Choosing Sides

.04

        Later that night as I lay in bed waiting for the clock to read 12:50am, I was thinking of how I wasn't going to get caught. When I looked at the clock again it was 12:48, I decided to quietly get up and slip into my boots and coat hoping not to wake up my sleeping mother. I quietly opened the door just enough for me to slip out and closed it behind me, turning the knob as I did so to avoid the click and shift of the door closing.

        I turned and walked quickly down the hallway, where there were no cameras to a more main area. I had been sure to wear all black and keep my hiar down so I could blend into the shadows and hide my face from the cameras. I crept along the walls staying as close as I could so I wouldn't be seen. I hoped that if I was seen it was by Zeke or another dauntless and not by my dad, they wouldn't say anything and I could avoid getting in trouble. I kept sliding along the walls feeling the rocks as they rose and fell under my back.

        Once I got to the entrance of the pit I saw Ashton standing at the railing looking down at the water. I quietly ran over there and stopped right behind him. I stood there for a moment thinking about turning around and sneaking back. I could just tell my mom that I went for a walk because I couldn't sleep. but I decided that wasn't the best idea. So instead I tapped his shoulder.

        He turned around, "Hi Arizona, I thought you might not show up. But then I thought, no, this girl, I've only ever talked to about purple hair wouldn;t stand me up." He chuckled a bit, "by the way, the hair looks totally awesome."

        I smiled and put my head down, I was sure I was blushing. "Thanks." I said quietly, with my head still down, then I looked up at him, "your hair looks pretty rad."

        He laughed, "What?" I asked him, not seeing what was so funny.

        "You just called my hair rad, what is this 1995?"

        He just kept laughing at me and my use of thw word 'rad'.  I waited for him to finish laughing with my hands on my hips and an eyebrow raised. When he finally stopped, he put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow.

        "What in the world are you doing?" I asked him dropping my arms and smiling, trying to hold back a laugh.

        "The same thing you were doing just a few moments ago." He responded before droppig his arma and turning back to face the chasm. I walked up beside him and leaned on the railing leaving a foot between us. i didn't want to be too close but i also didn't want to seem so far away that I apeared intimidated by him, although I slightly was.

        "Hey," I said after a few minutes of silene, "I know a place that has a really cool view and its kind of hidden from everywhere else."

        "What makes you think i wanna go someplace 'hidden from everywhere else' with you?" He asked turning so that he was leaning on the railing with only his hip and one arm. "Maybe I ant to be out in the open, not away from all these people looking at us now." He spread his arms out to the empty pit as he said this putting emphasis on the fact that it was empty.

        "Oh stop," I told him as i pushed off the railing. "It's cool, and I'm going rather you're coming or not."

        I turned and started walking away. As I kept walking I didn't hear footsteps behind me and I thought that maybe I'd made some terrible mistake and that Ashton would think I was the kind of girl who just left people alone at 1a.m. When I stopped and turned to look behind me, I ran into a black mass. When I backed up, I realized that black mass was Ashton. He had this stupid smile on his face as he said, "So, I guess you don't really want to go to this hideaway place without me." I shook my head and turned around. I was blushing, I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I as thinking of his smile, it as cute, his teeth weren't perfectly straight, his front two over lapped a little at the corners. But they weren't so crooked like he needed braces, not that most people had braces. We were turning  a corner into the hallway that would lead us to where we were going, when I felt my hand tug back. I pulled it forward and looked down, Ashtons hand was connected to it. He took a step up so is arm wasn't straight out. I dropped my hand back to my side, and held Ashton's. A million things were running through my head but they were all muddy, because I was holding hands with a person I had only met hours before. I was leading someone whom I had only met hours before to a place that I had only ever been t with my dad when he showed it to me.

        We reached the right door and I reached up and turned the knob. As I opened the door, the sound of rushing water intensified, as well as the quiet calming dripping sound that came from the drops falling from the rock above them. The tempatue dropped a bit and there was a slight mist hanging everywhere. I stepped through the door behind me and pulled Ashton in as well. I closed the door behind us and sat down as the edge of the rock. Ashton clumsily sat down next to me. I didn''t look up at him or say anything, I just stared at our egs hanging over the side of the rock. His were so much longer than mine. Mine stopped just above his ankles, while his continued, getting sprayed with the rushing water down below.

        I still hadn't said anyting when Ashton spoke, "This place is amazing, how did you find it?"

        I looked up at him and he was staring down into the river below swinging his feet back and forth. "My dad showed it to me," I said leaning back so I was resting on my forearms. "He liked coming here with my mom while she was still an initiate. They came back here a lot to get away from all the initation stuff."  I liked hat story. This was a place that her dad had, he didn't show many people this, but he decided to share it with her mom and her.

       He didn't speak at first, he pulled his legs up and sat on his kness turning to me. He gave another goofy smile and just sat there, He didn't say anything, but he reached over and picked up the sam piece of hair that he did earlier today. He held it in is fingertips and just looked at it, he looked like he was inspecting it for some error or as if he was trying to find a piece of food that had got trapped in it. He dropped the strand of hair and sorta mumbled to himself, "it's cool" He twisted his body so it was laying next to mine. I watched as his chest rose and fell rythmetically.

        We sat like this for a little while before I broke the silence, "We should probably go back, people ae probably going to be waking up soon." He held his wrist close to his face to look at a watch I hadn't noticed before.

        "Yeah, It's 3 in the morning, we probabl should go back." He stood up and held out his hand , I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

        We walked to the door and walked down the hallway, when we got back to the pit, Ashton stopped nd turned to me, "Do you want me to, um, walk you back?" I looked down at my shoes, I couldn't sudenly make eye contact. "It's, er, no,I'm fine.....thank you." He lifted his hand and waved, "Bye, Arizona, see you around." I smiled, "Bye Ashton, see you." I turned and started walking back to my room, when I looked back, Ashton was walking in the opposite direction, taking long, lazy strides.

        When I got back to my room I opened the door carefully and pulled off my shoes and coat as quietly as I could. I crawled silently into my bed and lay down, when I turned my head the other way, my mom was up, looking at me. She had a gently smile on her face, "Be smart Arizona." I nodded before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.