Author's note 1: Just a little warning that there is a minor profanity used towards the end of the chapter.
John Rochester looked down at the girl who was lying on the grass next to him and smiled. Erin was lying on her back with her eyes shut, her expression was so peaceful and a wave of tranquillity passed across her face.
"Stop staring at me," she said opening her eye a crack
"I was checking to see if you were asleep," John grinned
"I wouldn't waste a second of this day sleeping," she said, propping herself up on one elbow.
Leo had let John take Erin out for the day, despite the fact she was still grounded Leo had decided there had been enough improvement in her behaviour to let her have some freedom. The two of them had gone to the park and had spent a lazy afternoon getting to know each other.
"So have you decided how to get your boyfriend back?" John asked
"He's not my boyfriend," Erin scowled "And no I haven't," she said answering his question
"Is his mother still not letting you see him?" he asked and Erin made a noise of confirmation
"It's so unfair," she sighed
"Sometimes life is," John said staring up at the bright blue sky "But it doesn't always have to stay that way,"
"I'm not allowed anywhere near him," Erin sighed
"You don't have to be near him to tell him how you feel," John told her "Sometimes words actually do speak louder than actions,"
"How so?" she asked
"Think of Shakespeare's plays, his words have the power to make men cheer and weep. Think of 'Pride and Prejudice' and how Darcy's letter to Elizabeth completely changes her view of him…"
"I suppose," Erin said nodding
"The course of true love never did run smooth," John quoted as he pulled Erin to her feet "Now I'd better get you back home before Leo starts to worry," the girl's face dropped when she heard this "We've got plenty of time to get to know each other," he assured her.
"But the army wants you to go back soon," she said quietly, her face full of worry
"Did Leo tell you that?" John asked and she nodded "Well that's not for a while yet and we can still keep in touch," he told her gently and she managed a weak smile that was so reflective of her father
Erin looked up at the blue sky and saw some dark clouds beginning to from across the edges of the blue mass,
"There's meant to be a storm coming," John told her knowingly
"And?" she asked quizzically
"Turbulence is an environment you seem to flourish in," he told her with a grin "You'd better not keep that young man of yours waiting,"
…
Nate trudged into school feeling utterly low. His life had lost so vitality since his separation from Erin and he was beginning to realise how much she meant to him. He had begged and pleaded with his mother to let him see Erin but to no avail. Erin was his only friend; she was the only one in the lonely world who could understand him without clarification. He needed her and she needed him, to separate them was to begin to end the universe.
He was early for his art class but he didn't care, Nate didn't care about anything anymore because the only thing he ever truly cared about had been taken away from him. Erin had been taken away from him and he had been thrown back into the void, the void where his only companion was the loneliness that was eating away at his very soul.
"Mr Peters?" Nate's heart leapt when he heard Erin's voice calling to their teacher. The world seemed to slow for Nate as he watched Erin talk to their teacher. The sun was streaming through the classroom window and had caught Erin; her face glowed with the morning light, highlighting the natural tint of her hair. Her grey eyes were fixed on the teacher and her face was tense as she focused on what the teacher was saying.
"Nathaniel," a voice called and he jerked out of his trance to see the teacher frowning at him "Get yourself set up and continue with your work,"
"Yes sir," he mumbled sitting down at his table that was so cruelly separated from Erin.
He pulled out his sketchpad and half-heartedly started to work on his observational drawing. Art had become so dull without Erin to talk to, she always knew how to make him laugh or encourage him and sometimes even just sitting in silence was more than enough to satisfy Nate.
He watched her as she crossed the room balancing her water pot and paintbrushes. She brushed passed his table on the way to the sink but didn't look at him. Yet Nate's disappointment wad only temporary when he noticed the small scrap of paper that had been dropped onto his desk. Taking it under the desk, out of the sight of the teacher, he unfolded the scrap and began to read.
"If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it."
Nate smiled as he read that quote, Erin had clearly remembered that 'Wuthering Heights' was one of his favourite books. The few lines of Emily Bronte written before him showed she had not forgotten about him. But it was what was written underneath that truly captured Nate's attention, written in Erin's loopy handwriting were words that he would remember forever:
I never knew what this meant until I met you...
When he finally looked up he saw Erin staring at him from across the classroom, her head was cocked to one side as she watched him closely. She pressed a small smile onto her lips as the rest of the class filed in. Nate tried to glimpse her face though the crowds of people waling through the door but when they had cleared her face was turned back to her work.
The sunlight had faded from the classroom but it had not taken Nate's hopes with it. They had communicated for the first time in months using words written over 150 years ago. Nate made a mental note to re-read 'Wuthering Heights' when he got home in homage to the Miss Bronte that had renewed his hope in no more than three lines, thirty eight words and 197 letters.
….
By the time school had finished, the warm weather had broken and storm clouds had started to gather. The weather forecasters had been predicting it for the last few days but Nate had not cared about anything, let alone a weather forecast. However, that had all changed since the fateful note from that morning. As he walked across the playing fields the grey clouds began to release their contents, rainwater poured down from the sky above and started to soak the parched ground. Nate began to hurry home but got further across the field, he saw something that made him stop despite the worsening weather.
Stood in the middle on the field was a petite figure dressed in a school blouse and skirt that were drenched through from the rain. Her dark hair was plastered to her face and the ends were dripping with water but her pale eyes were playful and she almost seemed to be enjoying the torrential downpour.
"Well come on then," Erin yelled with a grin stretched across her face
Nate sped towards the young girl and threw himself into a hug with her, the sudden motion caught the pair off balance and they collapsed to the ground in a particularly muddy and sodden part of the field.
"I bloody love you Erin Dalton," he grinned as the rain hammered down soaking the pair even more.
"I'm glad," she grinned, "I was waiting twenty minutes before you turned up,"
Nate let out a laugh as he flopped down on the grass beside Erin. It felt good to laugh, it felt good to be lying on the soaking grass and it felt good to be reunited with the one girl in the vast and wide universe that he could lie in the mud with and not care about the consequences.
Author's note 2: Sorry for the delay on this, I'm not to great with writing happy stuff. I also want to apologise for degrading Emily Bronte by using her in my work but I just felt that was a brilliant quote to sum up Nate and Erin.
Author's note 3: Only two more chapters to go!
