𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑃𝐿𝐴𝑌𝐸𝑅 𝑊𝐼𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁 ꨄ︎ 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐊𝐈 𝐓.

11 ° Alone

L/N walks with no rhythm or rhyme.  She almost knocks into me several times.  There's a few gentle brushes of her fingertips against mine, causing me to distance myself from her a little bit.  "Are we going somewhere special?" I ask her, noticing that we've reached a more secluded part of the campus.

"Indeed we are.  Just follow me, be quiet, and keep up," she giggles.  For having been so serious and angry earlier today she sure seems bubbly and carefree right now.  I nod even though she isn't looking at me.  I have a feeling she knows I did so anyway.

She stops walking, and I almost bump into her if my eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness around us.  We were far away enough from any building for anybody to hear our discreet sounds.  And the lampposts had ended several meters back.

"I found this escape on the second day of school.  It's pretty cool," she grins devilishly.  I look at the stone wall in front of us.  "L/N-san, that's a wall," I point out according to my own knowledge.  She rolls her eyes, turning to the wall to begin pulling some smaller, looser brick-like stones out of the wall.

My eyes widen like a flower blooming, watching in amazement as she begins climbing them.  She reaches the top of the blockade, looking back down at me.  "Hurry up," she grins.  In the limelight of the moon she looks like the Cheshire cat.  I begin to climb the wall, purchasing a death grip on each hand hold of stone.

I reach the top, looking over the wall to notice a steep drop down a hill that leads into the forest which separates this campus from a strip of shops.  "I don't think this is such a great idea," I say quietly.  "Don't be such a worry-wart.  I've survived with a knee injury," she states proudly.  "But I'm not as brave as you," I say while meeting her eyes.

She gives me a look of encouragement rather than sarcasm.  "Together then," she smiles.  I look back down at the ground, taking a deep breath, before gathering some courage.  L/N grabs my hand, and without freaking out over the contact, I jump with her.  Our hands naturally release the hold in order for us to catch our fall.  We hit the ground, I fell forward on my hands and knees while L/N somersaulted into a sitting position.

The adrenaline pumping through my system is exhilarating.  I love this feeling of being cool, and knowing I did it with somebody else.  "Fun, right?" Y/N grins back at me.  I feel a new connection with her; for the first time I'm not anxious or nervous around her.  "Yeah," I chuckle, standing up to help her onto her own feet. 

We walk together; the gully of the forest getting closer.  "There's this place I wanna show you," she tells me eagerly.  I gesture for her to lead the way.  As we reach the trough of the dip she picks up her pace, beginning to jog further into the woods.  I follow after her, keeping up despite the uneven terrain.  She slows down and we finally stop at a large tree.

I follow her line of sight to see a decently-sized tree house held in the branches.  "Time to go up," she giggles.  She takes to the branches of the tree, maneuvering around to get to the tree house entrance.  Once she's in the small building, I take a turn to climb up the trunk. 

She scoots back as I also pull in all my limbs to fit.  We can't stand up, but there's enough room to crouch and sit.  The space can't be more than 10 square meters.  "I found this place after the first week of school," she tells me, looking up at the roof.  I also look around, noticing how old the wood is; thankfully it's a sturdy structure.

"You sure find a lot of things," I say, trying to make small talk.  "It's because I'm an adventurer!  Life isn't fun without trying to find something new, or else life will always be boring," she shrugs.  I nod, understanding her point of view.  She looks at me and I blush, avoiding her gaze.  "I'm glad you're different from all the other guys on the volleyball team that I met," she blurts.

I pause, mulling over her words before asking, "What do you mean?"  She replies, "You aren't confident in your ability to pursue me as a love interest like the lot of them.  It makes me happy because then I can take the lead-  Unless you're already taken by someone else and I completely misunderstood you," she grins with this sly smile that stretches across her face.  Not even a beat later and my whole body feels like it's on fire.

I clamp my mouth shut and avoid her eyes at all costs.  She just admitted she was crushing on me and pursuing me!  "N-no, I'm single," I relive the worry she made evident.  I glance at her eyes and I'm captivated.  There's a brimming fire that steals all my embarrassment away from me.  "Good.  It means I can do this," she slowly leans towards me.  I'm cemented in my spot as she gently kisses my lips with her's. 

She's soft and gentle, caressing my cheek with her left hand.  I can feel her chest brush against mine; I'm back to feeling on fire again.  She pulls away, fluttering her eyelashes as she looks at me with a smile and a mild blush adorning her face.  "Did you not like it?  You were quite tense," she teases.  Half a heart beat later my body moves on its own.  I've caged her body under mine.  "I loved it," I admit and kiss her back this time. 

She grabs purchase of my face and the front of my shirt.  I'm unafraid to press my body against her's; there's this new magic fizzle of a connection that's invisibly swarming us.  My lips move against her lips rhythmically and with haste.  I can't seem to get enough of her as I swipe my tongue across her upper lip.  Her own tongue darted out to tangle with mine.  Only moments ago we were happily chatting as friends.  But when I pull up for a breath of air her eyes are everything but just a friend's.