Faith In The Wild •BOOK I•

|7| Something Different

The boy spun around and fixed his eyes on me, his lips parted in surprise.
I just stood there..  frozen in the moment of my prayers being answered.

The mask of mystery slowly faded from his face as we both stood in a mix of happiness and disbelief.

This was something I always prayed and begged the Lord to give me.
Well, would you look at that? God is still listening after all these years.

--"Bella...?"--  He whispered, his eyes narrowing in question. 

My breath caught in my throat, the happiest tears that have ever touched the edges of my eyes, overflowed them.

I lost all care for how badly I felt, and I made my way as quickly as I could to the middle of the barn where he stood. He ushered his baby sister to his dad, then welcomed me into an embrace that I longed for.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, nearly knocking him over from my excited outburst.

His hat fell, landing beside our feet, yet neither of us let go.
The moment was frozen in time, like ice left unbroken in a lake of words too deep to utter.

"I thought I'd never see you again.." I cried, my face buried into his shoulder to hide the slight flush of my cheeks at our close proximity.

--"I thought I'd never hear your voice, o-or see you smile, or ever get to hug you again."--

There it was.

We were pressed so tightly together, our bodies flush as the lyrics of our heart beat in sync, cascading a thousand memories over my mind.
Suddenly, it was almost like we were right back in Middleschool, talking about the simplest of things like science class and how Mrs. Carter always came back to teaching lessons on our hearts-- 'the most important part of the body.' As she had said.

"I can feel your heart beat.. isn't that so cool?" I whispered with a knowing smile, a genuine smile. One that I felt like I haven't had since my nineth birthday.

--"Yeah, that is cool. I can feel yours too.."-- He chuckled through his happy tears.

--"I missed you, Bella."--

"I missed you, too, Carl." I mumbled back.

"But, I missed you... More." I said under my breath, a hint of playful mischief in my tone.

He pulled back from the hug, and looked into my eyes with that... look, the one that sent my heart shooting up into my throat and caused my stomach to do summersaults, kind of look. And he knew it, too.

I've always known I felt something for Carl. I just didn't know what exactly. I still don't.
And at the time I realized it, we were just kids. So it was safer to say that whatever I felt for him.. was platonic. Even if.. it wasn't.

I knew his dad, and the rest of his group had their eyes glued to us, which caused an embarrassing heat to creep up my neck. Though I didn't move, as if in a trance.

--"Okay."--

"Okay?" I asked, my previous train of thought trailing off at the sound of his voice.

--"Yeah. Okay. You win. But just because you win, doesn't mean you're right."-- He smiled sarcastically.

And man, did I miss that smile.

"Fair enough."

Rick cleared his throat, interrupting our conversation.

--"Yes?"-- Carl asked from over his shoulder, annoyance bleeding through his tone of voice.

"We need to get a fire going, and get as much rest as possible, then we're back out on the road tomorrow." He said.