I'm Ok

C H A P T E R - N I N E

"You look beautiful." Tobias says as he looks at me up and down. 

"I told you so!" I heard Mom yells from upstairs. I rolled my eyes and step out, closing the door behind me.

"Thanks. Should we get going?" I asked. He grins.

"We should." Instead of his pick up truck it was a black Dodge Challenger. Like a gentleman, he opened the door for me. I thank him and went inside the passenger. He closed the door and went to the other side. 

"So I was thinking we can go this pizza restaurant than go to the surprise." He says as he starts the car. I nod. 

"Sounds like a plan." I say. He turned on the music playing the Backstreet Boys 'I Want It That Way.' I laughed super hard as he yelled out the lyrics. And then together we sung 'Just Give Me A Reason' by PINK!

We stopped at a pizza restaurant where it had white Christmas lights every where. We sat in a booth, ordering cheese pizza and garlic bread with soda. I took my medicine as we ate. He didn't mind it. Instead he makes jokes about it and I would glare at him or playfully hit him. 

"So what's new?" I asked as I bite into the cheesy pizza. He looks at me than back at his food. 

"Um well... my Dad has been drinking." He stammers. Oh shit. "He's been abusing my Mom too. She hide's her bruises, there's nothing I can do about it tho." He shrugs it off. "Any who change of subject." He says. I look down at my plate. 

"How's your sister doing?" I asked. His sister goes to a private school. 

"Rebecca's doing great. Already got accepted to New York. And she's only a junior."

"Right she want to be an... actress?" He smiles and nods. 

"Yep." 

"That's fantastic! Maybe I should get her autograph before she leaves for college." I say. That makes him laugh. 

"What about that awful twin of yours?" He asked and ate some garlic bread. I shrugged off my shoulders. 

"Still stupid. She's a actress too and a violinist so her goal is Julliard. But I wouldn't worry, she already got in too. She starts next year after she graduates." 

"And you?" He asked softly. I look at him. 

"It's unknown at the moment." I said quietly. I look out the window, already dark outside. 

"So what's the surprise?" I asked and look back at him. He shakes his head. 

"I'm not telling you." He says. I gave him pouting face.

"You're no fun." I said and threw a wad of napkin at his face. He quickly catches it. 

"And you're annoying." I stick up my middle finger at him and he gave me a wink. Piece of shit. 

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The drive was 30 minutes. I eventually fell asleep on the way because Tobias woke me up. 

"We're here." He says and got out. I yawned and he went to my side so he can opened the door. 

"We're are we?" I asked as he helped me out. It was a little bit colder. I shiver a little. He hands me a blanket. 

"Lake Tahoe." He says and gently took my hand. 

There was a single boat wait for us at the bottom of the shore. Tobias Helped me get inside the boat. He pushed it in and then quickly got in. He made the boat shake and I quickly panicked.

"I swear to God if we fall I am going to kill you." I threatened. 

He laughs. "We won't." Ha says ant took out the paddles and started to paddle. I looked at the stars.

"What is the one fear you have?" I hear Tobias ask me. 

"Monophobia." I said and looked at him. 

He looked confused. I rolled my eyes. "It means you having fear of being alone." I explained. 

"Oh."

"My Mom once told me that I am Eccedentesiast. Its means someone who hides pain behind a smile. I believe her. Because I do." I said. 

"Well you're not alone. And Everyone hides pain." I shook my head. 

"Not everyone. My sister doesn't nor does my parents or Logan or Larri or Alex." I said and looked at my hands. 

"You don't." I said. He doesn't say anything. Before I know it we are in the middle of the lake. 

"What exactly here for?" I asked. He checks his apple watch.

"You'll see in 10 seconds." He says and starts to look up at he sky. I followed. 

From the north, you can see floating lanterns floating up in the sky heading this way.

"Holy shit!" I yelled. 

Millions of lanterns we're around us. I felt like fucking Rapunzel in the movie Tangled. One of them almost touched the water, trying not to fall I reached out and lift it up and watch it float up. I looked at Tobias catching him already looking at me. 

"T-This is so beautiful." I said

"They do this every year on September 8th." He explains. I continued to look at the floating lanterns. 

"Thank you for bringing me." I said as I watch them float away. 

"Usually when I bring Larri or the other couple they think it's boring." He says. What I can't see Logan thinking of this as boring." I shrugged my shoulders. 

"They just can't see beautiful." I said. 

"If I send you an address tomorrow would you come over?" He asked. I looked at him and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. 

"Sure." 

At the end, the drive home was quiet. Like a gentleman He walked me up the house. 

"Thanks again for tonight." I whispered. 

"No Problem." I opened the front door. 

"Well see ya tomorrow." I said and went inside. 

I couldn't stop thinking about the lights. And I couldn't stop smiling. 

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XOXO,

Knatalya Walker-Smith