Because She's Different

Chapter Thirty-Two: Sanctuary ✓

Ria's POV

"Do you guys want to play laser tag tomorrow?" Julian asks us walking backwards as we stroll down the hall.

"Sure, I call dibs on Ria," Cole smirks.

"That's not fair! You're both good with guns," Julian whines.

"There's going to be three of you in the team, so I don't see why not. 2 versus 3, Easy win-" I shrug then turn to Cole and whispered "-For us."

"I heard that!" Randy scolds us.

"Congratulations, you have ears." Brian curtly replies and I stifle a laugh.

It was Friday now and we were heading home after dinner at the arcade. They serve the best pizza and buffalo wings!

We all stopped when someone blocks our path. I look up and lost every single joy in my body. The atmosphere felt heavy and tense. I looked at Brian then down to his clenched fist, his knuckles turning white from the tight ball he was making.

Before I could walk to him and comfort him, a strong grip pulled me onto a hard chest and something else. That's when I noticed that his lips were on mine. I pried him off then glared at him, wiping my mouth from every sign of his lips.

Brian had enough and tackled him down, throwing punch after punch. With the help of the guys, we pulled him off and away from Lance.

"Let me at him! We can't let him keep doing that!" Brian growls.

"We don't want you to be suspended, or worse." I whisper to him as I glare back at Lance.

"Why don't you just watch you back, Wesley," my brother spat.

"If we don't get caught, it won't be counted would it?" Julian whispers and grin sheepishly when he realizes that I heard him.

"I just wanted to do what I should've in that party." Lance says with a smirk. I just want to punch that smirk out of his face.

"Let's just go. And if you're finding booty call, You might want to call Abby, Clare and Ivy. I'm not your type of girl," I finish as me and the guys left.

"You might want to cool off, Brian," Randy rubs his back.

"Do you guys mind if I take Ria with me?" Brian asks looking down. They all shrug in reply.

"Where to?" I ask, cocking my head to see his face.

"You'll see," he tell me as he pulled me into his car. I awkwardly wave goodbye to the guys as we left off to.. Somewhere.

-•-*-•-

The ride was silent and the houses got fewer the more we got farther, replaced by trees. I looked over at Brian to see his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

There were no cars on the road and he reaches for the gear stick, tightly gripping it to. In the fear of crashing that could probably kill both of us, I reached for his hand and rubbed the back of it, making tiny circles in attempt to calm him down.

He visibly stiffen but start to calm down and turn to me from the corner of his eyes.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"Calming you down. You're so tense and angry, and I guessed that you were going to drive faster because there are no cars but I don't want us to get into an accident. It's either you die from this or from my brother" I said jokingly at which he chuckles at.

"Thanks," he smiles, loosening his grip on the steering wheel. I took my hand off of his and leaned on the window. The car slows down and pulls up to the side of the road.

"Let's go," he calls out.

"Is this slender man's home?" I ask immediately. I'd love to find the 8 pages but I don't want to see the faceless man.

"No but that would've been awesome." he laughs, shaking his head and ducking branches.

We get to the end of the forest to a clearing. It was filled with bed of flowers covered with a blanket of snow. At the end of the small clearing there was a cliff and the view of the sea. I gape in awe and kneeled down to touch the flowers.

"Beautiful isn't it?" He smiles.

"Yeah, How did you find this place?" I look up.

"Just like you, this is my sanctuary. I hate the feeling of loss, adopted and all so I ran away when I was little and got as far as here. I had a phone on me so I called my adoptive parents and got them to pick me up every time I run here. Every time I'm nowhere to be found, this is where I probably am." he explains.

"Well it's really beautiful. It's better than mine." I admit.

"You're the first person I brought here. The guys would make fun of me and would corrupt this place." He laughs and lays down on the bed of flowers. I laid down next to him and closed my eyes, sighing.

"What's up?" he asks.

"Why do you trust me with all this?" I blurt out.

"Why not?" He retorts until I gave him a look and he sighs. "I trust you, no questions asked. It's a gut feeling and that gut feeling trusts you."

"Oh," was all I said and looks up at the purple skies. I looked over to the sea and saw the sun beginning to set. Standing up, I smile and walk closer to the ledge.

"If I was a stranger that happen to be passing by, I would've thought you were going to jump." Brian says as he follows behind me.

"And you're not scared? I could push you off," I smirk.

"You're not a sadist, and I'll just pull you down with me. Til death do us part-" he stops and realizes what he said.

"We're not married and I don't see that happening anytime soon." I snort-- very lady-like then sit down, my feet dangling on the edge. I rest my head on his shoulder and took a deep breath.

"You're so hard to read. Your eyes hide so many secrets and I want to know," I mumble.

"You'll know them someday." he chuckles, I hum in reply.

"First kiss?" I suddenly ask.

"Is that all you can ask about?"

"Just answer it."

"Kindergarten. She was pretty but her personality wasn't, she stomped over every other girl. She kissed me but I didn't kiss back." he answers bluntly

"Savage kid," I laugh.

"Let's go back to the others. I want to beat your sorry ass tomorrow at laser tag," he smirks, helping me up.

I roll my eyes and asked for a piggyback-ride on the way back to the car, which agreed to after a bit more persuasion.

There's more story in it that what you see.

A/N

"Fish" -Ms. HAM-ilton

Sorry for the late update. I told you that once my school started, updates will be slow. There were lot of adjustments in school like: digital campus, Wednesday-FREE DAY. Overall, school seemed more fun now but still challenging.

It's a lot harder to update without the proper inspiration and under pressure. I'll need everyone's support so thanks!

BAIIII~

~Scarlet