Dark Blue | c h

6 |

She stood outside in the seemingly colder than normal Sydney air. Her mind raced with thoughts of how she was going to tell him, even though they would have 9 more days together. She brushed it off and decided to tell him at the last minute or not even at all.

He watched from behind his curtain as her shadow looked around in the dark, her eyes settling on his door. He took a deep breath and walked out slowly.

"Canadian," he mumbled nervously.

"Kiwi," she smiled back.

"Can we finish this game already," he asked affirmatively.

"How many questions do we have left," she grumbled.

He thought back to the previous nights. She had asked 7 questions if he was thinking right.

"13," he answered questionably.

She moaned loudly and grabbed her cigarettes and lighter from underneath her shirt.

"One second," she called out.

She pulled a cigarette from the pack and placed it between her lips, cupping her hands around it to light it. Once it was lit, she took a drag before setting down the rest of her pack and her orange lighter.

"Favorite childhood movie," she mumbled.

He thought for a moment before the perfect one popped into his mind.

"Monsters Inc. You?"

Her mind raced back to the movie she had watched so many times as a child, the VHS tape had worn down and her mom had to go get her another one.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas."

He laughed incoherently.

"I should've guessed," he snickered sarcastically.

She took another puff and shrugged her shoulders.

"It wouldn't have been impossible."

"You're a very dark person Canadian."

She sighed loudly.

"It's called being cynical, fruit. And I kind of have to be, I can't exactly live a happy life when I know it's probably going to end bad."

"Does this involve that person," he inquired.

She nodded her head.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

"Can I hear about them," he asked carefully.

She shrugged her shoulders again and dropped the cigarette that was between lips to her side.

"I might as well tell you. I said I would eventually."

She sighed loudly.

"A few years back, I met this guy. He was like me in so many ways including the fact that his mother had been murdered. My dad was deployed at the time so I was staying with my grandparents and he lived next door with his grandparents also because his dad had died of a heart attack earlier that year. Anyway, we discovered the similarities of our lives and the whole murder thing shocked us both."

She took a deep breath.

"They had been killed on the same day. So we looked into their lives more and found that they had crossed paths before. They had gone to school together and were even best friends but they had grown apart. We decided to solve the case, even swearing to each other that we would continue if one of us died. Well, it happened."

Her voice had been slow but the memories from that night had haunted her.

"He died," he croaked sympathetically.

She nodded her head though she doubted he saw.

"He was killed in a mysterious car accident. All of our evidence had been in that car. It was gone when the police arrived."

"Somebody killed him over this," he asked, his body frozen.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "And if it wasn't for him protecting me, I'd be dead too."

"What do you mean?"

The tears rimmed her eyes and it took all of the strength she had not to let them fall.

"I was supposed to be driving that car that night. But I went to a party and ended up getting drunk. He was on his way over to get me when the accident happened."

It was silent for a moment until he broke it.

"I'm sorry Canadian, for everything."

"It's fine," she mumbled. "I'm over it for the most part now."

She tried to smile and she managed to when she looked over at the boy on the balcony opposite hers. He listened. He cared.

"Any traumatic experiences for you Kiwi fruit," she called out into the darkness.

He shook his head.

"I got nothing," he spoke. "What does cynical mean anyway?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Haven't you gone to school?"

"I dropped out so I could go on tour."

"How old are you anyway, 15?"

His face turned to a pout.

"I take offense to that. I'm actually 18."

"You act about 15."

She bent down to drag the cigarette butt onto the cement.

"You act about 30," he mocked back.

"I'm 18, fruit. Why, are you into older ladies," she winked.

"Nah, I like someone my age."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Do you know her name?"

He shook his head.

"No, she's never actually told me her name. All I know is that she's my age, she smokes, she's from Canada, and she lives next door to me."

"She sounds like a mystery," she whispered, her cheeks turning bright pink.

He nodded his head and chuckled.

"She is quite a mystery to me."

He looked up at the sky.

"Maybe you should tell her," she whispered incoherently.

His head shot back over to her shadow. His smile grew as he walked to his door, opening it up. He stepped into his room and looked back over at her shadow.

"I like you Canadian, I really do."

He smiled one more time before shutting the door behind him.

She looked down into the darkness, grinning like an idiot.