Inferno To Ashes

Chapter 5

"Why do you look so drained?" asks Dave as we meet at the lunch table.

"Nothing, just a little tired." I reply as Dave passes me another concerned look. I really don't know what's up with him. He's always shown this kind of concern towards me ever since we became friends at this school.

I open my nutella sandwich as everyone else digs into their bought lunches. I close my eyes and moan unconsciously as I feel the heavenly taste of nutella on my tongue.I hear a soft chuckle  I know is Dave's, and I speak my mind,

"Trust me,buddy. Tastes like heaven."

"Oh, I wonder."

 I blink my eyes open when I hear a voice that seems to say these words as the whole table goes silent. I turn around in my seat to face a smiling Dylan. Talk about beautiful.

I stare at him in wonder as he continues to give me the same smile I had been in love with for so long. I watch as his straight teeth flash at me as a slight crease forms either sides of his eyes.I watch as his messy brown hair of just the perfect volume is left undone, a few strands falling on his forehead, prominent against his ivory skin. He looks so gorgeous when he smiles. I can't help but smile back at him, slouching a little in my seat like I always did when he looked at me with that much of adoration in his eyes.

" Can we hangout later today? Can you show me around the place?" asks Dylan as I am snapped back to reality.

"I, uh. Um, hi." I answer dumbly, resisting the urge to facepalm myself at my stuttering. He laughs another soft laugh. Another, because I realize now that the person who was laughing at my nutella admiration was Dylan, not Dave.Just then, Jacqueline coughs from the other side of the table as I sit up straight, remembering something.

"Right,um. Guys, this is Dylan, my old friend from Georgia. Dylan, this is Matt,Blake,Bailey, Jacqueline and Dave." I say, gesturing towards them respectively. Everyone mutters a formal 'hi' to Dylan as Jacqueline steps in and gestures him to sit down on the empty seat next to me.I shift a little in my seat as if to make space for him, though there was plenty. He sits down and grabs the bottle of chocolate milk sitting on my tray. He opens it within a second and gulps down half of it, as I stare at the cap I'd been trying to open for the past twenty minutes. Was I that weak, though? Or was he just too strong? 

Or was it both?

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We decided to  meet at the entrance of the school after classes ended. I walk down to the parking lot as I hear someone calling my name from behind. I smile to myself before I turned around, for I knew just the only person who called me by that name.

Roses.

But the list doesen't end here, oh no. There's so many other ways he addresses me. I don't even remember them all, but I just remember that I was thoroughly fond of them.

I wait at my spot as he runs over to me, his t shirt flying against his toned body as he runs opposite to the direction of the wind. You still got them packs,honey.

You'd expect him to be panting and breathless as he skids to a halt in front of me, but none of that happens.He continues running, not bothering to stop where I was standing. As he reaches his black car, he stops and turns around as he yells," I win!"

By this time, I'd already walked over to him, internally laughing at how childish he still was.

"You can't win if there was no game." I say.

"Oh yeah, runner? As if you'd win if we were racing anyways?"he asks.

"That depends on what we're racing in. If it's a race to write a poem,well, watch me run, show-off." I answer as we both get into the car. I instruct him the directions as he drives away. Away from all this. This bustling, this place I could never call home  but a place where I could show him what all  this was  about. A trademark. A hideaway.

Once we reach the open field, I tell him to park his car by the road. Afterwards, we get off as dusk falls down on us, indicating the start of the night.

"You ready for this?" I ask, looking up to meet his eyes, now glowing as the city lights fell on his sapphire blue iris.

"Please tell me now if we need to turn around. Oh lord, what have you gotten me into?You sound like we're about to carry out some terrorist operation or something." he says, smirking.

"Oh, you drama king!" I exclaim, punching his shoulder playfully. I watch as he smiles, the purple and blue lights illuminating his eyes as the red and  yellow lights play kaleidoscopes on his face, accentuating his features. 

As we walk through the fields and reach our destination,I hear Dylan choke on his own breath. 

The Hollywood sign. We were right behind it.

 Before I can say anything, Dylan runs over to the sign, stopping where the inner circle of the 'O' of Hollywood is. I slowly walk over and come to a halt beside him, as the entire city lay right before our eyes. The fluttering lights of the cars zooming by, the bright lights of the skyscrapers and the silence of it all made the whole thing utterly overwhelming.It's like all the bustling and business was right there, but yet you were so far away from the trouble of it all. It was like  the city was all within the reach of your eyes, but so far away from your hands. Like you had it all, but you were nowhere near having anything at the same time. This place, made you feel like the richest being in the world; the happiest, even. But at the same time, it made you feel so small.So...inferior.I lost count of how long we had been standing there, drowning in absolute awe. But then, Dylan was the first to speak.

"This is beautiful, Roselyn. Do you come here often?" he asked.

"I come here sometimes. Once in a few months. I don't think it's fully by the law. I once got caught by the cops and they were pretty pissed." I say, chuckling as I look back to that night. It was only a year back, but I was so much younger.

"Oh.But you know what? I think this place is better off enjoyed alone. Do you bring your friends here?"

"No. You're the first I've shown this place to. And it was worth it. Even though you're not talking much about the magnificence of the little world laying out in front of you, I can tell by your eyes that it's because you are simply at loss of words."I reply.

"Yeah..." he says, and as I turn my head to look at him, I notice that he's staring right back at me.

So cliche.

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As he drops me off at home, I bid him goodbye as he thanks me for the day. We ate at McDonald's, as we thought that that would be the  perfect closure to a city outing like this.Also, neither of us had enough money at hand anyways.

I thought that I'd be stressed after today, and got to bed ready for another sleepless night. But as I put on my blanket on top of me  and begin to look back on the past, something different happened.Tonight, though I was thinking of all the things I had gone through in my life, I actually found it comforting. It made me feel stronger; like I was ready . Capable, even; of dealing with what more life had to throw my way.