2 | A WHOLE LIFETIME AWAY

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N. Hanson's Point of View

"Thank god you're finally here! I've been waiting for hours." Bryce groaned as he stood up from his spot on the curb. As he stood, he brushed himself and folded his arms across his chest like he was disappointed in me.

"Knowing you, you've probably been here for all of 5 minutes."

He shrugged, "You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe." I rolled my eyes in his direction. He laughed it off and we began walking.

"You know, people are starting to get suspicious of our little rendezvous," Bryce said sweetly. I looked over at him to see he was playfully wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

People, I echoed in my mind, what people? I shook my head at him, " Well, maybe you should tell these people they're looking into something that isn't there. Now, will you shut up about other people and let's go." As I finished my statement, I grabbed Bryce's hand and we began to run to where we needed to go. It all felt so right. We knew exactly who we were, who the other person was, what we were doing and where we were going. There was nothing to doubt or worry about, it was just us and it was just now.

We soon reached our spot. In our small, simple town was this place only we knew about. There was an old factory, who the hell knew what it was used for when it was first built. We didn't care. On the side of the building, there were these twisting stairs that led to the very tip-top. One could only assume it was there for maintenance. Once you reached the top, it was flat. Although, if you looked at the building from the ground you'd suspect that it was a three-dimensional point. However, it wasn't. The frame was there, so it was supposed to become a straight point, but it wasn't built. It was completely open except for one side that was built, the only side you could see from the ground.

So, Bryce and I set up camp there. It had a tarp over it, to shield all of our things if it ever rained. But, if it wasn't raining we'd take the tarp off so we could let the sun or even the moonlight in. Today we got here early, just so we could see the sunrise. The floor was covered in blankets and pillows. And on the wall, we just wrote whatever we wanted, or pinned things that we liked or that we thought the other person would like- the most noticeable being some movie posters Lynetta got from one of her exes that used to work at the theater.

We had our backs against the wall as we looked out to where the sunrise was. We didn't say anything, we never really did. Everything was so still. Like the rest of the world wasn't there, and if it was, it didn't matter. I typically thought about whatever was bothering me when we did this. And today, I thought of Bryce and me.

We did have an unconventional friendship. We were friends, hell, we were really close. But, not publicly anyway. Bryce Loski and I are friends, but nobody really knows.

For some reason, we don't talk at school or go anywhere where people from our school might go. We always sneak out to hang out with each other. The closest thing to us publicly hanging out is when we walk home from school together. But even then I wait for him at the back gate and he doesn't come until it seems like everyone in the school is gone. I find myself wondering if Bryce Loski is embarrassed to be seen with me. If he was, why? And why hadn't I really cared to think about this until now?

"What's wrong? Looks like something's on your mind." Bryce asked, his voice startling me a bit. I looked over at him, he was looking out at the sky. He looked tired, not in an exhausted way, but in a peaceful way.

"You aren't even looking at me."

Bryce chuckled and shook his head, "You think I have to see you with my eyes to know something's up with you?" He turned his head to look at me now and I looked away before our eyes could meet.

"Just thinking about next year," I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper like I was afraid if I spoke too loud I may wake the whole town from up here.

I heard Bryce shuffle around, when I looked over at him he had an endearing smile on his face, "That's so far in the future Naomi. Just worry about what's happening right now." He said, nudging me.

"2 months isn't really that far, Bryce."

"Well, it seems like a whole lifetime away."

Changing the topic before it could go any further than that, I asked, "What do you want to do today?"

Bryce then stood up, "I gotta get back, my mom'll freak out if she walks into my room and finds I've been replaced by a couple of pillows," He said with a soft chuckle, stretching a bit to wake himself up, "You staying?"

I shrugged, "Maybe a few minutes longer." I watched Bryce as he walked towards the exit, before he stepped out, he looked back at me, waiting for me to say something, maybe, wanting to say something himself, maybe. I chuckled, "I'll see ya?"

" Not if I see you first. "

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