Into the Darkness (OCXOBI)

Part 14

The Next Morning:

My eyes fluttered open as the morning sun rays hit my face. I raised up from my bed and looked around, Shirayuki was already awake getting our things ready so we could leave.

"Rise and shine!" She said in her usual cheery tone.

"Morning." I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the brightness.

My feet hit the floor and I shuttered at the coolness. Coming up behind her, I looked over her shoulder to see if she needed any help.

She turned to look at me and caught sight of the red gem that dangled from my neck.

"Oh wow! That's so pretty." Her eyes widened.

"Oh thank you..." I said quietly while smiling as I placed my hand around the beautiful necklace.

"Where did you get it?" She smirked a little.

My heart raced in my chest and my cheeks burned bright pink thinking about Obi giving it to me last night.

I was pretty embarrassed to say the least, not sure how I should answer the question.

"Um. Well, y-you see...I-" My stuttered words were cut off by the sound of knocking at the door.

Perfect timing!

"I'll get it!" I said rushing to the door.

Shirayuki gave me a look that said 'we aren't finished with this conversation yet' which I blew off for the time being.

"You ladies ready to hit the road?" Obi grinned widely and placed his hands on his hips as he stood in the doorway.

My throat went dry trying to force the words out to give him an answer, Shirayuki noticed and answered quickly.

"Yeah, we will be ready in just a second. We'll meet you outside." Shirayuki called from behind me.

I froze in place when his gaze shifted down to me. He leaned a little closer as he spoke.

"You feeling alright? Looks like you might have a fever..." He went to place his hand on my forehead but I turned away quickly.

"I'm perfectly fine!" I tried to sound as cheery as possible, even though I felt like my heart was about to explode.

"Yeah, sure." His voice sounded kind of sad, his gaze dropped to the floor for a second then he turned to leave, closing the door behind him.

I slumped against the door with a loud sigh then sliding to the floor. I could feel the magic start to vibrate around inside of me but I took a second to calm myself.

I wondered what it was that made him sound defeated like that but I brushed it off as I looked up to see a certain redhead looking down at me with a grin on her face.

"So, are you going to tell me what that was about?"

My mouth opened for a moment to speak before I decided against it.

I'm sure Obi has feelings for Shirayuki, but I'm not sure how she feels. I wouldn't want to make her upset with me if I told her about what happened last night.

"Shirayuki, can I ask you something?" I asked softly avoiding her brilliant green eyes.

"You know you can." She giggled a bit while she sliding down next to me.

"Have you...have you ever been in love?"

"Yes, I have someone I love very much. It took me a little while to understand my feelings for him but we're happy together now." She gave a warm smile.

I knew it, she does love him. I think I may have feelings for him too, but I'll have to let it go. I won't hurt my friend.

"Why do you ask, Arisa?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"No reason, just asking." I smiled as big as I could, even though my heart was hurting.

I'm just happy to be friends with him, that will be enough for me.

We finished getting ready, much to my surprise she didn't say anything else about it.

Then we headed downstairs to meet Obi and started off on our journey yet again.

*Shirayuki's POV*

"Only a few more days and we should be in Clarines, Arisa." I said to my friend.

Obi and Arisa have both been pretty quiet since we left the Inn this morning, I wonder what's going on with them?

"That's great, I'm just ready to relax." Arisa said blankly looking straight ahead like she was deep in thought.

"Hey Obi, do you mind if we make a stop in the next town over? I have some things I'd like to get." She said slightly glancing over at him.

"Sure, I don't mind at all. I could go with you if you'd like!" His tone sounded a little happier than it had before.

We made our stop in town and Arisa insisted that she didn't need us to go with her, so Obi and I stayed behind to wait for her to return.

I hopped down from the horse to stretch my legs but Obi stayed put, staring off into space until I broke him from his trance.

"What's up with the two of you?" I tried to ask as casually as possible.

"I think she's upset with me." He said with a small sad smile.

"What happened?" I put my hand on my chin and furrowing my eyebrows.

"I think that you were right, I do like her."

I knew it! Wait, but why does he look so sad about it?

"Then why is she upset? I think she likes you too, so I don't understand." I tilted my head to the side.

"If I'm being honest, I'm not really sure. She just hasn't talked to me like she usually does, she hasn't teased me or called me a single name all day. And earlier when I went to touch her, she pulled away from me."

He hung his head low to avoid my gaze as he continued softly. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected her to feel the same." He shrugged and brought his head up to look at me.

Even though he was smiling, I could tell how hurt he really was and it made me sad for him.

"That doesn't make any sense, I could talk to her if you want?" I asked in a comforting tone.

"That won't be necessary, Miss. I don't want to push her. Besides, a guy like me isn't meant to get the girl anyway." He tilted his gaze back to the sky.

Oh, Obi...that isn't true.