The Diamond in the Rough

Chapter Four

I hug my books to my chest and walk out into the rather chilly, late September afternoon. As I walk farther and farther from the school property, the humming of a familiar car creeps up behind me. Short, limited beeps of the horn startle me. The car pulls up alongside me and the window rolls down.

"Hey Aven," Caleb says while poking his head out of the window. In response I give a little side wave. My face remains emotionless. "I would be honored if you would take your presence into my front seat."

The car stops, leaving me hesitant. After moments of mental debating, I can't find a reason not to be in that leather front seat. So, I walk around to the other side of the car and bring my presence to that front seat.

An accomplished grin grows on Caleb's unmistakably adorable face. Though I do hate to admit it, I cannot lie to my own self. He presses his foot on the accelerator, thus moving the vehicle forward. It hadn't previously occurred to me that I did not know where we were going. Caleb seems to sense my unsureness. "Its a surprise." He seems pleasantly satisfied with himself.

After about 10 minutes, we pull into an empty parking lot. This already doesn't appeal. "Don't worry, this isn't it," Caleb says with a subtle laugh behind it.

He gets out and I follow as he walks across an open area of just grass, that crescendoed uphill. Once we reached the top, he sat, so I did as well. There was nothing special about this place to me. But I had never been here, and places are only as special as the memories made there.

"This is where my parents met." Caleb stares out towards the distance. "It's always been some sort of happy place to me." He looks over to me, probably expecting a response, so I nod understandingly. I remember the other day when he abruptly left what I had guessed to be his house and the yelling, arguing, ruckus from inside.

He picked a dandelion and tucked it behind my ear. Most girls would find this cute, but my first thought was that this was a weed. Maybe I wasn't the most romantic type.

"Yeah, it's a weed," Caleb somehow reads my thoughts, "but everything has some sort of beauty. Depends on how you look at it."

I lay back and look at the sky, the way the clouds seemed to be extra white and extra poofy. He lays back next to me and points out clouds. "That one looks like a heart." It clearly did not. I roll my eyes trying to hide a certain smirk.

The cloud passes and changes shape. "Well maybe not." I take the dandelion from behind my ear and study it. Not looking for anything particular, but to waste time.

Caleb sighs. "I wish I knew more about you besides your pretty face." I'm still distraught by cloud watching and he rolls over on his side to face me, propping up his head with his elbow in the grass. "Do you think someday I will?" I can't answer that. 1, because I'm obviously mute, 2 because I really don't know. I just shrug and turn my gaze to his.

He leans in and kisses my cheek, and unfortunately there is no way to discrete the pinkish color surfacing my cheeks. He lays back down and laces his fingers in mine. I try to act cool, but inside, I was not. My heartbeat doubled the rate, and I did my best to not sweat. I, for one, was not one that had much male attention. So I for one was pretty ecstatic.

We just lay in silence for what seemed like a forever, one of my favorite forevers.