Hopeless Romantic

8. Dream

It took a while before the matter cooled down.
Oscar hadn't moved on he was still looking for an opportunity for revenge. He was pretty soon occupied by assignments and projects.
One such project was the duo project we had to make in art class. A 3D model of solid shapes in duos. Most of the class teamed up according to locations as it was a home assignment. Oscar looked around the class, his gaze came to me, I gave him the sign, I was so not going to work with. He was disappointed, but I'm pretty sure he didn't regret it.
The only person close to his house was Rio.
So, he asked Rio if they could make a project together, she agreed but at the condition that it would be at her home.
So, after school she took him to her house, the first time he would be visiting. He followed her onto the same bus he took every day. Surprised by the fact that he never saw her in the same bus as him, she told him that she was always late, took the same route but a bus half an hour later. He just shrugged it off and took a seat.
They got off at a bus stop. She then took him to a hot dog stall. "Let's eat!" she said.
Oscar was confused at first but the smile on her face as she ordered two hot dogs was reasonable explanation for him.
She told him that another bus route was made for her neighborhood because it was a forest land and it was very vast. So, they waited for the bus to arrive while they ate their hot dogs.
Fifteen minutes later, the bus with the required number had arrived, buses were coded here.
They sat next to each other. Unfortunately, at the next stop an old lady entered and Oscar had to give up his seat for her.
He did get a seat but diagonal to Rio. She then gestured to check his texts. There he saw she had sent him a stream off text messages.
"Here's my school, here's the only mall in my area, here's the jogger's park etc." It was amazing how close technology had gotten people who couldn't stay close to each other, marvelous inventions.
A while later she got up and told him to follow her. They got off at stop, but it didn't have any seats or anything, it was a pole with bus stop written by hand. It was a marshy land, quite similar to where Oscar lived, in fact Oscar felt like home. They walked a bit more, dense trees on top of their heads, a mild breeze, sunlight slipping in through the cracks of the leaves. It was a delightful afternoon.
Her house was 6th on the street, so it wasn't as far as one would think. It was a wooden home that gave a very cozy feeling. At the porch were two paintings that were made by Rio's older sister. Elegant abstract art he thought they looked like. Not much of an artist Oscar was.
He was greeted by Rio's mother, a warm smile on her face. Rio told him to freshen up while she changed. Oscar was fascinated by their house, it was like the houses you would see in movies, the ones that get attacked in peaceful forest-based towns.
Rio's mother had placed snacks in the living room while Rio was waiting for him to begin.
They started by first planning out what to make. Then cut-snip went the cardboard pieces. A little bit miscalculation tool place and the whole model looked like an orange, but one that was peeled up, so they had to start over again.
It had gotten late but eventually they got the job done. Rio promised to have it painted by the deadline, which was next week. So Oscar returned back home but was stressed, Rio wasn't really a deadline follower.
The project was completed, it was the most smoothly painted solid piece Oscar had ever seen. The subject teacher was unhappy with the creativity part but atleast it was over.
Oscar and Rio started hanging out a lot more after that, they would walk back to their closest common stops and have anything they felt like.
One day they would have Chinese, the other they would have pizza. Oscar took Rio to Build-a-bread. It was the first time she had been to one. And the only reason she probably agreed was because they had found out Liv had just started dating a senior and that had crushed Oscar's spirit. Anyway, he taught her how to build her "Bub", as the fast-food joint called it, I don't even want to know why, she got annoyed cause it was just like making a sandwich but with professional ingredients. Oscar couldn't even deny that.

And that's how it started, slowly and steadily the boy was heading toward the cliff, completely unknown of what was about to come