Promise of dawn

Chapter 9: Bethany (Part 1)

It’s 5:00 in the morning. What’s that noise. I look over at Clara and Percy cuddled in the blanket. Clara is awake, I look at her she smiles and gets up. She walks over to me with a blanket and pulls me out to the porch. We sit under the stars looking up we try to name constellations but end up failing.
        “I haven’t done this since we were little girls.” I say softly.
        “Bethany I know I haven’t paid much attention to you, your life, or anything new. Its just the whole thing with Jaslynn and Percy.” She says with a hint of sadness in her voice.
        “I know.”
        “I know you know. I just want an update of everything that has happened not involving Percy or I.”
        “Okay, well. My parents haven't been that nice to me or anyone. They’ve already told me they might file for divorce, I’ve been looking to Jason for help but he doesn’t seem to get it that I need him now more than ever. He’s new to dating, like I love him and all but he just……..Isn’t……..the one right now. I think I’m going to break up with him after the dinner if I feel the same way. I also like this boy named Samuel, he's been there for me when Jason wasn’t and his smile, oh my god, his smile is the cutest.”
        “Oh, so you've been cheating on Jason.” She says sarcastically.
        “Not really. I think I have to break up with him. We’re just not the right fit, like in a puzzle. You think its the right piece than another one comes along and BOOM it fits.” I say with a big clap of my hand going in the air at the boom.
        “So when are you going to break up with him. I’ll meet up with him at the park and break it to him.”
        “Do you want me to drive you.”
        “Sure I might need you to help me. Don’t have Percy at the park with us though, Jason can be a little territorial.
        “Sure, anything for my sister.” She hugs me tight and we continue talking.
        “I think I’ll ask Sam to come to the dinner as our first date. I’ll call him right now.”
The phone is on speaker the ringing is agonizing for me.
        “Hey, girl, how are you this morning.”
        “Good, ummm…...I have a question for you.”
        “Go ahead.” He says curiously.
        “Well theres this dinner tonight…..and…….I was wondering if…...you wanted to go with Clara, Percy, and I.”
        “Well I was going to groom my unicorn tonight and feed my dinosaurs.”
        “Oh well maybe you can bring them with you.”
        “Sure they’d love that. So what time does this ‘dinner’ start.”
        “At six but we’ll swing by and pick you up at 5:30 and wear a tux because its a formal dinner.”
        “Okay I Love You Bethy.”
        “I Love You Sammy.”
        “Bye I’ll talk to you later.”
        “Okay bye.”
The phone goes dead and I turn to Clara, she stares at me with a smile growing. She hugs me and starts crying. I ask “Why are you crying.”
        “I haven’t been there for your first ‘I love you’ or first time getting asked out.” She says through sobbing.
        “Clara, I still love you and I think Jason was just an impulse act because I thought we could hold but, I shouldn’t have started in the thin ice. I should have waited until I was on a supporting Ice.”
        “Bethany, I love you so much.”
        “I love you too, Clare.”
She stops crying and I call Jason, I tell him I’m breaking up with him. He at first is sad then just is normal. He asks if we can still be friends and, it’s a yes of course. I hang up and start to tear up a little Clara looks at me and hugs me tight. It’s 6:00 in the morning. We can here Percy waking up, we decide to let him join us. He walks out in a blanket and sits between us. We cuddle around him.
        “So what did I miss?”
        “Umm a break-up, a new beginning to a love story and, Samuel is joining us for dinner tonight. He might stay up here with us for a few nights to get better known in our group.”
        “Okay then not that much.”
We sit there and watch the sunrise. When we go inside we eat leftover pancakes and cook off the rest of the pancake batter making them into shapes. We had hearts and stars we even made a picture out of a slab of pancakes batter then into a big pancake. We talk and watch television for the rest of the afternoon until it is time to get ready for dinner.
        Clara and I run up stairs to get our dresses on. I help Clara in to her dress. I put on my dress and look in the mirror. Clara walks over to me and we take selfies to put on Instagram. We compliment each other. As I do Clara’s makeup I put on a wonderful eye shadow. She smiles. She puts on my makeup and we again, compliment each other. We put our hair into formal buns and I put a camera in Clara’s hair, she does the same for me. As we walk down stairs we see Percy and Sammy standing there.
        “Sammy!” I shriek with excitement. His face has a huge grin on it he opens his arms and I run into them. I haven’t seen him since last week. He smells of the men's ocean cologne I got him for his birthday. He kisses me on the check, we look over at Clara. She's hugging Percy so tight. I snap a picture of them then one of me and Sammy.
        “How did you get here?” I ask.
