Admit It

23; safe haven

For the first time in days, the city was alive and loud and filled with footsteps that patterned the snow, but the two of them still felt like the only people on the streets, caught in a daydream, lost in the light. Though, the light was slightly dispersed due to the clouds Shawn was convinced would never leave, but there was enough light between the two of them to feel warm and safe in the December cold. It was very much still autumn, and it would be until the 21st, but the atmosphere was cold and white and filled with floating snowflakes as if it had been winter for years.

"That museum is my favorite," Shawn said to Camila, referencing the museum that they had just wandered around that they were currently walking the steps of. The stairs of the museum were marble and clean as day like the steps to the library, but he clarified that people very much visited the museum often and there had not been any murders on this particular set of stairs, at least not to his knowledge. "I used to visit all the time with my mom, though mostly for the glass art on the first floor. I just remember liking the way it made the floor look a thousand different colors at once. I didn't understand the rest of the art."

'And judging by how many times I tried to explain those French impressionism paintings to you, you still don't understand now,' she typed, and he laughed a bit. She hadn't spoken out loud since they had gotten out of the car that morning, but he understood why. There were so many people constantly on all sides of them that it didn't matter that not a single one was paying attention to the girl and the boy that were wandering the art museum on their Sunday morning, it still felt like they could hear her if they tried.

"Well, what was your favorite room?"

She considered for a moment, before giggling softly and kissing his jaw. 'The room with the clouds and the ships and the sea. That was my favorite.'

Shawn tried to remember that particular display before she pulled on the edge of his hoodie sleeve and glanced up at him, and he suddenly remembered the exact room she was thinking of. That room was at the furthest end of the museum, and for a moment while the halls were empty of footsteps and the room consisted of just them, they stole a kiss on stolen time, or maybe more than just one, maybe a good deal more. Only they would know, and they were too tied up in each other to think about counting.

"Of course that's your favorite," Shawn whispered. Looking around first, he took her hand and brought her to the side of the staircase. There were still people around them, but Shawn still placed his lips over hers, gentle but electric, sweet but passionate. Camila reciprocated with just as much, the world falling silent as he kissed her endlessly and ran his hands over the sleeves of the denim jacket he had placed over her shoulders.

Pulling away after a few seconds, he kept her hand in his and walked with her the rest of the way down the stairs. "Where do you want to go next?"

'Anywhere,' she said, leaning her head on his shoulder and tracing four secret letters on the back of his hand with her fingertips. 'I just want to stay with you for as long as I can.'

Sometimes, Shawn wished she could stay with him forever, or at least the night.

"Let's go to the library. There are too many people here."

'How long to go there?'

Glancing around, he said, "Maybe around 20 minutes. If we want to take the backroads, which, trust me, you do."

Instead of walking straight ahead on the sidewalk that lined the edge of the road, Shawn turned the two of them to walk alongside the edge of the marble building. Beyond there, it seemed to be a line of shops with walls of red brick and flourishes of darkening bronze, though the windows of the shops were at an angle so Camila couldn't look inside quite yet, so she had no idea what they could hold. A few bookstores, she thought, maybe a shop for headphones or one for ice cream catering, too.