All Time Low

Walls

I'm gonna break down these walls,

I built around myself.

     The next time the two lovebirds went on a date, Araminta was even further trapped in Michael's spell. She found his unwavering confidence to be the key to much of her attraction towards him. Instead of taking her to another fancy restaurant, which seemed to make her grateful as opposed to impressed, Michael opted to take the Texas native on a mountain hike.

     Michael was always one to throw caution to the wind; however, this girl made him want to throw his life to the wind. Not to say that Michael wanted to throw his life away. He simply wanted a larger purpose- he wanted to give his life to this woman. The boy wanted Araminta to every part of him as if nothing was worth keeping if he couldn't have her.

     For a man with trust issues, this was saying a lot without saying much. He was willing to swan dive into the ocean of her blue eyes that had opened their beauty to him because if he were to drown, then at least it would be surrounded by the feeling that someone had been willing to love him for his scars and all.

     It was not often that the guitarist would be like this; however, this petite brunette, for some reason, had gotten to him more than any other woman. Maybe it was her complexity or her lack of worry concerning about his fame and wealth that caused him to be drug out to sea in her tsunami tides of feelings. Somehow, despite only knowing the girl for a could of weeks, he felt a connection and longing to be with her even when she was no where to be found.

     "So you mentioned that you didn't like the fame," she finally said, breaking the silence that had surrounded them while climbing the mountain for the past ten minutes. Michael looked over at the girl, confirming what she had said and asking what the question was. She cleared her throat before continuing, "If you don't like it then why are you still in the band?" she asked as they approached an incline that took both parties breath away as they began to walk up it fairly quickly.

    Michael looked over at the brunette that was adorned in a 'Pink' quarter zip shirt that accented her curves perfectly and leggings that left him weak and practically begging for the goddess standing in front of him. He had never thought that he would enjoy exercising, mainly due to the fact that he preferred his video games; however, with a girl as beautiful as Araminta dressing as she did when she worked out, Michael made an exception to his rule.

    When the breath finally replenished in his throat, Michael looked over at the girl, noting the sweat slightly trickling down the side of her face and her brown locks being tied up in a perfect ponytail. A slight sigh escaped his mouth as they went up the mountain and the extent of how out of shape he was began to show due to his band's lack of touring for the past two weeks.

     "I don't like some aspects of this life, but that doesn't mean I don't want it," he breathed out, taking another deep breath before Araminta caught on and  stopped walking so that the two could take a break. He restrained himself from staring at her clothed body.

     He knew that this feeling sounded trivial to everyone else, even the therapists he paid to listen to him found it odd that he suffered from depression caused by too much attention. When questioned, he would only respond with the claim that no one listened to the important things when they spoke to him.

     "That makes sense," the girl interrupted his train of thoughts, looking over at him blushing face, finding an odd sense of satisfaction from his heated cheeks as she knew it was due to her comment.

     She bit her lip, trying to contain her hormones as she looked the beautiful twenty year old up and down. Michael was wearing legging type material as his workout pants and a ghostbusters shirt, which made the girl laugh loudly upon seeing him in that morning. Despite Araminta's previous thoughts about lanky boys, she found Michael to be an exception to the rule.

     Between the emerald green eyes that pierced her soul, the plump red lips that made her bite hers just by looking at them, his blonde hair that she knew was bleached to the roots that he didn't keep up with, the scruff that he thought made him look manly, the tattoos inking his skin that perked her interest level as to what they meant, the eyebrow piercing that she assumed had been ripped out multiple times due to his clumsy behavior, and the bit of muscle definition that the boy possessed, Araminta was lost to his attractive looks.

     Everything about Michael made her melt as she hated herself for never considering guys like him before. When she was in high school, the only boys that young girl would associate with came from rich families and were athletic with a lot of muscles. She blamed that partially on her parents never being around and her longing for protection and seeking it in that of an attractive young man.

     Not that Araminta blamed all of her shortcomings on the ineffectiveness of her parents, but she did blame many of the things that had went wrong in her life on the lack of guidance and advice.

     "So what about your family?" she asked, wanting to know the boy had a more stable life than she did. Something about hearing of other people's easy lives helped her to gain strength and carry on in her tough one. Unlike others that drew their strength on the pity of others, Araminta was resilient and never wanted those outside of herself to know the extent of her family's depravity.

