All I Ever Knew Was Your Name [Nick Robinson]

FIVE

your whatever by lovelytheband

It's hard being the girl that no one knows.

It's different when someone thrives off of being a pretentious, unknown, and self proclaimed "mystery," but I never did. It just happened to be that way, and it was always that way. The shyness and inability to be outgoing were flaws to me, and I constantly found myself wishing things were different. I had always wanted friends, sleepovers, parties, sneaking out, and all of that, but I allowed myself to sink deeper into a hole that I dug myself.

After climbing down Nameless Neighbor's ladder safely, we begin walking towards the sidewalk away from his house. It's quiet between us after he congratulates me on not falling flat on my face, which made me laugh.

"What do you do when you sneak out?" I ask finally, looking up at the brunette momentarily before looking ahead of me again.

He shrugs. "Whatever I feel like. There's endless possibilities, you know."

"Here?" I nearly gasp, wondering exactly how he could say that with such confidence. The coolest thing we have is a twenty-four hour Walmart. That should say enough.

"In this town, yes," he laughs.

"Such as?" I drag out my words, hoping for some kind of interesting answer.

He shrugs. "The other night, I went to a friend's house for a party. The night before that, I just walked around town to clear my head, and a few nights before that, I went to Luca's Diner with some friends for some milkshakes and fries."

I nod. "Luca's is open that late?"

"Twenty-four hours," he says. "That and Walmart."

I giggle softly, knowing I had just thought the same thing moments before. "Sounds fun."

"It's definitely better when you have people with you. Like, I'd never go to a party alone or to Luca's alone. The only thing I ever do alone is take walks. I don't like being alone," he explains.

"It's something you learn to love," I say. "It's not so bad."

He buries his hands in his pockets. "You don't hang out with your friends outside of school?"

I shake my head, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. "No. They're all much closer to each other than I am with any of them. It's not their fault, though. I feel like I kind of let myself be the outcast."

"I doubt you're the outcast. You seem perfectly normal to me," he nudges me with his arm.

"Everything is not as it seems," I raise an eyebrow, my attention on my feet in front of me.

"You're not into some weird shit, are you?"

I look up at him, noticing his warm gaze on mine immediately. It's a gaze I've noticed a few times before, and it's one that I have a hard time forgetting. "What kind of weird shit?"

"I don't know! I guess, like, witchcraft? Whatever makes someone an outcast."

I laugh. "No, no weird shit. I like to keep to myself, I guess. That's all."

"To hide all of the weird shit?" he nudges me with his arm, sending a wave of chills throughout my body.

The last time I had contact with a boy was with my boyfriend nearly three years ago. It was different with him anyways, seeing as we were best friends before our relationship began. The flirty, giddiness never took place for us.

But here I am with a guy I barely know, and I'm feeling it so suddenly. He's cute and he's nice. He's giving me attention. He's not treating me like a wallflower. He's different.