        “Well….Percy called me from your phone and explained to me that he wanted me to be here when you leave. He thought it would be a great way to…….. ask you out?”
        “Yes oh my god yes.” I say with a squeak.
        “Then its official we are a couple.” Sammy says. He hugs me and he gives me another kiss on the cheek. I’m blushing why am I blushing? I love Sammy so much, I want to hug him and never let go.
        “I love you Bethy.”
        “I love you too Sammy.”
“Sammy I think we should give Clara and Percy a minute to ‘themselves’.” I know they are going to either kiss in front of us or without us so, ummm I choose not to see it. I walk outside with Sammy. I almost fall he catches me before I hit the ground. He kisses me on the lips. Oh my god.
        “Sammy I don’t think we should tell anyone about this.”
        “Okay, Bethy, I just couldn’t wait any longer.”
        “Neither could I” I say softly still staring into his eyes. I can’t hear Percy and Clara from inside. They must really love each other. I look over at Clara standing at the back door with Percy’s camera and smiling. I start laughing, so does Sammy. I love his laugh and his smile. They are just so comforting like a baby blanket.
        The radio hurts my ears as Percy turns on his car but we start singing anyway. Sammy's hand is warm in mine. We talk and laugh all the way until we get to the restaurant. As we walk in to Marsh Bistro, we can hear classical music. I put his camera in his suit pocket and explain why he has it. Clara and I giggle.
        “We have a reservation for four under Logan.” Percy says looking at the hostess at the podium. Her dress was black with a lace neckline. Sammy and I lock arms just as Clara and Percy do.
        “Alright, you are at table 17.” The hostess says grabbing 4 menus from under the top of the podium. “Alfred! Escort these Mr.Logan and his party to table 17 please.” A man in a black suit walks up and takes the menus from the hostess.
        “Right this way.” the man ,apparently called Alfred, says. We follow him to a table, there is a couple sitting close together in a booth I look at sammy, that could be us some day. The table is in the far corner by the big window that overlooks the flowing river. We look at the oak chairs, upholstered with cream and forest green fabric. Percy offers to take off Clara’s jacket. 1 point for Percy. I take off my jacket and Sammy pulls out my chair for me. He he, 1 point for Sammy! Clara sits down and Percy gives our jackets to the Alfred.
        “Hello, my name is Melanie and I will be your waitress this evening. Can I interest you in anything to drink?” Melanie asks getting her pen ready. We all look at our menus.
        “I think some non-alcoholic sparkling cider will be fine for all of us. Thank you.” Clara says pointing to a set of fancy script.
        “Alright. I’ll be right back.” The waitress says walking to the order computer. 10 minutes later she returns with a green glass bottle. She takes the top off the bottle and pours some of the soft yellow, bubbling liquid into each glass.
        “Thank you.” We all say after she puts the bottle in the center of the table. We all take a sip and smile.
        “So, Sammy. How long have you known Bethany?” Clara asks taking another sip of her cider.
        “I’ve known Bethany for about 3 months. Percy, how long have you known Clara?” Sammy says smiling at me, then turning to Percy.
        “6 months. The best half a year I’ve ever had.” Percy says holding Clara’s hand. Clara blushes and Percy smiles.
        “I have to say that you keep getting sweeter and sweeter.” Clara says bowing her head then looks at her menu. “Let’s see. What do we all want for dinner?”
        “I think I’ll have an oven baked salmon with mashed potatoes.” Sammy says looking at the dinner section of his menu.
        “I think I’ll have what he’s having, but instead of potatoes, I'll have asparagus.” I said looking at Sammy.
        “I know that the pasta is a very large serving. We could get one to share?” Percy said looking at Clara.
        “Sure, I don’t eat a lot anyway and it would save on the cost.” Clara said closing her menu and taking a small sip of her cider. “I would like to propose a toast. A toast to new relationships as well as old ones that will ring in our histories forever.” We all raise our glasses and say “to long lived relationships!” Our sips of cider were silent. A peculiar silence.
        “Does everyone know about the competition?” I ask clasping my hands.
        “Nope, and why the camera?” Sammy asks pointing to his pocket. I know I explained it earlier, but he might want to know the whole story.
        “Clara this may be annoying to you, but it’s good to let the viewers know what they are judging us on as well as let our new member know about what the whole dealio with the recording is. It’s a competition to see who is going to be the sweetest couple. We have mini-cameras in our hair, just slightly peeking out. They are totally unnoticeable so we still look just as pretty. The boys have mini cameras in their suit pockets. Those are totally unnoticeable as well. Everyone is judged separately for their etiquette, the girls, us, are competing against each other for most beautiful and most graceful, the guys are competing for most like a gentleman and we are all going to be trying for sweetest couple. We are going to put this on a team channel so people can find each point of view easier. The best part is that the viewers have 3 days to pick a winner for each category, but the thing is, we haven’t to come up with a team name yet. I’ve come up with a few ideas, tell me what you think. Crafters United or Mega masters?” I say looking into Clara’s camera.
