These are turning out to be long chapters, which isn't a bad thing, but it kinda sucks, cause I'm trying to make sure they don't drag on too long. If you think it'd be okay for them to go longer or you think they're fine in length, I guess you can leave it in a review or PM me. I dun even really know if length is an issue here XDD
Rain pounded on the rooftop waking me up in a slow, drowsy way. I rolled over burying my head under the covers seeing as it was a Saturday and I therefore had no reason to get up early. That is, until I remembered that I was meeting Garry today. The second that thought entered my brain I shot out of bed like a rocket almost flying right into my closet door.
For the first time since I could remember I actually surveyed my clothes and took my time choosing something to wear. I didn't want to wear clothes that would make him think I was a little kid, but something too sexy was definitely a big N-O. Finally, I settled on dark green plaid skirt, black tights, my ballet flats, and a quarter length sleeve dark blue u-neck shirt with three buttons that didn't serve much purpose on the front. Outfit chosen I ripped a brush through my tangled hair having to fight back the tears of pain with each knot I hit.
"Ib, is that you making all that noise?" Mom's voice called out softly from the other side of my door and I felt my heart stop right then and there.
The thought hadn't crossed my mind about how I was going to explain away this all day trip to my parents and now I was faced with the moment without having any preparation. "Y-Yeah, I'm up…" my voice trailed off pathetically as I wasn't really sure what to add. Smoothing down my hair one last time to make sure it co-operated, I took a deep breath and marched over to my door. I was hoping I could psych myself out in believing that I was confident and ready to give a completely believable lie. "I was actually going to head out for the day. I ran into a few friends from school yesterday and they suggested that we hang out downtown today and I forgot to mention it too you last night." I slapped on a sheepish smile to give the finishing touch to my story hoping she wouldn't insist on getting contact info or going with me.
"Oh sweetie that's wonderful! I'll admit I was worried that it seemed like you were spending all of your time alone, but obviously I was worrying over nothing," she gushed a huge smile lighting up her face like a Christmas tree. "Now, I'm trusting you to be smart and safe all right? Downtown can be a very dangerous place for a beautiful girl like yourself, so if anything goes wrong you call me or your father immediately."
"Thank you so much for letting me go!" My body moved of it's own accord as I threw my arms around in her in a tight hug excitement swelling up inside me once again. "I'm gonna be late if I don't leave now, so I'll see you later tonight, love you, bye!" I called over my shoulder as I hurried down the stairs feeling light as air.
I was thankfully able to stop myself from rushing out into the torrential downpour long enough to stop and grab a pull over sweatshirt and an umbrella. As stormy as it seemed there wasn't any wind, so the rain wouldn't be angled and able to come under the umbrella. We had agreed on meeting at the cafe to once again make sure we didn't have to explain anything to my parents; one look at the driver and they would know he wasn't close to being in the same grade as me.
Alone with my thoughts I started to have a mini freak out about spending the day with him. Not to mention there was what was going to be at least an hour long car ride to reach downtown thanks to the rain. Yes we always hung out alone, but this scenario would be different as it could actually be considered a date. There was also the fact that I was getting ready to face one of my biggest fears: an art gallery.
While he had said there was nothing to do with Guertena here I was still terrified of something horrible happening to us again by visiting the place. "Mary's gone, so there's nothing to worry about," I whispered under my breath trying to give myself a pep talk. It wasn't proving to work very well as I was still freaking out when I had made it to the cafe. By that time the rain had eased up to a light rain and I stepped under the awning to shake out my umbrella and collapse it. Normally I would've been on guard in an instant with a car pulling to a stop in front of me, but when I saw the mess of dark purple hair I walked right up to the car and climbed right in.
"You weren't waiting too long, were you?" Garry asked real concern obvious in his voice.
My cheeks were dusted a light red from his concern and I focused on putting my seatbelt on as I answered, "I just got here maybe a minute ago, so it wasn't that long." There was one of those car fresheners clipped onto the air vent, but I could still detect the faint smell of old cigarettes and the lemon scent of the candy he was always eating.