     "Well I'm an only child. My parents, Daryl and Karen, are the best parents in the world. They have always been supportive of me, even when I refused to go to school when I was younger," he said, looking over at the laughing girl beside him. He had never heard a more beautiful sound and he decided that she would always be happy and laughing because the beauty in her smile and laugh was too much to be lost.

     "My parents would have killed me," she confided in him, her southern accent coming out slightly. Her eyes widened slightly, covering her mouth as the accent came out overly thick, giggling in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry."

     "Don't be, it's adorable," he told her, smiling widely. Truth be told, Michael had always had a soft spot for country accents. He found any type of accent attractive, but there was something extremely attractive about the southern accent, especially Araminta's.

      "Sure," she said sarcastically, continuing to walk alongside the tall Australian.

     "What about your family?" he asked, changing the subject as he had come to know that Araminta was not one to take compliments well, which he found odd but didn't ask about directly.

     "What about them?" Her voice was dull as she looked over at Michael, taking in his shocked expression. He had been more than happy to share of his family and it caught the blonde off guard to hear the girl not talk fondly of her family.

     "What are they like? Do you visit them often?" he persisted, not understanding how someone like Araminta could have a bad relationship with her family. Michael recalled her speaking so fondly of her brother and found it odd how only a few short weeks previously, she was willing to tell him, a stranger then, more than she was willing to tell him then.

     "They live in Texas. There's nothing for me there as an artist since the last gallery I had there was over six months ago." The air around them stilled as Michael took in this information, looking at her as if she had murdered someone. "What?" she asked, taking in the look on his face.

     "You don't visit? You don't call?" he asked incredulously. His hands flew up in the air as he paced around. "You said you had an amazing childhood and this is how you repay them? You spoke like you loved your parents!"

     The girl shook her head as she watched the boy run his fingers through his blonde hair. She let out a sigh before speaking and said, "I never claimed that my parents and I were on good terms." Michael's body spun around to face hers, jaw hanging open as she continued. "I've never had a good relationship with my parents for various reasons."

     "But you said-"

     His words were cut off by the petite girl. "Yes, I did have an amazing childhood. I had an amazing childhood filled with nannies and butlers and my older brother, but I never once looked out into the crowd of a dance recital and saw my parents. They were almost never there. The only reason I say almost is because they were one time, but guess what? They were late. They didn't even see me dance, Michael."

     The bleach blonde took in the information, his eyes gazing at the girl's face with increasing wonder. He never understood how she was so strong, having only known the basics of the girl's emotional stress. Now, however, he most definitely did not understand how she held herself together.

     "Ara-" Her tears cut off his Australian accented voice as he quickly encompassed her small frame in his arms, careful not to hold her too tight as if he was scared she might break. However, his grip was tight, scared that she might leave if he didn't hold onto her tight enough. "I'm so sorry," he spoke in a hushed tone.

     They stood in one another's arms until the girl composed herself, nodding into his chest as they began to climb once again. Other topics of conversation took over such as touring and galleries, leading each to gain excitement during their respective topics.

     The girl found herself relieved that she had finally let out some of her stress onto Michael, who seemed to carry the burden with pride. His arm was wrapped around her as they reached the check point and headed back down the mountain, not wanting to climb the entire thing due to both of their limited physical capabilities.

     It seemed to be awkward between the two young adults to bystanders; however, both seemed to know that they would never be awkward. Despite having only knowing each other for a short time, both of them trusted the other with such personal information. It was as if they were friends for the longest time and had just decided to become an item.

     In so many ways, it relieved Michael that he could trust the brunette as he had never been able to trust many people in his life, especially since the band became a hit across the globe. The feeling of finally having someone that he could confide in still brought him so much happiness.

     The pair's relationship had a similar effect on Araminta, who found relief in the arms of Michael. She had spent so much time running. Running from what, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was fear, or responsibility, or abandonment. All she knew was that Michael had stopped her. He had made it possible for her to stop running.

     Both of them had been running so far from their problems. However, they ran towards each other and found solace in each other. Maybe that was why the pair felt as though they were a perfect fit, they had been through the exact same trials and had come out battered and bruised. But both had come out fighting, which was all anyone could ask of them.

     Each had built walls around themselves for various  reasons, but each of them were slowly tearing the other's walls down as they trusted that they would be safe opening up to the other. And that was all they could ask of each other.

I wanna fall so in love, with you,

and no one else, could ever mean half as much,

to me as you do now.