The soft sound of the rain pitter-patter on the ground echoed in to my dark room. My alarm didn't go off so I assumed it was Saturday, I rolled over and grabbed my phone to check the date. My suspicions were confirmed, but I was too tired to check the time. It feels like it's only been the first weekend, but in reality it was the fourth or fifth one. The past month flew by fast, it's crazy how quick things are going. The first dance is this upcoming Friday and all the freshmen are freaking out about it of course. I wasn't too excited about it, I'm not going. Hot heads name is Damien and he turned out to be Ms. Dawn's kid, it's strange because he's so dark and she's so pale. Benni turned out to be a senior, his dorky appearance usually throws people off. Marshall got easier to deal with the more I got use to having him and his attitude around a lot. He was annoying but he was a good buddy. I looked out the window to watch the rain fall to the ground, casting a blueish light in my dingy room. I closed my eyes to return to my sweet slumber when my phone buzzed. I groaned and checked the name flashing across the screen. Marshall, of course.

Marshall: It's raining.

Me: no shit Sherlock

Marshall: You wanna do something?

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about the situation. A part of me wanted to say no and go back to bed, but my curiosity was yelling at me to find out what he had in store.

Me: what do you have in mind?

Marshall: You'll see, I'll be there in 20 minutes.

20 minutes? That's not a lot of time! I jumped out of bed and rushed through my clothes, trying to find some clean fabric. I slipped on some faded jeans, a blue tank top, my combat boots, and a jacket before rushing through my makeup routine and quickly going to the kitchen.
"You're up early" Cake said from behind her computer desk just outside the kitchen. I grabbed a banana and a cereal bar and peeled off the plastic wrapper off my breakfast.
"I'm going out with a friend today" I told her.
"Which one?" She asked.
"Marshall" I answered chewing though the sweet breakfast.
"Marshall? Why you hangin' with him?" She questioned.
"What else am I supposed to do?" I shrugged.
"Homework?" She suggested.
"Done" I said ripping back the banana peel.
"What about your other friends?"
"What other friends?" I asked.
"Y'know, Marcy and Laura and Sarah" she said.
"They're busy"
"Really?"
"Yup" I said. I poured myself a glass of milk and chugged it before going over to Cake.
"You sure you wanna hang with him? He might try something" she sounded concerned, of course. I sighed.
"It's not like that"
"Yeah right. Sooner or later one of you is gonna like the other and I'm gonna be walking in on you two making out or worse" she sassed.
"Like I said, it's not like that" I repeated. My phone buzzed in my pocket, I flipped it open to see Marshall's message.

Marshall: Here.

