The Hidden Pocket {ruel van dijk}

chapter fourteen.

ruel pov

I don't think she knows how long I've been wanting to do that.

Now that I have, I regret not doing it much sooner.

I should have done it the night I walked her back home from Jude's house. Or that one day at the beginning of the year when she wore her hair up in a bun for the first time and I could see her neck and shoulders. Or the day I first took her to the rock. Or even yesterday. Anytime sooner would have been better than now.

Why was I holding on? Keeping everything hidden?

But it's difficult to dwell on those questions now, with her hand in mine as she drives home.

It's a funny feeling, everything out in the open like this. Yet it is just as jaunty as it is odd and new. I don't ever want to go back.

I look over at Genevieve; I admire her features. I never noticed how perfect she is. Everything seems to fit perfectly on her, in the glowing lights from the buildings passing by, it's near impossible to find a single flaw.

There isn't anybody else I would rather be looking at. Even in a room full of people, I doubt I would be able to look at away from her.

She finally stops the car, parking in the front of her apartment building.

"I didn't even think about how you are going to get yourself home." She says softly. I can see the guilt clouding up her brown eyes; it's redundant, though.

"I'll drive." I shrug.

"Are you sure? Are you fit enough to drive a car?" She asks, crossing her arms over her chest as she very visibly doubts the idea.

I soften as I watch her worry for me. She's so good, so kind.

"I'll be fine." Is all I say as I take the keys from her hands. I can't help but notice how soft and warm they are. It takes a bit of effort to take them from her, she obviously still doesn't want me driving, keeping a grip on them.

I open the car door and walk over to the driver's seat. I then open her door, smiling to her while she hops out and tucks hair behind her ears.

"I'll be fine." I reassure her again.

"This is a bad idea." She says under her breath, looking down at her feet and tapping her heals against the pavement.

"Here." I say before I hand her my jacket. I step over to the nearest crack in the concrete and walk slowly along it in a straight line. I even bow at the end of the line.

"Ok." She says and laughs at my curtsy.

I walk over to her, stepping in close and pulling her in for a hug. I rest my head on the top of hers, my heart thumping a hundred beats a second when she wraps her arms around my waist tightly.

"I'll see you soon." I hum, pulling away so I can see her face. She's my favorite thing to look at. So I kiss her again, this time making sure that everything is right, now that we don't have seatbelts restraining us. This one lasts longer than the first, it's more fluid and familiar.

"I'll see you soon." She replies as she takes a step back and lets me get into the car.

When I put the car into reverse and back out of the parking space, she still stands there, watching as I drive away. She is the last thing I see in my rear view mirror as I drive away.

Once I'm on the road, I put on a song I wrote that doesn't quite have a name yet. It's one of the many I showed Genevieve in the past few days. She didn't know then that it was about her, and I doubt she even knows now.

I wrote it last Friday night after having just found out that RCA was going to sign me. I knew that I wanted one of my first songs released to be about her. She deserves all of the music in the world; every beautiful harmony and poetic chorus, and I want to be the one to give them to her.

I don't think I could ever tell her that, though. Not that I don't want to try, but because it's better left unsaid. Writing them would do better.

Dumb teenage adrenaline is the only thing I feel as I finish the drive to my house.

:

genevieve pov

I sigh in relief when I see that all of the lights in my apartment are shut off; my parents and sister have already gone to bed. I say a silent thank you to nobody in particular.

I tiptoe across the foyer and the living room and then quietly into my bedroom. I shut the door as quietly as possible behind me and flick on the lights.

I go through my normal nightly routine; showering, washing my face, brushing my teeth and hair, and find myself finally in bed a half hour later.

Wrapped under the warm covers, it's almost impossible to not think of how warm Ruel's cheeks were against mine earlier. I reminisce in the moments we just shared, trying to permanently etch them into my conscience.

He should know that he keeps me up all night. Even in my dreams, I can't seem to escape him.

Suddenly, as I'm about to fall asleep, I realize that it has all been worth it; putting up with Jude, then Charlotte, and all at the same time dealing with my own feelings that seemed to be eating away at me. It seems to be worth it because in this moment, I know that there isn't a place I would rather be, and there isn't anybody else I would rather be thinking of.

I'm not angry at him for keeping me up all night, for pacing through the back of my mind and interrupting all other thoughts.