| 11 | Hey Moon, Please Forget To Fall Down

***

Leaving school and heading to the forest with Brice was an easy breeze. I was overjoyed, almost to the point where I was feeling light headed. I wish I knew Brice's feelings about this; about promising to stay with me for as long as I wanted. There was always such a lovey-dovey feeling to it, but it didn't really matter to me. I was away from my parents, away from that house, and away from my troubled thoughts.

"From that smile I can tell you really like running away, don't you?" Brice chuckled as he adjusted his backpack strap.

"Of course! I love adventure," I replied giddily.

"Well, maybe we should run away with each other. Just you, me, a car, and some supplies," Brice suggested as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "The small hometowns, the city lights..."

"That sounds nice," I hummed. "Maybe one day."

The rest of our walk was filled with a blissful silence. The forest was damp; not a single soul had stirred around on the forest floor. Brice led me through a path of dark green bushes and towering trees. It felt like we were getting lost, but soon enough there was a treehouse, standing all in its glory.

It was enormous.

It was tall, and wide as well. There was a rope ladder leading up to it. This was my first time seeing it, due to the fact that Brice had carried my stuff here and while I took a shower at his house.

The wood complimented the tree—both were an oaky color. There was even a door, which I'm assuming Brice had the key too. When looking at the side, there were even windows. It felt like a perfect getaway.

"By your reaction I'm guessing you like it," Brice chuckled as he pointed towards it. "No one really knows this tree house is here, besides me and the people who sit at my table. It's pretty safe if I do say so myself. Let's go."

I nodded as I gave a slight gulp. Brice climbed up the rope ladder and unlocked the door, I followed. The treehouse creaked sometimes, but it didn't collapse—luckily. When I walked through the door, there were only a couple bean bag chairs sprawled throughout. There were little paintings on the wall as well. A bookshelf stool tall in the corner of the treehouse filled with many CDs and bulky books. It was painted on too.

"There's more stuff upstairs, beds n' shit," Brice said. "My moms built this for me when I was younger as an apology for being away a lot."

"You have really cool moms," I murmured. "My parents would never do that for me."

Brice rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Uh, make yourself at home I guess."

"Are you sure this is okay?" I frowned. "You know, me bombarding on—"

"No, no," Brice interrupted me mid-sentence as he gave me a crooked smile, "really—it's okay. You can runaway with me anytime you want."

He gave me a soft smile that could tug at my heart. I felt my face heat up as I awkwardly nodded, "Thank you, Brice."

***

The rest of the day was quiet. I spent it finishing my homework, then mostly in bed, trying to catch some sleep for once. Though my eyes were shut, I felt Brice's sharp gaze on me, vigil and alert. It wasn't creepy, as one should say, but it was pleasant to know that he cared. Him being a total asshole was an understatement; he was kind behind the façade.

I pretended to open my eyes and stretch. I could see Brice trapped in a daze for a moment.  We made eye contact for a moment—mocha meeting blue. His fit lit up and his head turned, "About t-time you woke up."

"Were you watching me sleep?" I questioned though I had already known the answer.

"I—uh," Brice was flustered. I gave a small giggle and I sat up.

"What time is it?" I tried to change the subject. Brice took a look at his phone.

"Eleven thirty," he murmured.

So I did fall asleep for once.

It was a nice nap.

"Here, I want to show you something," Brice offered as he signaled for me to get out of bed. I swung my feet aside and followed him. He led me towards the corner of the room. There was a cord. He pulled the cord, which caused a portion of the ceiling to fold downwards, then a ladder to come toppling down. He climbed up the ladder while I followed.

His parents are quite handy if I do say so myself.

There was no extra room—we were sitting on the rooftop (which wasn't slanted, but flat). Brice laid on his back while I sat hugging my knees right next to him. Crickets were making their own songs in the background to fill in the silence. Above us was a clearing—a perfect view of the stars. They had shone brightly tonight—almost like they did every night here. It felt perfect.

No words spoken, only silence.

In my head I began to name all the stars. Brice sat up—I could feel his eyes gazing at me again. He tried to make it canny—but surely enough they were more like laser beams. I didn't mind, though. I felt a smile curve on my lips.

The moon had looked pretty tonight as well. It was full—the first full moon I had seen ever since I've arrived here. It was bright and almost at its peak. I wondered if Isaac and Jason were looking at this moon, too.

In the corner of my eye I could see Brice holding a sketch pad. Either he had left for a brief moment and I didn't notice, or he was holding it the whole time and I still didn't notice. He was also holding a pack of watercolors and a cup of water within a plastic water cup, ironically.

"Sometimes I wonder if aliens can see us down here," Brice chuckled as he flipped through the pages, "that's why these open clearing are nice. Y'know, for abduction."

