The beauty of chapters: I thought he was the one

Chapter 18

"Are you in a hurry to get home?" He asked me. I waited for more explanation before answering. "I wanna show you something."

Our eyes met for a brief moment and though curiosity should not have been on my mind, it was. I looked down at the time displayed on the screen of the stereo then nodded. He drove away from campus, in the direction of his parent's home but instead of making the stop like I assumed, he continued on driving. He drove for a few minute before making a stop at a store where we got something to drink, I water and he beer. With a slightly better atmosphere, he put on soft music to chase out the suffocating silence. I wasn't sure what he wanted to show me, I had no idea in mind until we drove up a hill and he took a turn to a small cliff overlooking the city life below.

"This is it." He said, allowing me only a two seconds glimpse at him before he disembark.

I prepared myself for a rush of strong wind, but there wasn't any. Surprisingly, this side of the area was not windy. The dust on the ground stood still as we walked over to the front of the car. The open window on his side turned the music into a soft melody in the background.

The car light shone in front of us, going pass the end of the dry dirt on the cliff and merged in with the lights of buildings down below from miles away. The mountains were tall shadows in the distance, distinctively standing out from the sky that got darker the closer it got to us with stars that did nothing to brighten them up.

He slid on the hood of the car and I did the same, being extra careful to not leave a dent while he looked like he couldn't careless, leaning against the windshield and lighting up a cigarette.

The area was beautiful none the less, but it didn't explain why he wanted to show it to me. So I had to ask. "Why did you want to come here?"

Blowing out the smoke from his mouth, he smiled. "I have a confession to make. I didn't necessarily wanted to show this place. I just wanted to come here and didn't want to be alone. My mind hasn't been the best lately."

How quick the annoyance and slight resentment I felt for him earlier turned to sadness and the desire to comfort him. But the best that I could do right then was distract him and push away the thoughts - that my dad would frown upon - of whether or not he would do the same for him.

"My Mum wouldn't be very happy if she found out I was here."

"What's up with that? With the whole distraction, why does a friendship have to be a distraction from your goals?"

"Its just the way she thinks. If a friendship would not benefit my studies or goals in anyway then there is no point to have it. It's kinda like right now. I should be studying but instead I'm looking at city lights with a boy that's far from a gentleman."

"That's a low blow, Dubraska."

I held back from saying the reason why I was angry at him earlier, but I'm sure that if we continue on this conversation it will come out eventually.

"And for your information, I am a gentleman. It only comes out on necessary situations."

"So I guess my defence is not a necessary situation." That caught his attention. For the first time since we got out of the car we held eye contact. The windows to his soul were the only thing that gave away the sadness that surrounded him, his expression hid it well. If not for the knowledge of the background story I would've thought that the roughness and zero effort in his voice was simply from fatigue. And as I hate to admit it, even with all of that he still looked handsome.

"You never say anything when Larissa pokes fun at me." I continued.

"Is that why you were upset earlier?" He didn't need me to answer the question, he already understood. "I didn't think you were taking her seriously, none of us really do. I'm sorry if it seemed like I didn't have your back. We might not be friends but, I'm not that heartless to not care about your emotions."