The Bright Ones

21 | True colors

"We could work on our papers?" I suggest, leaning my head against the oak tree by the pond. The chill in the air nips at my nose and causes my eyes to water. I blink away the wetness and tilt my head up towards the oak branches that snap in response. A crooked smile and stunning blue eyes look back at me from a branch high above. "What? Did I say something?" I swat at my face. "Is there something on my face?"

Will slips down to another branch sending dead leaves sprinkling around me. "No," he laughs. "I just think it's cute that you're bored and you want to work on another English paper."

My face burns at his flirtatious demeanor. I hope it just looks red from the cold and not the heat that he makes me feel. I clear my throat. "I'm not bored." The overthinking begins and a wave of worry washes over me putting out the heat from just a moment ago. "Are-are you bored?" I watch and wait for an answer while Will slides from his final branch, his legs dangling and his hands gripping the branch. It's mesmerizing for some reason but then the trance is broken as he drops to the ground, landing in a kneeling position next to me.

His hair is in one of those rare states of dishevelment from the wind he must have caught up there. His eyes are tinged red. But it's his lips I focus on when his hand reaches for my hair and return with a leaf that had fallen into my dark tangles.

"Bored?" He repeats as he watches the leaf drop. I want to look to see what he finds so interesting about that dead damn leaf, but I can't look away from his lips. His pink, chapped lips. They don't look like much in the cold months, but they were warm and soft. I can still feel them. And when the leaf is on the ground he looks back at me. "I'm never bored with you." His voice is solid, but it's just a whisper.

I swallow. "I find that hard to believe. I'm bloody boring sometimes. A lot of the time, actually."

Will shifts to a sitting position leaning his head against the oak as well. We both stare out at the pond and a lingering weight ghosts my fingers. My eyes flicker to the weight that dances with my fingers. Will's finger tips dance across my hand hesitantly and I know his hesitance is my fault. I told him I wasn't in the same place as him even though I so desperately want to be. So I grab ahold of his hand and lace my fingers through his, but I watch the water and not the action. I feel Will's gaze on our hands as I open my hand to him and he accepts me for me.

"But it's the truth," he defends. "You're bloody brilliant." His hand squeezes mine, sending a shock up my arms and to my heart, which does a flip. Then I'm stopping myself, because if I don't I will say something I'll regret or do something I'll regret.

Dead leave crunch under foot and my hand retracts from Will's faster than I can register. I shove it into a pocket to warm it even though it's warm from Will. A moment later Reeve, Dylan, and Brodie come around the tree deep in a conversation. They probably wouldn't have even noticed that Will and I were holding hands and that makes me feel guilty.

"There you lads are!" Dylan cheers when he sees Will and I. "We finished our chores and fancied a lunch in town. Care to join?"

My eyebrows knit. "Can we do that?" I look at Reeve for reassurance.

He smiles and shrugs. "We snuck Sam onto school grounds more than once. I'm pretty sure sneaking out for a lunch we are paying for is the least criminal thing Bailey can worry about."

Will stands up and offers his hand to me. I have to take a moment to remind myself that a friend helping a friend up is not out of the ordinary before I take his hand. He pulls me up and I feel his forearm flex beneath my palm. It takes everything in me to keep my knee from locking, but then I'm up and brush the pants off.

"Alright. How are we doing this?"

~~~

Turns out it wasn't hard to get into town. We just had to walk out the back so to speak. Made our way through the woods and took a backroad to an ally into town.