        “Oh, okay.” Sammy says looking around. “Good luck then.” He adds holding my hand.
        “I like Crafters.” Percy says looking at me and then turning to Clara. “What do you think?”
        “You read my mind.” Clara says with a smile. The flicker of a flame on one of the white candles reflected in her eye. Percy put an arm around her and Clara pulled her chair closer to his. He planted a small kiss on her forehead. 2 points Percy. SAMMY! DO SOMETHIN SWEET ALREADY!
        “Great! Then I’ll start up the channel once we get back.” I say taking my glass from it’s place and taking a sip.
        “So, any plans this week?” Sammy asks me. Clara’s phone rings.
        “I better take this.” Clara says getting up and touching the green button on her screen. Her blue dress sparkling as she takes another step away from the table. I wonder what that was about? A few minutes pass by and Clara returns. “Love you too, bye.” Clara says smiling then pressing the red button on her black iPhone 4.
        “Who was that?” Percy asks raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
        “Uhhh. Take a guess?” Clara says taking her seat again.
        “I don't know, another guy maybe?” He says looking at Clara with wide eyes.
        “Yeah, it was just this guy that I did it with. NO! It was my parents. They wanted to tell me that they were going to be gone till next Wednesday.” Clara says giving Percy a little shove. “Come on now. You know I'm better than that. Why would I cheat on a boyfriend that I love and would never trade for anything in the world?”
        “I'm sorry, you just mean everything to me, and loosing you would be like loosing my own heart.” Percy says taking Clara's hand. 4 points Percy! Sammy gotta start doin something! Melanie returns with a large round tray with 4 plain white plates, steaming, with delicious food atop them.
        “One salmon with potatoes.” she said putting a colorful plate in front of Sammy. The pink salmon fillet perfectly placed in a position that even made me hungry. “Another salmon with asparagus.” she said setting another plate in front of me, the salmon in the same position, but instead of mashed potatoes at it's side, 5 neatly stacked asparagus spears. “and a large spaghetti for the two.” Melanie set down a dazzling plate with white noodles, a bright red tomato sauce, small green flecks of basil and white shreds of Parisian sprinkled on top.
        “Wow. Now I wish I got that!” I said pointing at the spaghetti. I took a bite of my asparagus. OMG! Perfectly cooked and very flavorful. Ooo! Is that olive oil? Well, I know what I'm using when I make my asparagus. I smile as I take the bite.
        “Hey, babe, you have to try these potatoes.” Sammy says looking at me.
        “And you have to try this asparagus.” I say. We take a bite sized amount from each dish onto our forks and give each other a taste. His potatoes are very delicious. The perfect balance between salty and spicy. 3 points Sammy. We can so catch up.
        “Omg. That is awesome.” Sammy says pointing his fork towards the asparagus that were now almost half the size that they were.
        “But those potatoes!” I say smiling at him. Percy and Clara dig into their pasta. With each twirl of a fork a spark in their eyes ignited. Finally, they did the whole Lady and the Tramp thing with the noodle. It was so sweet. Sammy turned my face toward his and a sweet, but soft kiss made it's way to my lips. Each couple pulled back and smiled at their partner. “That one we can't hide.” I say laughing as Clara giggles.
        “Excuse us boys, we have to have a council meeting.” Clara says after wiping a little drop of tomato sauce from her lip then, standing up and grabbing my hand. I get up and we go to the bathroom.
        “OMG!” we both squealed in joy. “hashtag first kiss!” she taking out her phone.
        “Not the first actually.” I say blushing just a little.
        “Really now.” she says putting a hand on her hip. The other occupied with the phone.
        “Yeah, we also kissed on our way out of the house. I almost fell and Sammy caught me, then it happened.” I say getting a makeup pouch out of my soft blue purse and putting on a fresh coat of lipstick.
        “I can't believe I missed your first kiss.” Clara said putting her hands on her hips.
        “Well, I saw your first, so you win and I'm sorry.” I say putting my lipstick back in it's pouch and the pouch back in my purse.
        “It's okay. At least I saw your second.” Clara says giving me the look. “Let's head out to the boys. They must be causing trouble.” she says as we walk back out to the table. Just as she said it. We hear Percy on the phone with someone he quite obviously didn't like.
