Caught | 1D AU

9.

My smile faltered. Well that backfired. He'd either get to hit me or kiss me... probably both. His smile fell a little too as he realized the boundary he overstepped. At least a kiss won't hurt, I told myself. I hopped backwards. "I mean, if that's really what you want," I said.

He took a couple steps so that he was next to me, not making any rush to hurry toward the waterside. It was thirty feet away. I took three more hops, and I was barely closer, and he walked slowly to catch up. "I mean, I wouldn't want our first kiss to be because of a bet though," he said beside me. "So I hope you win."

I bit my tongue because everything I wanted to say brought up the subject of forcing me to do things I didn't want to do. I hopped another two feet. Waving my hands out trying to catch balance, finally catching onto his arm before I fell over. He was right there though, steady as a rock as I leaned into him, grabbing at the fabric of his sleeve being too touchy by accident. He smiled at me, one of his hands grabbing my arm to steady me. Everything inside of me screamed that I should get as far away from him as possible, but instead I looked up at him with my cheek still on his sleeve. "You know," I started, "the bet never said I had to hop all the way there. Say if I climb up on your back, and you just happened to walk backwards all the way, technically I would win, right?"

"Theoretically," he said.

I didn't wait, I was pulling down on his shoulder, wrapping my arms around him, and pulling my legs up around his waist. "Oh my," he said feigning shock as he turned around, looking every which way. I put my hand over his eyes. "Where did you go?" he asked, his hands making their way casually around the area right above my knees before I could fall.

"I'm right here, silly," I said into his ear.

"Where?" he asked, I could see over his shoulder slightly, and just make out the grin on his face from the angle of his cheek.

"Right behind you," I said, "so you better hurry up to the finish line."

He started walking backwards, slowly, but it was still faster than I would have hopped. And he was smiling more than he would have otherwise. He was eating this up. "How much farther?" he asked.

"Just a little farther," I said as we reached a nice grassy area, pleasantly brightened by sunshine. It crossed my mind that I could make him walk backwards all the way to the edge of the water until he fell in and then hold him under until he drowned. But I'd probably die in that scenario along with him.

I unwrapped my legs from his waist, and touched the ground, sliding off his back. The area where his hands had held my legs were cold against the air now. "I win!" I called out, relieved that he wasn't terrible enough to make me kiss him.

"Aw shucks," he said as he placed down the picnic basket and opened it to set it all up. "I hope you're good at braiding hair."

"Please, your braid will be prettier than your pancakes," I said, "which reminds me how starving I am."

He took out a blanket first and laid it down, and then set out plates, silverware, cups, and put the heaping plate of pancakes between us. "Oh, I forgot the coffee," he said, "It's ready, I just have to get it from the kitchen, I know how much you hate going without your coffee." He was up and running toward the cabin, and it took him less then twenty seconds to get there, unlike our five-minute walk down.

I looked out at the water, gentle ripples moving across it in the morning sun. It was kind of nice. I couldn't hear any car horns or construction. I didn't have to worry about making money at the moment, though I'm sure I'd be out of job by the time I got back for bailing with no explanation. They'd have to understand if I explained how I was kidnapped by a psycho stalker, wouldn't they? And even though it was because he threw it out the window, it was kind of a relief to not have checked my phone for notifications in ages, to not have it nagging me all the time.

He came running back down the hill toward me with a full pot of coffee. "Sorry 'bout that," he said. He took a seat, grabbed a mug and poured me a glass, handing it to me. I cradled the warm mug in my hands, smelling the bitter scent of a good morning. I took a sip, dark and strong and just how I liked it. This boy really did know me, didn't he?

He served a stack of pancakes onto my plate and poured the maple syrup on top for me. I took a fork and cut a triangle to try them. Fluffy and warm and soaked in syrup. They really were good, he wasn't lying earlier. I scarfed them down, then laid back in the sun patting my full belly, ready for a nap despite just waking up. "You're really beautiful, you know that?" he said.

I looked over at him, only opening one eye. I didn't know what to say to that. I wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was nice on one hand, being told and reminded that I was beautiful, but coming from him... I didn't want to start relating good or nice things with him. He kidnapped me. He wasn't being nice. He wasn't a nice person. He kept watching me.

I held his gaze, I could feel the prickled of a blush on my cheeks because of how vulnerable I suddenly felt. "I forgot that I get to braid your hair now," I said, figuring that at least then I'd be behind him, and he couldn't look at me. I got up and crawled over to him. He froze, I think he was holding his breath. I pulled his hair over his shoulders, and combed my fingers through it down his scalp, down to his back. His hair reached just past his shoulders really. "Are you growing your hair out?" I asked as I continued to comb my fingers through it, trying to get any knots out. But there were barely any knots, it was sleek and smooth. I stood up on my knees to see the top of his head and gather a little bit of hair just in front of his forehead.

"I guess, yeah," he said, "I just haven't wanted to cut it. Do you like it?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's very rock and roll." I separated the gathered hair into three parts and started the braid. It had been a while since I braided hair, probably since school. The look wasn't exactly hot so none of the girls I hung out with wanted braids. It was all straightened and heat fried hair nowadays. I picked up more hair with my ring fingers and added it as I made the braid bigger, working my way down his scalp. He sat there patiently and didn't complain when I tugged or anything.

"Okay," I said as I wrapped up the rest quickly, letting my fingers fall into a rhythm. "Do you have a hair tie?"

He handed one to me over his shoulder, "Before I started growing my hair out, I thought it was so strange how girls would always have one on their wrist, but here I am now, never without a hair tie."

I laughed, "Yeah, long hair is a real struggle sometimes." I twisted the end into the ponytail, so the braid wouldn't come out, and sat back and looked at my work. It was sleek and there weren't any strands sticking out.

He turned to look at me, "does it look good?" he asked.

With his hair pulled back, his face was more open, his cheek bones more pronounce. "You're really beautiful," I said, sticking my tongue out to make it seem like a joke. But I couldn't lie to myself, he really was beautiful, even if he was messed up in the head.

NOTE--

I know I said I was taking a break from boys, but I have a date tomorrow night.

Tell me about your boy/girl/partner problems please. 

Also isn't this the most cutest chapter ever? I was swooning the whole time.