I couldn't help but give a small giggle, "You're such a nerd—I'd never expect this out of you."

"I wouldn't either," he murmured back as he begun to paint. I scooted closer to him, resting my chin on his shoulder as I watched him paint. He'd occasionally look up at the sky, then continue to brush the watercolor on the paper. The color was a mixture of blue, purple, and gray.

"You're a good artist," I complimented him as I went to go sit on his left side.

"Thanks," was all he replied with as he looked up towards the sky again. "Sometimes I wish nights like these never ended."

"How come?" I wish I could say the same, but I wouldn't have a legitimate reason to—unlike him.

"They say nights like these only come before big storms," I had a feeling he didn't mean an actual storm. Metaphorical shit most likely. "And I don't want another storm to come."

I nodded as I let my eyes get lost in the stars. "I could honestly listen to you talk all day, I like your voice."

"You mean all night," Brice corrected, snickering a bit.

"Ha ha," I rolled my eyes, pretending to laugh. "Very funny."

A moment of brief silence passed as well, "I could also watch you paint all day."

I averted my gaze back onto him. His eyes were either drawn to the sky or to the page. He would stroke the page with his brush in a feathery manner. His tongue was sticking out slightly; he was so focused with painting. I chuckled, admiring him.

Why would Shelby abuse an amazing guy like this?

"Almost finished," Brice said as he continued to brush the page vigorously, "but judging by the fact that you're looking at me like this, I guess you don't want me to be done."

I felt my face heat up as I averted my gaze. He heard him chuckle as he sat closer to me. He rested the page on his left leg and on my right leg. He continued to paint, making sure he didn't splash me or himself with the watercolors. I watched him. He was painting a galaxy.

The anger that I felt about my parents and about the arranged marriage next month drew to a close at this point. They were the least of my concerns at the current moment—Brice was at the top. He eventually finished painting, then passed it over to me.

"You can keep it," he said, almost as if he was nervous, "I figured you liked he scenery and you can look back on it to, y'know, remind you of the past I guess."

He began to clean up and carefully place his things aside. I said a quiet thank you and set the drawing aside as well. I laid down on, Brice did the same. Brice pointed to one of the stars.

"That brightest one right there," he said, chuckling, "who knows what's on that planet."

"NASA probably knows," I shrugged, "realistically."

"I mean, NASA could have faked the moon landing."

I furrowed my eyebrows, softly punching him in the shoulder, "What are you, high?"

"No, I'm Brice," he replied with a simple grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"You're so cheesy," I rolled my eyes, laughing a bit. I pointed to another star, "I like that star since it's the brightest."

"I think that one is called Sirius," Brice said.

"Since when do you know astronomy?" I questioned.

"I don't know, since forever?" Brice shrugged.

"What about—" my voice trailed off as I pointed to another one, "—that one!"

"That's a plane, Seto," Brice chuckled.

"No, I mean there, that other bright one," I rolled my eyes as the plane shot by.

"That's Betelgeuse," Brice spoke swiftly. "Part of the Orion constellation."

"What about that one!" I pointed vigorously to a star that had an orange tint.

"I think that's another plane," Brice laughed.

"It's not even moving!" I argued.

"Seto, you need to get your eyes checked," Brice replied, having the tone of voice that was meant to be humorous.

"You need to get your eyes checked!" I argued once more.

Brice burst out into laughter. I crossed my arms and stood up, pointing to it once more. "See it yet?"

"No, all I see is a cute brunet with mocha colored eyes and pale skin within the moonlight," Brice pointed to me. "I think that one is named Seto."

I felt my face heat up once more, "Very funny."

"I'm being serious," Brice retorted.

"Hi serious," I greeted as I sat back down. "I'm Seto."

"Lame," Brice booed.

"Oh come on. It was a good one, you'd have to admit," I felt my grin widening. I laid back down next to Brice. His eyes shifted towards me once more and we made eye contact. He looked overjoyed to be spending time with me.

"Well, I'm not admitting that it was a good joke," Brice rolled his eyes. He gazed towards the plastic water cup and kicked it. The cup went flying onto the ground. I couldn't help but snicker once more.

"What did that cup ever do to you?" I questioned, pretending to sound angry. "It had a family!"

"Oh, boohoo," Brice played along, "the kids left the house anyway. His wife was causing some trouble and he needed a man."

I couldn't help but snicker at that sentence again. The silence filled the air once more, thick and filled with the sound of chirping crickets. The rest of the town was asleep missing beautiful nights like these. If it wasn't for Brice, I would have been cooped up in my room, missing a night like this as well.

"It's been a while since you've last smoked," Brice said, starting off another conversation, "I even checked your bag—no cigarettes."

