Running from the Sunrise ||#Wattys2017

Chapter Fifteen

We drove to the country, it was nearly 10:00 my aunt was probably worried about me. I had been gone for over two hours, but it was easy to get lost in conversation with Ryan. We were so similar. It's like we are connected to each other through our brokenness. I still hadn't figured out where he was taking me. I loved that I could be myself around him and that I was actually happy for the first time in forever. "So are you like taking me somewhere to kill me and bury the body?" I joked. "Well of course not. Why would I do that to the first person I've been able to talk to since we moved here?" He smiled at me. His smile was so bright. We pulled into a long dirt road and he stopped the truck. "Let's go." He grinned at me, it was a very mischievous grin. "Where are we going?" I asked returning his grin back at him. "I told you you will see." He said while turning off the truck. He hopped out and ran off to my side. And of course he opened my door, such a gentleman. He shut my door behind me. Then he grabbed my hand and motioned for me to follow him, before running off and dragging me behind him. "Slow down. I'm going to fall." I said through giggles. "Oh right. I'm sorry. It's just I'm used to this area." He said I could see his smile through the darkness. "Ohhh. A country boy. Who knew?" I smirked at him. "Whatever. Don't judge me." He laughed. We had finally stopped running. He turned on the flashlight on his phone. And I was amazed at what I saw before me. It was a pond, with a rope swing that I guessed was for swinging into the pond. There was also a gorgeous gazebo with flowers planted all around it. He walked over to it and I followed him. He reached toward something I wasn't sure what. Until all of a sudden the gazebo lit up. Which made it even more pretty. It was white wood and the structure of it was just amazing. "I love seeing that look on your face." He said, I turned around to face him. "What does that mean?" I asked. "I don't even know. I mean, usually I don't notice these things with girls. But with you I notice every detail." He said quickly looking at the ground, probably to hide a blush or something.

I reached over and took his hand. He looked up at me and smiled. I noticed that he had taken his shoes and shirt off, which is strange that I didn't even hear him. He quickly grabbed me and lifted me up over his shoulders and began to run towards the pond. "Ryan if you throw me in that water I am going to kill you." I said hitting his back to see if he would put me down or at least drop me. "You know I barely feel that at all right. I am not going to put you down." He said laughing and simultaneously pulling off my shoes. "Please Ryan. I don't have any other clothes." I pleaded. But it was no use because he had just jumped into the water while holding me. We both went under the water, when I rose to the surface I was soaked. Man I like this dress, I will get him back one day. I looked around but didn't see Ryan anywhere in the water. Then I felt the surge of water behind me. Gotcha. I went to try and grab his arm but it was to late. He went under the water and grabbed my ankles pulling me under the water. He was an excellent swimmer. I swam to the surface, when I was at the surface he was waiting for me smiling. The light from the gazebo shown all over the pond, which was relatively large. "So, are you having fun?" He asked grinning. The water in his hair made it curl up even more than before. "Yes I am. Are you? Can we get out now and dry off?" I asked. I'm glad I left my phone in my bag, which was in his truck. "Sure, let's go." We swam to the grass by the gazebo and walked back to his truck.

My dress clung to my body, it was beginning to bother me. He walked to the truck and pulled out a bag from the backseat. "I planned this so I brought towels and extra clothes." He said smiling. "Of course you would plan this. Sadly I don't have any extra clothes to wear." I said. "But you do. I brought me extra clothes but I also brought you one of my t-shirts and a pair of pajama shorts from Hollister. Sadly I didn'tknow your size so I guessed, I hope they fit." He said. "Oh. Thanks. How much were they so I can pay you back?" I asked, he was so nice I felt like I needed to pay him back for some of it. "You don't have to. I planned this." He smiled. "When did you even buy them?" I asked curiously. "Well when you called I started planning this whole date thing. And ran by the mall on my way to your house." He smirked at me. "Okay, so.. where do I change?" I asked, looking at the ground. "Follow me." He said. He lead me over to an area away from the gazebo to an old shack. I guess it will have to do. It's better than changing in the open. "Thanks" I said, smiling up at him. "No problem." He said handing me the shorts and t-shirt and towel. He turned and walked away closing the door behind him. It was dark in here but I think I'll be fine. I quickly stripped off my dress then my tights. Then I quickly dried off and threw on the t-shirt and shorts. I opened the door to find an already changed Ryan waiting for me. "I figured you would need help getting back to the truck." He said to justify his lurking. "Well I assumed that." I looked up at him. He reached for my empty hand, I let him take it. We walked back to his truck. I carried my clothes in my other hand. He took them from me and placed them in a plastic bag that was on the hood of the truck, with his I'm guessing. "Are you ready to go?" He asked. Then continued, "Do the shorts fit fine?" "Yes they do, but the shirt is a bit to big. It's fine though. I guess we could go. My aunt is going to be getting ready for work soon." I said looking up at him. "We should go then. I've had fun tonight." He said. "Yeah me too." I smiled at him. Then he walked over to my side and opened the door for me, then went to his side and climbed in himself. He seemed disappointed that I had to go home. "So, we should do this again another time." I smiled at him. He returned my smile with one of I'm guessing famous smirks. "Definitely." He smiled, I loved when he smiled.

