Lighting a Match in the Rain

Chapter Twenty-Four

Courage and stupidity. Are they completely different or exactly the same? I wasn't quite sure.

What do you call doing something, knowing it might hurt, but doing it anyway? It's courage, right? Knowing you may get hurt by doing it, but also knowing you need to do it despite that point, makes you brave and courageous.

Or is it stupidity? You are doing something while knowing you may likely get hurt because of it. You are being reckless. Or are you?

They both make sense. So, what's the right answer? I didn't know. And I didn't know how to completely differentiate the two. And many other people might not know either. And that's yet another thing that makes life so hard.

In my case, that Thursday morning, I told myself it was courage that was sparking my decision to walk in the direction I was heading. I walked down halls I normally didn't and saw students I never usually saw. Ricky's wrist lanyard was gripped so tightly in my hand, my knuckles were white. I'd just dragged Macey out of the house thirty minutes earlier than usual, despite her fighting me on it, just so I could do this before my first class.

My eyes scanned all the halls but I wasn't spotting him anywhere. If today was one of the days that he and Reed decided not to show up until later, I was going to be fuming. Fortunately, my third time walking down the same hallway, I caught him standing by his locker, talking to a couple of guys I didn't know. Having more confidence than my typical self, probably thanks to hanging around Reed a lot, I walked right up to them. I was honestly surprised Reed wasn't with them.

Ricky's ice-blue eyes softened with amusement the moment I stopped right in front of him. Leaning back against the locker, he crossed his hairy arms over his t-shirt covered chest and propped a sneaker on the metal behind him. "And what can I do for you?" he asked me, scanning my tall self, making me tighten the grip on his lanyard.

Instead of answering the criminal, I turned to his friends. "This is a private matter. You can leave." The both of them started laughing out loud and clasping their chests with their palms.

After too long of them catching their breath, they looked at Ricky who moved his head. "Get out of here, Boys." They listened to him. I had to hold the urge to roll my eyes. "You going to answer my question?" he asked me once they were gone, still looking relaxed. "What's your purpose here? Business or pleasure?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. Who did he think he was? What kind of girl did he think I was? "Never pleasure with you. In fact, I just found something that I believe is yours."

At that, he grinned. "Oh yeah?"

I held up the lanyard. "This is yours, isn't it?"

"Why would you think it's mine?"

I don't know how, but I remained calm. My heart wasn't pounding. My stress was gone. "Because it happened to fall off your keys when you were holding a gun to my head."

His entertained grin fell to a line and his softened eyes narrowed with a warning. Too quickly, he pushed off the lockers and stepped right into my personal space. Reaching up, he gripped my hand that held the lanyard and held my fist too tightly. "Are you sure you know what you are insinuating about me?"

My heart rate remained normal. I didn't step back. I wouldn't waver under his gaze. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

In a flash, we switched places and he had me pinned against his locker, so close that he was breathing in my face. "What makes you think I'm the one who stole that money?"