        “No. I won't let it happen. Why the hell would you expect me to let you do that. I swear you do anything to Clara or anyone she knows, I will expose you.” Percy says into the phone. His face was angry and the hand that he had unoccupied was crushing a piece of paper. Hmm... I'm wondering what's on that paper? Percy hangs up and puts his phone in his pocket.
        “Who was that?” Clara asked smiling.
        “Take a guess.” Percy still didn't smile.
        “Oh... Uh... Okay... Let's not let this ruin our night, okay?” Clara said as her smile diminishes then reappears and is radiant as ever. She takes Percy's arm and leans her head on his shoulder.
        “Anything for you my darling.” Percy says turning back to the table and allowing Clara to sit down. I follow behind and give Sammy a little kiss on the cheek as I take my seat. We both blush. As we all get seated, Melanie comes back to see if we like the food.
        “Do you find everything to your satisfaction?” Melanie says with hope in her eyes. Her black dress was shorter than the hostess’s, but is was made from the same materials.
        “Absolutely wonderful, thank you.” We all says with a smile. We were in unison! That was a funny moment. Melanie looks almost as if she had just seen a ghost.
        “Okay well, let me know when you are ready for dessert.” she says putting a fake smile on then walking away.
        “Okay that was funny.” Clara says with a laugh. “and weird… I’m so glad we caught that on camera!” she added taking a bite of spaghetti.
        “Yeah. That’s going to make a great video.” I say also laughing. “I’m just excited to see who is going to win the contest.” I add taking Sammy’s arm.
        “Percy and I, in my judgement, are ahead. So, you guys better get working if you want to even have a shot at this.” Clara says smiling at Percy.
        “Don't worry, we will.” Sammy says giving me a smile. 30 minutes went by and we ate to a decent satisfaction.
        “So, who wants dessert?” Percy says clasping his hands.
        “Think about this for a sec here. We are all teenagers, do you really think we would turn down sugar?” I exclaim with a laugh.
        “Yeah you're kinda right.” Percy says rubbing the back of his neck.
        “Option one, we stay here and spend a million dollars and get a tiny desert. Option two, we go to Walmart and get ice cream and toppings for 20 bucks. Plus breakfast for tomorrow.” Clara says taking Percy's arm.
        “Ice cream sounds good.” Sammy says. “What do you guys think?”
        “You are the smartest little thing I've ever known.” Percy says giving Clara a kiss on the forehead. “I'll get the waitress.” he says as he turns around and waves Melanie over. “We are ready for the receipt and our coats please.”
        “Alright, I'll go get that for you. I hope you enjoyed your meal.” Melanie says turning around and going toward a cash register. She quickly returns with a small leather book. “Alfred! Get 17's coats.” Alfred practically runs to a closet and pulled our jackets from the rack. He came to our table and handed us our jackets. Percy put a few bills in the book and helped Clara put her jacket on before putting on his own. Sammy does the same for me as we walk out the door to Percy's silver Dodge Dart. A small car it was, but also quite spacious. The dashboard illuminated with a red glow and racer style meters. Leather interior but it had fabric seats. Not the luxury that a Mercedes had, but still a fancy little car. Percy turns the key on and the car revs its engine in reply.
        As soon as we get on the highway, the song that we were listening to as we left for dinner began to play.
        “Uhhh! Why do we have to listen to this song again.” I say with a moan. “That song has played like a million times since we left for dinner.”
        “Fine, would you rather I play an opera?” Percy says tauntingly.
        “You win! You win!” I say in response. I really hate opera, just because I can never understand what the singer is saying. By the time the conversation was over, the song ended with a final bang on the bass. “I'm gonna call in.” I took my phone out of my purse and called the radio station.
        “Hello, hello, hello! You are live on your favorite radio station!” The host said.
        “Hey! Can you play our favorite song?” We all say at the same time.
        “Sure! Where you guys calling from?” The host said with a laugh.
        “We're- Umm... Percy where are we?” I ask
        “Just passed exit 187.” Percy said looking in the rear view mirror.
        “Did you hear that?” I ask the host.
        “Yup! Been awhile since I had a group call me up.” Says the host with a laugh. “What's the song?”
        “How about your most played song.” Clara says from the front passenger seat.
        “We sure like a mystery!” Everyone says.
        “Thanks for taking our call” I say with a smile.
        “No problem. It's great to have new voices on the air.” The host says. “And your song will be on right about now! Thanks for calling, bye.” The song plays for it's full 3 minutes and 30 seconds. All of us can't stop singing. We drive for another 30 minutes before we finally reach the parking lot of the nearest Walmart.

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GO TO PART 2
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