He started the truck and drove out of the long dirt road. When we got back to the actual road I looked at my phone, I had 6 new messages and 3 missed calls. "Crap." I said aloud. "What is it?" Ryan asked. "People have been trying to get a hold of me all night. But I was just having fun with you." I should have known this would happen I mean it was 11:45 and it takes like another hour to get back to town, city, whatever you want to refer to it as.

I unlocked my phone and saw that 2 of the messages were from Alec, 1 was from Becca, and the other 3 were from my aunt. There were 2 calls from my aunt and 1 was from Alec. I read the messages from my aunt first.

Her: Hey its getting late I want you home by 11.
Her: So you are just ignoring me now.
Her: Don't worry about it your responsible I have to go to work anyway. I tried calling you twice and you didn't answer.

Okay that was good, she's probably not going to punish me. She never does because she feels bad that both of my parents died. Next I read the messages from Alec.

Alec: Hey Sky where are you? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out.
He sent that at 8:45, I feel guilty about not answering him.

Alec: Never mind. You didn't answer your phone or my last text so I'm just gonna hang out with the guys. See you at school tomorrow.

Now I felt even worse because he was waiting for me to answer and when I didn't he went to hang out with the guys. And finally I read the text from Becca.

Becca: Hey girl. Where are you Alec and your aunt texted me asking about you but I didn't know what to say do I told them that you were probably fine and not to worry.

Typical Becca doesn't worry about anything. I guess Ryan noticed how I was staring down at my phone. "Is everything okay. I knew we shouldn't have come here because it would be late by the time we got back." He looked upset. "Ryan it's fine. I won't get in trouble my aunt's not even home now." I said. "Really are you sure. Because if you get in trouble I will blame myself." He looked over at me searching my face for something, anything I'm not sure what. "Ryan, I'm sure. The messages were from my aunt, Alec and Becca. Trust me I will be fine." I looked over at him. I searched around for his hand, when I found it I grabbed it and smiled at him. He smiled back. "Okay because if you get in trouble we probably won't be allowed to hang out anymore." He said he had turned his head back to the road. I remembered the last time someone looked back at me and when they turned around their life was gone. I felt extreme sorrow for what had happened. My breathing began to quicken, and my heart began to beat faster. I felt like my heart was going to explode. My palms became sweaty and my hair clung to the back of my neck, goosebumps ran along my arms. I was having a slight panic attack. Ryan noticed because he was pulling the truck over. "Sky are you okay?" He asked in a soothing voice, he began rubbing my head. "Sky talk to me please." He said, the tone of his voice had changed I could tell he was about to start panicking. "You know when I told you I had problems well this is one of them." I said in between my quickened breathes. "Oh Sky. What happened?" He asked, sounding a bit more concerned. "Well six months ago I was in a car accident with my mom and dad. They were both killed instantly but I survived." I spoke with a somber tone. "That must have sucked. And I'm guessing you feel guilty that you lived and they didn't." He said. "Yeah it was my fault, it was my birthday. They were taking me to get food. My dad turned around to look at me and when he turned back around there wasn't even time to scream. The truck came out of nowhere and swerved into our lane. There was nothing we could do." I told him. "Sky it wasn't your fault. You couldn't stop it. I'm sorry." He sounded hurt. Probably because he knew what it felt to blame yourself for something you had no control over. "Yeah, I'm sorry about this. It's just you looked over at me and then back at the road. The last time anyone done that they died." I said looking over at him and into his eyes. "Skylar it's not your fault. And we are okay, nothing happened. Let's take you home." He said reaching over to start the car. "Okay, thank you Ryan. I have had fun with you today. Do you care if I sleep for a bit." It was 12:26 I was exausted from the days activities. "Yeah it's fine. I don't mind." He said smiling at me. Probably relieved that I was okay now. We weren't that far from town, we should be back at my house within 20 minutes. "Okay, wake me up when we get back to my place." I smiled at him then curled up into a ball in the passenger seat and fell asleep.