in particular.
“Just act natural,” said Carl. Since I’d overheard the conversation between Jack and Carl, I hated Carl more and more every minute. I just didn’t understand how he could act like this was the worst thing that had ever happened, when he was really enjoying every minute of it.
“Act natural?” I whisper-yelled, so no parents outside the door would overhear me. “Carl, I don’t want to marry you! How am I supposed to act natural when I’m being forced to marry someone I don’t love? Not only do I have to marry you, but I have to lie to my own parents about it. That’s natural to you?”
Immediately after saying this, I felt horrible. Although I couldn’t stand the sight of him, I hadn’t wanted to hurt him. After all, he was still my brother. I could tell by the look on his face that I had hurt him more than anyone had ever hurt him before.
“Carl,” I’m sorry,” I whispered as he left the room. “I’m so sorry.”
Jack and Macy stared, not sure what to say. Finally, Macy broke the silence. “Jack, go find your parents and make sure they’re okay. It’s almost time for lunch.” She moved on to my bed and wrapped her arms around me as the door clicked shut.
“Alright, Penny. Tell me what’s wrong. I know you don’t like this whole situation. No one does. But why did you have to blow up? Carl was just trying to help you.”
I shook my head. “No, Macy, he just makes everything worse. Since the beginning, all he’s done is make things worse. He asked to be paired with me. I heard him tell Jack last night. He… he loves me.” Tears started falling, and Macy wiped them away.
“Things are so awkward now, Macy. He used to be my brother. And in a week, he’ll be the husband that I can’t even stand to look at. I hate him!” I started bawling then. The bell rang, announcing that it was time for lunch.
“Why don’t you stay here today, instead of going to lunch? You can talk this over with Collin. ‘Kay?” I nodded. “I’ll tell your parents that you had to go over some last minute things for the wedding. How’s that sound?” I nodded again, and she wiped the tears off my face once again. Then she got up and left. A couple minutes later, Collin came running in. He didn’t have his cleaning cart or any supplies, and he was out of breath.
He saw me in a heap on the bed, and stepped toward me. He picked me up and wrapped his arms around me, and everything felt okay. Not good, but okay.
“I saw Macy in the halls, heading to lunch. She said you needed me. What’s the matter, Penny?” he asked. “I thought you’d be happy to see your parents today.” We were sitting in our usual positions, with our backs against the wall and our legs out in front of us. This time, though, I was leaning on him, and his arms were around me.
In his arms, I felt safe. I felt the kind of security that I knew I would never feel with Carl. “It’s Carl,” I said, after I’d calmed down enough to speak. Between sobs, I told him the story. I told him what I’d heard Carl say, and what I’d said to him. “I don’t know how to fix this,” I said, and then nuzzled closer. “I don’t know how to fix anything anymore.”
He was silent for a minute, and the only sound in the room was our synchronized breathing. Finally, he said, “Penny, I don’t really know what to say about this one. I usually have something but I’m completely drawing a blank here. I’m sorry.” He started rubbing his hands up and down my back, like you would do to calm a baby. I found it surprisingly comforting, and I moved even closer to him.
“Thanks anyway, Collin,” I said. He didn’t ask what I was thanking him for, but I told him anyway.