Small Town Love

Normal

A/N: this chapter will be back in Cj's pov. Enjoy!

We had to take it easy on our walk for a few different reasons. One being I am still not 100% from dealing with all the surgeries, two being my oxygen is kinda heavy to cary on my back and three it had just rained the day before and the ground was muddy in some places. The whole way to the forest me and Ryan walked side by side holding hands. As we were walking towards the woods and stream Ryan just about fell three times. It took all that I had not to laugh at him. 

When we got to the woods Ryan released my hand and took the lead. He lead the way helping me over fallen tree branches and ditches on the way. He finally stopped in an area next to the stream and where the trees parted above and you could see the sky. As I looked around the area Ryan pulled a blanket out of his backpack he'd brought with us. "I know it's been a while since you've seen the stars, so I thought we could star gaze for a little bit." He said as he smoothed out the wrinkles in the blanket. I nodded and walked over to sit down on the blanket and smiled. "Great." He said and looked at his phone. "Well we still have a while until the sun sets completely. Want to read some?" He asked as he pulled out two copies The Maze Runner. We hadn't gotten to read at all since I've been in the hospital so I figured he would have read along without me. "Sure, where are you at in it?" I asked and took one of the copies. "Right where we left off last time." He replied flipping to the page. 

As we read I sat crisscross applause and Ryan layed on his stomach beside me. We took turns reading, him reading quite a  it more than me because it still hurt if I talked too much. We'd gotten about a quarter of the way through the book when it got too dark to read. The stars weren't out quite yet so we just sat and talked for a while. We talked about everything ranging from very serious topics like the government to things like what types of candies we thought our family members would be. I've missed being normal like this. 

When the stars became visible we both layed on our backs and looked up to he sky through the break in the trees. As we were looking up I felt Ryan's hand slide across the blanket, I knew he was trying to find mine. But instead of reaching out to let him grab it I pulled it in to my sweat shirt. He saw what I was doing. "Well what'd you do that for, I just wanted to hold your hand." And began to pout playfully. I just shook my head "Nope" I said piping the "p" then he reached over and put both his hand over my eyes. "Well if I don't get to hold your hand then you don't get to see the stars." He said ending with a very bad attempt at an evil laugh. I used my one hand to try and pry his hands off may face as I struggled to get my other arm free. "Ryan Michale Burden!" I yelled trying to get his hands off my face. "Fine," He said pulling his hands off my face," but only because you can't see my perfect face." As he said it he did an imaginary hair flip. "Yea sure." I said rolling my eyes but smiling. 

We layed and watched the sky for hours, pointing out different things. We layed in silence, but it wasn't awkward at all, it was relaxing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryan look down at his watch. "Wow! It's 1:00 am, we should probably head back to my house." He said sitting up. I got up too. "But first I have something for you." I said looking down at my face. The moon was full so it wasn't too dark and I could see Ryan blushing. "Ok" he said. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a leather bracelet, ingraved on it was 1 Corinthians 13:7, our verse. I handed him the bracelet. "Wow! I love it!" He said running his fingers over the letters. "1 Corinthians 13:7, that's our verse." He said a huge smile spreading across his face. "Thankyou." I said looking down at my feet. He looked at me clearly confused. "Why are you saying thankyou? You just got me this amazing gift it's me who be thanking you." As he spoke he stepped closer to me and took his finger to lift my chin up. "Thank you for helping me get through all this, you know none of my friends have even texted me asking how I felt or if everything was going well." As I said it a single tear began to roll down my cheek. Ryan took his thumb and wiped the tear away. "Well then they weren't really your friends and they just don't care, but that doesn't matter because I care." The next thing I knew his lips were gently pressed against mine. 

When we got back to his house we found my mom had dropped stuff off for me to spend the night. I went up to the guest room, where my stuff was and got ready for bed. As I was just about to climb under the sheets there was a knock at my door. I walked over and opened the door, it was Ryan. He immediately pulled me into a hug "Good night, love." He said then pulling away and pecked me on the cheek. "Good night." He went back to his room and I went to mine. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.