Undercover

2. Visiting the Past

Sitting on my bed, I had the sudden urge to just see his face again. Of course, I had kept everything that we had gone through. Don't ask me why. I guess it was really stupid of me to do since every time I looked at it, I ended up crying, but I think that I would have regretted it if I hadn't kept them.

I reached for the box that was in the back of the closet. It was like a little treasure chest if you will. Everything was there. The pictures, the few letters that he wrote to me. The gifts that he gave me. Even the ring that he was going to use to propose to me. He said that the engagement ring had belonged to his great-grandmother. I know that if it had been something that belonged to someone I loved, I wouldn't have left without it. Something must have happened. I know it had to. Because I couldn't come up with anything else as to why he would leave his great-grandmother's ring with me. Unless it just wasn't valuable to him. But in the three years I had known him, he had showed me that he did value his family a lot, and if something had belonged to them, he would cherish it. That's the only consolation I have.

My hand went to the ring I had hanging on the necklace. I had hung the engagement ring around my neck. It was the only thing that gave me comfort nowadays. If I didn't have it on me, the same kind of panic would set in. I kind of needed this necklace. This ring was the only thing that I had that made me feel safe and not want to cry my eyes out.

It was a good run. Might as well tell you the story.

Seven years ago

Sitting on the front porch, I saw a moving truck come into the house next door. It had been abandoned for so long that I was surprised that they still put it out on the market. Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful house but I had grown so accustomed to not having a neighbor that seeing someone actually moving in was something I couldn't quite believe.

I was only fifteen then. Had just started high school last September and was almost done with my first year. And I learned from Cayden that he was eighteen, which could have probably been the reason why he had disliked him so much at the time. I never really knew with him. But I knew my brother was serious when he told me to do something. And for the most part that's what I did. I didn't even look his way and buried my nose deeper into the book that I was supposed to be reading.

I did a pretty lousy job of staying away from him, though, because I left myself in plain sight. Sitting on the porch with a book in front of your nose isn't exactly the best hiding spot, after all. And he came up to me and asked me if I could help him.

When I looked up, I wasn't expecting to see the figure that I saw. He was gorgeous with those green eyes and that sweet smile. His hair was falling into his eyes then and I kind of just kept staring. You had to understand, fifteen-year-old me was not the most popular girl in town and I was awkward beyond belief. I was pretty awkward now, but it is much less so than I was seven years ago. So of course, instead of doing the right thing, I freaked out and ran into the house yelling, "Someone else can help you, sorry." Some really gorgeous guy had just approached me and all I did was run away from him and refused to help him. I heard him chuckle a little bit before I ran inside. And of course, I tripped once I got inside. Thank goodness that I wasn't outside at the moment, cause that would have been a better reason for me to stay away from him.

Cayden gave me that weird look he gives me whenever he's asking me what the hell is going on but I just ignored it and went straight up to my room. I didn't think I could survive another mishap on my part.

I woke up the next day and went on my daily walk. I wasn't really dressed up or anything, since I usually just wore a t-shirt and some active pants with tennis shoes. I didn't really think that you needed to dress up when you were probably going to sweat and stuff, but to each their own. I wasn't going to judge even though sometimes I could totally feel them judge me.