Protectors

Chapter 4: A Chance

Faith sat on her bed, contemplating all that had happened. Her first interaction with her assignment Christopher was absolutely nothing like she had expected. His reputation described him as a player, a resident "bad boy". But the boy she had met the other day talked about a passion for dance and a desire to learn music. He was sweet and considerate, kind and quite charming. How did those two conflict so badly? She just couldn't piece it all together. And quite frankly, she didn't really want to.

"I don't understand why Amber thinks he's going to hurt me, It's been one day. We're just friends." She thought, placing her head in her hands. Amber was out meeting a "Friend". Which was probably Rory. A sharp knock pulled her from her thoughts. Amber must've forgotten her keys again. Opening the door she asked, "Amber why don't you..." quickly trailing off seeing Christopher at the door instead of Amber. "Oh, I'm so sorry" She blushed, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.

"It's fine, I was just wondering if you were free today?" He asked, running a hand through his hair.

Faith smiled, the butterflies making her stomach twist and turn "What did you have in mind?"

"We could go grab coffee?" Christopher asked, offering her a small smile.

"I'd really like that, just let me grab my things. Do you want to come in?" She asked opening the door wider.

"Sure."

Faith shut the door behind him and walked over to her bed grabbing her phone and purse.

"Very organized, I see. Can't say that surprises me." He laughed lightly, looking around the room.

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Faith laughed, trying to fake a frown.

"Nothing bad! Just that you seem like the kind of person that would be quite tidy" He quickly rushed out.

"Fair enough" She laughed, wrapping a scarf around her neck. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Did you want to walk? It's just down the block".

"That sounds perfect" Faith smiled, feeling her heart skip. They began the walk to the coffee shop, the crisp autumn air blowing around sparkling leaves of red, orange, yellow and brown. The leaves were changing, falling off their branches, leaving large leaf piles to jump in. It was the perfect autumn day, just a tad chilly. The cool breeze cut through the sky leaving a chill in their bones and rosy cheeks numb from the cold. And yet, each moment felt perfect.

"How long have you been dancing?" Faith asked, staring into those deep brown eyes. The small rays of sunshine in the grey morning emphasized the emerald flecks in his eyes, small sparkles that shone with each smile.

"Since I was 5. I tried other sports like football but never really felt inspired to improve and push my skills. Then I saw a glimpse of a ballet during the holidays, the nutcracker actually. And I saw how strong each of the dancers were and the pure emotion that went with the music and as they say, the rest is history" He smiled, the passion shone through his eyes with almost a childlike awe and wonder.

"And you've become one of the world's greatest dancers at so young" Faith smiled, looking up at him in awe. She knew what it was like. The world of performing arts, ballet nonetheless was strict, tough and extremely unforgiving. There were plenty of things out of your control that determined whether a future career was in the cards.

"You give me more credit than I deserve". He blushed.

"It's crazy, I feel like we've known each other for so long but in reality it's only been a day. There's still so much we don't know". Faith said without thinking. "Shoot. That was weird. I shouldn't have said that". She thought, looking down at the leaves on the sidewalk.