After a few seconds of us sitting in silence with the car not moving an inch, I was about to ask what was wrong when he started, "Are you sure you want to do this? I know how much art galleries freak you out and you don't have to force yourself to do this."
"Garry, I really want to do this. It's pretty ridiculous of me to be so scared of paintings and sculptures and galleries and...I want to get over it." What I really wanted to say was that I owed him this after all the things he had done for me, but of course my courage left the building at the last second and I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. I looked him in the eye to show him how sincere I was and apparently it was enough to convince him as he gave me a small smile, ruffled my hair, and started the car.
With that bridge crossed I was now back to the feeling awkward being alone in the car with him. It had been different to be alone with him in the art gallery as at the time I hadn't had feelings for him and I was younger so the truth of the situation hadn't dawned on me. As the world flew by outside the window I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound stupid and had to suffer in silence as he apparently couldn't think of anything to say either. "...How exactly did you hear about this place?" It seemed like a good topic and he hadn't mentioned just how he had heard about it.
"Well they apparently heard about my work and...offered to check out my paintings to see if they wanted to display anything." Garry was squirming uncomfortably unable to look at me as he always felt weird talking about himself.
"Garry, that's great! Why didn't you tell me?!" I stuck my hands on my hips giving him the sternest look I could muster.
"They didn't even say they would for sure display anything of mine, so it's not really that big a deal," he shrugged off the whole thing as we pulled up to a red light the rhythmic sound of the wiper blades sweeping back and forth across the windshield the only thing breaking the silence.
I leaned my head back against the seat staring out the window at the gray world that was oddly appealing to me. I wasn't sure why, but I loved overcast days over bright and sunny ones. Maybe it just fit my quiet personality better so I felt more connected to it. With traffic crawling slower than a snail we started talking about anything we could think of to pass the time and before I knew it I was staring at backside of my eyelids.
When the silence stretched on for a few minutes I looked over to see Ib was curled up in the passenger seat sound asleep. As sick as it was I couldn't suppress the thought that she looked adorable. I was a twenty three year old man in love with a fifteen year old girl. Something was clearly wrong with me.
A shiver passed through her and seeing as traffic was at a standstill at the moment it was safe for me to remove my jacket and lay it over her. I brushed her hair behind her ear as I this while she, what I presumed to be unconsciously, tucked the jacket under her chin curling up into an even smaller ball in the passenger seat. "Maybe one day…" I gave a snort at the stupid thought that I could ever tell her how I felt.
Needing something else to focus on I turned my thoughts to the art gallery praying that I wasn't making a huge mistake in taking her there. As selfish as it was I wanted to be the one who helped her overcome her fear and I wanted so badly to be able to share my artwork with her. And I hated the idea of anything terrifying her the way art of any kind did.
It felt like years had passed by the time we pulled into downtown when in actuality it had been an hour, Ib sleeping peacefully through it all. I reached and gently shook her shoulder coaxing, "Ib, we're here. Time to wake up."
I must've still been dreaming as I heard Garry's voice calling to me to wake up and someone was lightly shaking my shoulder. "No, I'm comfortable," I whined turning my head to bury my face in whatever it was I was laying on.
Garry's voice gave a light chuckle as he insisted, "I don't think a car is all that comfortable for sleeping in."
That's when it hit me just where I was and who I was with and I was acting like a three year old fighting her mom to stay in bed. My eyes shot open and I sat bolt right up looking around to see that we were parked in a free parking zone downtown. "When did we get here?"
"You were lucky and slept through the world's longest ride to make it here, but we've only been here for a few minutes," Garry answered smirking at my reaction.
Another blush adorned my face as I looked down at myself to see that his coat was covering me like a blanket. "Ah, here's your coat back." I handed it to him before unbuckling myself doing my best to hide the fact that my hands wouldn't stop shaking. After making sure the car was locked and he had got his coat back on, we ascended the stone steps up to the museum, an unsettling feeling lodging itself firmly in the pit of my stomach.