Ethereal | RJ (HSMTMTS)

Part 12

Ricky's POV

The scent of the canola field wafts through the open car window as EJ drives us past. The yellow reflects the sunlight in a blinding way, emitting back the August heat. EJ and I have found this routine. I wake up, he picks me up, and we go places. It doesn't matter where. We just go somewhere to be alone and be ourselves. Sometimes that involves his friends, who have been looped in on my our relationship. Telling them wasn't much of a spectacle, just a simple "We're dating," followed by an "Are you gonna drive or not?" The only people of importance who remain in the dark are EJ's family. I don't know when he's going to tell them, but that's okay. Not everyone needs to know. This is his secret to reveal when he finds the right time.

"Do you want to stop here?" EJ asks, glancing out at the canola.

I shake my head. "Nah. Keep going a bit."

The car pushes onward, and the wind rustles my curly hair as it swoops in and out of the car in waves. After a moment, I spot a stream running alongside the road, and I trace it with my eyes all the way until is pulls away under a fence, carrying on into a forest of pine trees.

"Stop here," I say.

EJ pulls over off the road and onto the grass. I climb out onto the mud at the edge of the water and begin walking down the blue.

"Where are we going?" EJ asks.

"I don't know," I respond. "Wherever this stream goes."

I duck underneath the fence and continue following it. EJ catches up to me, knotting his fingers through mine when he does. It's become habit when we're near each other. The closer we are, the stronger the desire to connect with him is.

After a while of trudging between trees, the branches open up, and the stream splits into three, curling around giant stones that stick out of the hillside like stairs, but the most amazing part of it all is the view. At some point during the drive, we managed to go up high enough that now the ground dips down into a valley, and the trees paint the land and frame the sky before us. I stop there at the water's divide and just gaze out at everything. This is definitely going to be one of the things I'll miss when I go back to Utah. The other thing is the one holding my hand.

"How can Earth be like this?" I question. "It's so..."

"Incredible," EJ completes.

"I wish I had a camera so I could capture this and look at it all the time."

"That would be nice, but I know something that would be even better to be able to see all the time."

I tried using that line one time with Nini when we were dating, but she just said it was cliche. That might've been because I didn't really mean it. I mean, I thought I did, but not the way I know I can now. With EJ saying it, I really do believe it, and it makes me pull him in and kiss him, breathing in every inch of his spirit that he gives me.

It's all perfect until I notice the flash of blue and red lights flickering through the trees, and I realize maybe that fence had a purpose.

_________________________________________

EJ's POV

"Trespassing," my mother says. "EJ, what were you thinking?"

I lean against my car outside our house. My mom hasn't been able to lecture me yet until now, and the red dust sprays the sidewalk while she stands on the other side of it, facing me in frustration. I definitely didn't plan on ending up at a police station today, but I guess life is full of surprises. I'm just lucky that they let me go without pressing any charges.