If You Only Knew

Strange

I left wearing a red cropped top with noodle straps and black sweatpants. I live by a skate park, and it was only 7 pm so I knew people might be there. I come by the skate park to read or just listen to the skateboards scraping against the concrete and watch people do cool tricks. When I came to the Skate park they had these bleachers, so I headed towards it. I kept getting notifications and calls from my mom and dad but after I got to the skatepark, I guess they stopped trying. They knew I wasn't gonna answer. As I'm staring at my phone not paying attention to my surroundings, I ended up bumping into this insane tallboy.

"hey! what the-?" I paused as I looked up to him

"you ok?" he asked

"n no I, I'm fine thank you" I stuttered

It's like he had some sort of spell over me. I just brushed it off and went around him. Something was telling me to look back and so I turned around and when I did, I noticed he was still staring at me, but this time he was smiling. He has a really nice smile I must admit. I quickly turned back and closed my eyes in embarrassment at him seeing me look back at him. 2 minutes go by and I'm sitting on the bleachers just reading this novel. By the way, I'm almost done with it. When that boy from earlier starts to head towards me. Trusting my instincts, I got up and went down the stairs from the bleachers and started to speed walk home. I didn't want to run because it would look suspicious.

"hey! wait!" someone shouted from the back of me

I then stop and turn around and I see it's the boy. He really followed me!

"Why did you run off?" he questioned

"it was more of a speed walk" I replied

"I mean I know I'm good looking but you didn't have to run away from me," he says in a snarky tone

"no, you're strange." I snap back

"strange, well that's a little rude, how about strangely handsome?" he playfully responds

I then stop and stare at him out of embarrassment, this strange boy really does think highly of himself. I mean he didn't lie about the handsome. He has bright brown eyes with neck-length dark brown hair and his smile was everything, but I couldn't let him know that. My brother had made rules for me, you know before I felt like I'm in love with someone. Yea I know it's too early for love but for some reason, my brother always thought that I love too easily, so he made rules. Rule one, You know when you can start falling in love with someone when the person goes out of their way to make you happy. He didn't make me happy but he did make me forget about the mess between my parents, which was weird.

"hey, uh, I know you don't know me but can I take you somewhere to eat? I mean if you want to" he asks

"You said eat?" I smirked

"oh, you're nice now? maybe I need to take you out to eat more often" he chuckles

I laugh and say sure. There was a pizza place up the street so we started to head over to it.

"so tell me something about you," he says as we walk

"me? uh, nothing much. How about you" I stammer

"uh, I'm really big on family, I don't like to see people suffering. Especially if they didn't cause it. It anger's me in a way, and I have 3 brothers including me and 1 sister and I'm the oldest so I take care of them...My mom? uh," he pauses for a second. I see him look down and that's when I got in front of him and stopped him from walking. He had looked at me with a surprised look.

"you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I understand" I softly tell him

"no, It's ok. My mom, she's a druggie. She shoots or sometimes when she's feeling extra good she even sniffs up drugs and she's out. For the whole day. It's sick. And my dad... not in the picture so It's just me taking care of my siblings." he told me.

"I'm so so sorry," I say grabbing his hand

"It's ok, you won't understand anyway. Let's just keep walking" he sighs. When we started to walk I then stopped again, and since I was holding his hand, he felt me stop.

"What happened?" he says in a concerned tone

"I understand you so much" I outburst

"what do you mean?" he questioned.

rule number 2, you'll know when to start falling in love when you can connect with that person and feel like you can talk to them about anything

I feel like I can talk to him because he clearly knows what it's like to struggle.

"my brother, he had died from an overdose, The doctors labeled it as an accidental overdose because of these 2 low life's I have to call my parents. The doctor had asked us if anything was going on at home to make him overdose so they can see why he did what he did and my parents sat there and lied saying he loved his life, and how he was happy. I guess they lied to not get themselves in trouble I guess. But it was all bull!" I said slowly, getting angry.

As I was telling him about my brother and my crappy parents, I noticed I tightened my grip while I was holding his hand. He noticed and grabbed my hand and put it to his chest.

"hey. what you went through was so horrible, And I wish I was there with you. I know standing in that hospital watching your parents lie like that really angered you. But I'm here... okay? he asked.

"I don't know. It seemed like the one person I cared about left me, and I barely know you, how do I know you're not gonna do the same thing?" I asked

"Because I know what it feels like to be abandoned and feel like there is no point in continuing. look, just know I'm not gonna leave. Hey, is it weird how when I saw you I instantly felt like I've seen you before? like I've known you for so long? he asked.

"No, it's not weird at all," I told him as I smiled at him.

He then looked at me and smiled and we continued walking.

"By the way, what's your name?" he asked

"Ciara, what's yours?"

"Ashton, but I don't like when people call me that, I prefer ash but I'll make an exception for you." he winked

I then look at him and laugh as I roll my eyes at his corny jokes. 30 minutes passed by and we were walking back from the pizza place. We got to my house and he walked me to my doorstep. He gave me his number and I gave him mine and I told him to go before my parents see him. He kissed me on the cheek and then ran away to escape him getting caught. I then smile and turn around and stare at the door and sigh, knowing what I was about to walk myself into. Here we go, this should be fun.