Safe In A Stranger's Arms

Chapter Sixteen

I nodded understandingly, trying my best to show comfort. "Those fucking bastards. Is he alright?" My hands traveled down to her knee as I began to stroke it. Her body seemed more relaxed at my touch so I continued.

"He's alright. I'm just really confused as to why I came here." She brought her eyes back to mine. "I should be at home with them but instead, I decided to be selfish and come here. I'm starting to regret that because now I feel like they're upset with me."

I moved closer to her. "Cait, they're not upset at you. I'm sure as hell they're beyond proud of you for making it here by yourself. Look at you, you're studying in university and you have a nice job. You came here for a reason, don't you remember?"

She nods slowly. "You're right, I shouldn't even be upset. I came here to live my life and see things I can't see back in that shitty town."

"Exactly." I grinned at her. After a few minutes of silence, I spoke up. "What are your goals?"

She was taken back by my question. "What?"

"What are your goals?" I repeated.

"Uhm, I don't know. To become rich?" She chuckled as she took another sip from her juice.

"No, seriously. What's on your bucket list? Every girl has one of those sappy things, right?" I joked.

She playfully punched my arm and I quickly held it, pretending like it hurt. "Shut up. Not every girl has one."

I smirked. "Bull shit. I know you have one, it's probably with you right now."

She looked around the room and smiled to herself. "Maybe."

I laughed until I watched her grab her brown leather bag. "Wait, you were serious?" I said in disbelief and as my eyes widened.

"Yeah, weren't you?" She smirked as her arm began shifting through the bag. I watched closely as her fingers were wrapped around a small piece of paper that was folded and a bit crumpled. She opened it and placed it in front of her. Her face lit up as she began to read the list in her head, smiling to herself. "I wrote it when I was 14. It's pretty embarrassing though."

I smirked at her and pulled out my hand. "Let me read it."

"What? N-no, it's really pathetic." She shook her head and looked back down at the paper, the smile still plastered on her face.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad." I quickly snatched the paper out of her hand, managing to get it before she returned it back in her bag.

"Justin, give it back. Please." She pleaded, bending over to take it from me. Unfortunately, my hand was just too far away from her reach. "Don't read it, I'm begging you." She said as she let out a laugh.

"That just makes me want to read it more!" I smirked, holding onto her arm that was trying to get the paper out of my hand.

She let out a loud sigh as she sat back down in her previous position, still facing me. "Ugh, fine. Just don't tease me about it, okay? Remember, 14 year old Caitlin wrote this."

"Alright." I quickly leaned over to kiss her cheek, and then began to read the list. "Hmm, let's see what we have here." I said as I skimmed my eyes over the wrinkly old paper. It felt rough on my fingers as I held it tightly in front of me.

I watched Cait as she let out a loud groan and placed her face in the palm of her hands, obviously embarrassed. It was beyond cute to me that she still kept stuff like this. I don't even have my middle school graduation picture but she still had that?

I cleared my throat and began reading it out loud. "Number one."

"Oh God, no!"

"Go to China?" I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Cait, what the fuck is this?" I shook my head and kept reading. "Number two. Hey, this one's not that bad. Meet a celebrity."