"Oh, I guess I must've forgot about them," I shrugged.

"Why did you forget about them? Why the sudden change?" It was Brice's turn to ask the questions; they were ones I didn't mind answering.

"I mean, my dying lungs are one reason," I joked. "I guess I've been distracted."

"—by me," he finished off for me, snickering a bit.

I felt my face heat up again. That is true, but I decided to cover it up with a lie.

"What a big shot there," I said, throwing in a laugh.

"Oh come on, you know you like me," as if we weren't close enough, he edged closer to me to the point where are heads were touching. I could hear him breathe from this fair distance.

"Hell, maybe I do," I admitted.

"Hell, maybe I do, too," Brice agreed.

"Oh of course you're going to like yourself, don't be too cheesy Brice," I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

"No, I mean I like you," Brice stated blatantly.

"Straightforward I see," I said monotonously. "One could say that I like you, too."

"That's nice," Brice nodded his head. I could see the smile creeping on his lips once more. I would live just to see that smile.

"Yeah, it really is," I agreed.

The silence was back once more. Everything was still the same—the crickets were still chirping, everyone else in the small town stirred, and the sky's stars were still twinkling as bright. The moon rose above our heads, signifying midnight. Part of me was expecting to hear werewolves howl, but unfortunately there was none.

"You know how many humans just transformed into werewolves right now?" Brice asked, pointing to the full moon. "I totally expected you to be a werewolf."

"That would be cool," I said, chuckling at the fantasy, "but then again, I wouldn't want to be regarded as a flesh eating monster."

"Well what about an alien?" Brice suggested.

"What about an alien?" I replied, putting emphasis on about.

"If you had a chance, would you be an alien? You'd have a pretty cool ship and some futuristic technology."

"Talk about a space nerd," saying that pulled some strings in my heart. I tried my best not to think about Jason—Space Boy. "If you were an alien you wouldn't think the stuff is futuristic since you grew up with it. I mean, why does everyone think aliens have futuristic technology? They haven't found us yet, and we haven't found them yet, so maybe they're just as behind as we are."

"Did you just rant about aliens and their technology?" Brice pondered, quite surprised at the fact.

"Of course, if you were an alien wouldn't you be insulted?" I replied. "I'm just standing up for them, that's all."

"So, you're secretly an alien? All this time and you've never told me?" Brice acted shocked. "This is such a revelation."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, for you."

"Oh, what's that suppose to mean!" Brice bickered.

"Everything," I smirked.

"Does that mean I'm everything to you?" Brice questioned, which I'm assuming was as a joke.

"Yes, it does," I replied in the most serious tone I could. Brice went silent again.

"You've really made me happy, Seto," Brice smiled. "Like, really happy over these past couple days."

"Even when I was your fabled enemy?" I snickered, recalling the times that we argued in the past due to inconvenient experiences.

"Yeah, even in the past you've amused me, that's why I used that asshole attitude on you," Brice admitted. "You astonish me."

I felt my face heat up into a cherry red. The moonlight probably made it noticeable, because I could tell Brice was about to burst into laughter at that very moment. Part of me was speechless, but the other part of me expected him to say that—and was quite overjoyed.

Killjoys, eh?

I don't know what was in the coffee I had drank, but I felt these emotions swirling up within me. One could say most of them were focused on Brice—that silly Australian who grabbed me by the heart and refused to let go. It wasn't like I wanted him to let go, anyway.

Sometimes I wished I could see into people's thoughts and emotion processes. Part of me was still in huge disbelief that this was happening; we were happening. It was so simple, almost as if fate had pulled its strings just a teeny bit for us to be in this moment. Stargazing in silence or with words on top of a treehouse rooftop with crickets chirping their chorus loudly. I wondered if Brice was happy as well.

We didn't speak for a while after that. I felt my eyes getting heavy once and a while, but I forced myself to stay awake in case I had passed out and missed something. Brice, on the other hand, looked wide awake and not phased by anything. Even if I did fall asleep, it would be most likely that Brice would have watched over me, almost like some guardian angel sent to me from the heavens.

Hell, at some points Brice did feel like my own guardian angel. (Ironic how sometimes I do start my sentences with hell).

I released an exasperated sigh as I felt my eyes finally closing. I mindlessly tilted my head into his shoulder and let my mind drift off. I listened to the sounds of nature, as well as Brice's composed breathing. He didn't move, he just stayed there. Laying down and looking at the stars was a good way to spend a Thursday evening—but as he said before, storms come after nights like these.

"I wish this night could last forever," I heard the blond murmur aloud to himself. There was a long pause, almost as if he was expecting some kind of response. I heard a short murmur from his lips before I fully fell asleep.

"Hey moon, please forget to fall down."