Forsaking Lilly

Chapter Seventeen

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop the bouncing of every organ in my body.

Everything within me vibrated and buzzed at the thought of talking with Marcus. Though this was exciting, exhilarating, and a high that I had never experienced, it was also unbelievably embarassing. Never, ever, had I been so nervous in my entire life. Every breath I took was in slow motion, and every thought that scattered around in my mind was girlish and unintelligent. I couldn't believe I was going through this, I couldn't believe that I was so excited over a walk! It wasn't like he would drop down on one knee, ask me to marry him, sweep me away to Venice, and buy me a freaking pony! However, I'll admit that it would be much appreciated if he did.

" Calla?"

I was sucked back to where I stood, staring at the tree line that marked the end of my back yard. I closed my eyes, giving myself enough time to recover ( Mentally of course ) and give him my best smile. " Um, yeah, I'm sorry. I spaced out there." I gave a nervous laugh and continued into the woods with him.

" Yeah, I saw," he said, his voice lack of any recognizable emotion. I tried not to let his tone get to me and focused on the fact that I was dirty instead. I'd been wearing these clothes since the day before, and the fact that I was out walking with Marcus in them made me more self-conscious. Immediately, my mind filled with worry of him noticing the clothes or something else along those lines.

" You look like you expect me to slap you or something." I looked over to find an aggravated expression on his face. Something beneath the surface of the flustered side of me broke free, and I snapped back to defense mode.

" The way you talk to me doesn't help."

He slowed in his step, turning to face me. We weren't to far away from my house now, and the air wasn't as cold as it had been the day before. Leaves had fallen from the trees and were scattered across the forest floors in rich hues of reds, browns, and golds. Though my mind was trying, very hard, to take note of my surroundings, I could tell that he was staring at me. Shifting beneath his heavy gaze, I looked past him at a scissor-tail that sat in a tree. It was quite lonesome, yet it still appeared prideful and content. With a crook of its head, it flew off, leaving me back to deal with the situation at hand.

" The forest looks very beautiful doesn't it," I said, my throat suddenly very dry. As soon as the words had left my mouth, I felt stupid for saying them. There were a million other things that I could have said, but I said that instead. I stared down at my feet, embarrassment threatening to come out in a form of irritation.

" Yeah, it does," Marcus chuckled, amusement thick in his voice. " The woods are always gorgeous around this time of year. In fact, it's one of the best parts of this season." My heart swelled for all of half a second, but then I coughed it away.  Don't get me wrong, I love a sappy line as much as the next girl, but I felt that we were getting too...personal and too mushy, and we'd just gotten out here.

This time, I decided to lead the way and lead us further into the woods. I wasn't taking us anywhere directly, just straight. I didn't fear getting lost this time, though, because I knew that Marcus probably knew his way around pretty well.

" Have you done anything around town yet?"

" Not really," I sighed. " I went out to Perrin yesterday with my friend Cooper, but that's it."

" Perrin, huh? Is this the same Cooper that you got separated from when you got lost?"

" Yep," I said as I stepped over a fallen trunk or two. Anxiety was rising through me like a hot air balloon and I was getting more and more irritated with every second that passed. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know why, either. It was simply the fact that I couldn't stand waiting! I mean, what could he possibly want to walk in the woods with me for if he didn't have something important to ask?

" Where'd he take you?"

" How is that important!" I whirled on him, my face calm but my voice loud and harsh. He raised his brows at me and stood still, crossing his arms over his chests and just staring at me. His rich green eyes smiled down at me, but that only fueled the fire. I was an impatient person by blood and here was, wasting time that he could have used to tell me what he wanted.

" Why are you looking at me like that?" I still sounded agitated, but my voice had dropped in its volume.

" I'm just wondering why you get so upset." He shook his head at me and shrugged, with that he turned and went to go sit on one of the trunks.

I stood, staring, utterly dumbfounded by the things that he seemed to find within me. First, he accused me of not having trust issues, now it was this. I shifted on my feet, my hand reaching up to twist at a stray strand of my hair. " I don't get upset easily," I muttered.

" Yeah, right," he scoffed as he threw back his head in a round of velvety laughter. I watched him yolk it up until he doubled over at the waist, his hand against his stomach. I sighed and went over to sit on the trunk too, seeing as we wouldn't walk any further most likely. " That was a good one," he said as he finally quit laughing at me.

" Shut up, you barely know me," I said with a little laugh of my own. I folded my hands into my lap and couldn't suppress the smile that spread across my face. Though I thought that Marcus was a little rude, I could sorta admit that I...well, I liked him. I wasn't gaga over him or anything, but I'll admit that I had felt flustered ever since I let him into the house.

" True," he sighed as he leaned back against his hands. His head turned so that he looked me in my eyes, his face full of delight. " However, you aren't as hard to figure out as some might think you are."

I couldn't do anything but blink at him.

He laughed again, his whole face lighting up with glee. He was, well, beautiful. The warm rays of sunlight caught his dark hair and shined off of it, the wind blew his curls gently. He looked absolutely magnificent and I couldn't help but smile at him like an idiot.

" Hey, Calla, I-",the wind picked up, whipping my hair across my face so hard that it stung. Marcus looked at me through squinted eyes, his own hair wiping across his face with an alarming force. I tried to yell over the wind, but a random leaf blew into my mouth. While I reached to take it out, all I could hear were wind chimes.

The chimes were loud and entrancing. The sound of them seemed to be all around me and the wind intensified, making me shut my watering eyes. Once they were closed, I could no longer think. All that I could make sense of were the chimes.

Just as I was beginning to find the sound of the chimes unbearable, everything stopped. The wind had ceased, and the chimes had silenced themselves. Slowly, I opened my eyes to find Marcus staring at me. " Strong wind, huh?" I reached to smooth my...unmessed hair. My eyebrows drew down in confusion. Surely my hair would have messed up, right?

" What wind," Marcus asked, his own eyebrows drawing together. I stared at him, wondering if he was kidding me. But, the longer he stared the more insane I felt.

" Never mind, what were you gonna say?" Hopefully, he was gonna say something.

" I asked if you wanted to go out and do something with me."

Those words were enough to pull me away from that moment of insanity and have me grinning at him like a fool. " Out? With you?" I took a breath, trying to stop myself from saying anything stupid.

" That's what I said," he chuckled. " Let me take you out to eat or something, next week okay?" I couldn't help but nod enthusiastically. With that, Marcus slapped his hands on his knees and stood up. I stood up too, my legs trembling with excitement. " Come on, I'll walk you back." He smiled, pushing his hands down into his jacket pockets.

" Yeah, okay." I was able to sound more cheerful, now that I knew what he wanted. We walked back to the house in silence, which was a disappointment. You'd think that we'd be holding hands, and bumping shoulders like crazed lovers (Or, at least that's what they did in teen flicks), but he stood far away from me, keeping his face distant and forward all the while.

When we got to my back door, I turned to tell him goodbye, but he was already walking back to the woods. What an attractive Jerk he was.