"He's here" I said heading for the door.
"Don't have too much fun, be back before dinner" she told me.
"Okay!" I called while closing the door behind me. Marshall was waiting in his car looking down at his phone as the rain fell on his shiny silver car. He had on his usual leather jacket along with a red v-neck and some jeans. I opened the car door and crawled in.
"Morning" I greeted. He looked over to me an smiled.
"I've never seen your hair down before" he reached out and gently took a strand between his fingers. I realized I had neglected to put my hair up this morning. I quickly pulled it back and secured it with my spare hair tie, accidentally slapping his hand away in the process. He laughed at my rash action.
"I forgot to put it up this morning" I muttered.
"It looked cute" he said.
"Whatever, just drive" I ordered. He smiled and turned the key, starting the engine and backing out of the parking lot.
"Where are we going?" I demanded to know. He chuckled at my impatience.
"You'll see" he assured me.
"Did I ever mention I hate surprises?" I asked.
"Nope" he said popping his lips at the "p".
"Well, I don't" I informed him crossing my arms. He laughed.
"This is gonna be fun for me" he smirked. Of course. I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him, making his smirk grow in to a grin. I turned my gaze to the rode a head of us, the windshield wipers pushing back the rain dripping down the window clearing it enough to see out of. The rode started to merge in to a dirt rode which was covered in mud from the rain. I could imagine the mud stains on his tires and shiny car, would probably cost a few bucks to clean it rather than doing it himself. The path ended at a forest, the trees blocked my view past a few feet in to the woodland. He got out of the car, unlocking it so I could follow after him. The rain hit me as soon as I opened the door, making splatters on my boots and jeans. I closed the door and followed him to the edge of the forest, stopping in my steps and crossing my arms.
"C'mon, let's go" he called from under the shelter of the trees.
"My mom told me to never go in to the woods with strange men" I said. We used to live next to a forest, so she would always say that before I left for school.
"Then you'll be soaked" he replied. He was right, my hoodie and the top of my tank top was all ready saturated. I gave up and salvaged myself under the cover to tall plantation offered.
"This way" he said leading the way. The random areas of grass morphed in to an obvious hiking path. Good thing I wore my combat boots.
"Really? Hiking?" I asked. I suddenly slipped on a rock lodged in to the ground and fell in to his strong warm arms. He smirked down at me and chuckled.
"Clumsy much?" He asked. He helped me to my feet offering a hand to guide me away from the wet spot.
"We're not there yet" he said.
"How long is this gonna take?" I asked.
"Just be patient" he smiled. I kept a firm grasp on his arm to make sure I didn't fall on my face, it was pretty slippery here from the rain dripping down from the leafy canopy above. We continued walking until the dirt was littered with patches of grass and flowers. He halted in front of a big apple tree, the fruit barely growing from its blossoms.
"You brought me to an apple tree?" I asked.
"Yup" he said. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"What?" He asked.
"You're a dork" I shoved his arm.. He chuckled.
"I bet I can climb higher than you" he said.
"Oh yeah?" I challenged.
"Yeah" he said.
"First one to the top wins" I announced rushing towards the tree leaving him in the dust. I grabbed on the the lowest branch and started climbing. As I ascended higher I looked down to see him gaining on me.
"You better not be staring at my ass!" I called down. He laughed.
"Guilty!" He shouted back. I shoot my head and continued climbing up the slightly damp branches. I was about half way when he was right behind me.
"You're fast" he said.
"Years of climbing trees in the forest teaches you a few things" I said.
"Gah!" I place my foot down and slipped in to the crook of two large branches right as he climbed up there. He caught me, stopping me from falling off the tall branch and smirking.
"You are clumsy" he said.
"T-the branch was slippery" I felt my face get hotter as he got closer. He chuckled and cornered me in to the branch, stopping me from escaping him. I grabbed on to the trunk, not wanting to fall to my death as he came closer to my warm face. His eyes flicked down to my lips, staring at them with desire behind his beautiful green eyes. My heart raced as his hands found their way around my waist and drifting to my back. His lips hovered over mine with no signs of retreating. I decided to just let it happen, there was no way I could stop it. We were already pretty high up, so jumping is defiantly out of the question. Just as he was about kiss me he grabbed the branch above us and leaving me dazed and confused. He laughed a continued climbing, it's like he was flying from how fast he was moving. I snapped out of my shocked state and quickly followed after him.
"No fair!" I called after him.
"We never established any rules" he shouted back. I raced up and climbed past him with ease smiling down at him, his face stuck with the same smirk he had on earlier. When I got to the top I waited for him to catch up with me. The view was amazing, the trees looked like they went on forever covering the mountain side and past the river. The rain was still falling from the dark storm clouds above us, casting a shadow over the entire forest. Some of the rain dripped through the leaves above my head, soaking in to my long hair. I felt him softly pull my elastic and my hair fall on to my shoulders. I quickly turned around to see Marshall stretching the hair tie with his fingers.
"You really do look good with it down" he said.
"I don't like it down" I told him reaching for the elastic in his hand. He pulled it just out of my reach, catching me yet again and holding me to his chest.
"This seems to be a reoccurring position for us" he smirked. I froze, looking up to his dazzling green eyes, as his face got closer again. My cheeks were scorching hot as I did my best to back away with out falling.
"Um, what time is it?" I asked. He chuckled and pulled out his phone to check it.
"Almost five" he said. Five? Dinner was at 5:30!
"I need to get home" I said.
"All right, lets go" he nodded starting to descend in to the branches. I followed him and was soon on the ground again. We walked through the forest and exited the lush greenery. He unlocked the car for us to get in an got in the shiny silver machinery. I crawled in the passenger seat as he started the car. He pulled out and drove, not saying a word. I was silent as well, staring at the rode ahead, the warm air coming from his car unfroze my cold hands and returned my pink nose back to its original color. He looked a little tense, his face filled with concentration. My eyes wondered all over him but they always returned to his lips that were once so close to mine. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from him pocket and lit one up at the red light, blowing the smoke out the window. The foul smell lingered in to the car, stuffing up my nose.
"I've got a question for ya" he said.
"Yeah?" I responded.
"Why'd you let me get so close before but backed away the other time?" He asked. I thought for a moment, unsure what to say. Why did I let him get so close?
"It was no use the first time, you had me cornered and it was too high to jump with out dying" I explained. That sounded like a good answer. He chuckled.
"I see, it's not because you secretly want me to kiss you?" he teased.
"Not with that habit" I said. He smiled.
"Once you start it's hard to stop" he said simply.
"Well, it's really bad for your health" I replied.
"So is drinking but you don't see anyone stopping me from taking a sip" he said.
"Cake would kill me if she ever caught me with alcohol"
"Really?" He asked.
"Yup"
"I bet you would be hilarious after a few drinks" he smirked.
"you wouldn't catch me drunk in a million years" I assured him.
"Wanna bet?" He asked.
"I don't do bets" I said. He chuckled.
"I got myself a goodie-goodie over here" he grinned.
"If there was no good, then there wouldn't be any bad" I said.
"True" he agreed. He pulled up to the parking space in front of my apartment and unlocked the door.
"See you on Monday" I said opening the door. He nodded, blowing out a puff of smoke through his window. I closed the door and watched him pull out and drive away. The door was already unlocked when I opened it, the room smelled like spaghetti sauce and noodles.
"I'm home!" I called.
"How was it?" She asked.
"Fun" I said simply.
"Did he try anything on you?" She asked.
"Nope" I lied. I like to think I'm a pretty good lair...sometimes.
"Okay, good. Dinner will be ready in half an hour" she promised.
"Okay" I said opening the door to my room and entering it. I fell down on top of my now cold unmade bed, my hair falling all over the place. He still had my hair tie, of course. Good thing I have more of those laying around everywhere. I turned over and replayed everything that happened, always stopping when he cornered my against the tree. His breath only faintly smelled of cigarettes, but not enough to put me off. I imagined what would've happened if his lips had only gone a little farther, how they would've felt and tasted against mine. What am I thinking? I need to get my head on straight. My sketchpad was already on my bed along with my favorite pencil, so I picked it up and started drawing letting the pencil do it's thing. Drawing usually helps me get my mind off of things. I wiped away the eraser bits and examined the final product. Some how my hand had drawn Marshall sitting in his car with his sunglasses and cigarette in between his lips. I threw the sketchbook across the room, frustrated with myself and my mind. Just as it hit the floor Cake opened the door.
"Dinner" she announced. I got up from the bed and went to join her.
"Okay"