Apricots - Ruel Van Dijk

Chapter 7 - Looking at a painting

Teliah's POV

Don't go there 'cause you'll never return

I know you think of me when you think of her

*

I stood outside the shop, gazing up into the unusually bright night sky. I didn't know what Maggie needed to say to Ruel. Hm. It felt weird to think of his name instead of 'this guy'. Anyway, I wasn't all that worried about what Maggie and Ruel were talking about. I had struggled with anxiety for a long time before now, which meant constant overthinking and worrying about stuff that wouldn't matter to someone without it. But once I got over it, I promised myself I would let things go. Overthinking wouldn't change what had already happened, so why would I waste my time doing it? It was pointless and stupid. You miss out on so many amazing things in the present overthinking the past. 

As I gazed up at the sky, I saw the moon was full and round. A rare event to be seeing in London. Nights were usually dark, thanks to the mass of clouds there. The stars, though there were few, completed the blanket of darkness over London. It was like looking at a perfect picture painted by a perfect artist. 

"Its nice, isn't it?" a voice said from beside me. That voice was becoming all too familiar. I glanced over, unsurprised to see the presence of a tall figure. He too was staring up at the stars, face touched with love. His oddly red lips were parted in a concentrated frown, his green-looking hazel eyes reflecting the sky. It was all in his eyes. They captured every part of the sky, the moon, stars, the darkness, the small clouds. Everything. I wished that someone would look at me the way he looked at the sky that night.

I hummed in agreement, looking down at the pavement that was touched with puddles of water from the snow of the previous night. It seemed even the water was looking at the clear sky. I shivered, a gust of wind catching on my skin from behind. Fuck it was cold. I was only wearing a random t-shirt, as I didn't own any jackets. I just had to distract myself from the cold and I would be fine, I was just being a pussy.

"Shall we go?" I asked, turning my attention back towards Ruel. He was staring at me, an unamused frown on his face. I furrowed a brow, signifying I was confused. I was. Why was he staring at me? "What?"

"You're cold," he stated, the frown remaining on his face. 

"I'm fine," I reassured, an unconvincing smile on my face. How could he tell? 

"No you're not. Take my jacket," he urged, handing me the piece of fabric that had been laying on his arm since the morning I had first spoken to him.

"Ruel, seriously I'm fine," I declared, getting used to the flow of words on my tongue. I was stubborn, I liked to be right. He looked to be getting frustrated, his features building with tension. His eyes were burning with an unfamiliar look of anger, his eyebrows creasing harshly.

"I swear to god Teliah, if you don't take the fucking jacket I'll put it on you myself," he denounced. I was honestly scared to argue, I didn't want to make him angry if that was just frustration. I sighed, taking the jacket. I slid my arms through the sleeves, feeling the rich lining of the inside of the jacket against my cold skin. I couldn't even begin to imagine how expensive it would have been. I wanted to feel bad for wearing something of such value, but I just didn't. I hated to admit it, but it felt nice to be warm. The jacket was comfortable and smelled good, like rain in a way. It was huge on me, my hands didn't even make it out the end of the sleeves. I guess that made sense, as he was a lot taller than me. But I felt much better than I had before without it.

"Thank you,"  I mumbled, looking back up at him. He looked calmer now, the frown now off his face, his eyebrows softening as well as his eyes. I broke the silence, not wanting to get stuck under his glare. "Now can we go?"

"Sure," he replied as I turned around and started walking. After walking a few steps up the hill left from the bookshop, I turned around to face Ruel, but kept walking backwards.

"Do you want to see mainstream London, or the...other parts of London?" I hesitated, watching a look of confusion cross his face. Having lived in London my entire life, and my parents not having a constant home, I got to know every bit of London. My parents didn't have much money while we were growing up, so we moved a lot. Like every month a lot. Sometimes we would only stay in a house for a week before leaving. Sometimes we would end up sleeping beside a dumpster after getting kicked out in the middle of the night. It was the same story with every house we had ever lived in. We'd live in it for a short amount of time, and one day, a landlord would come and demand we leave. Sometimes, my mum would tell me to go find somewhere to stay for the night because there was nowhere to sleep. So I spent a lot of time on the London streets alone at night. At the time I hated it, but I was glad to have that experience now. I always knew places to go and stay if I ever needed somewhere to go, and I ended up finding some of the best parts of London while wandering around at night.

"Show me the parts of London that mean the most to you," he responded thoughtfully. I thought about it for a minute. Out of everywhere I had been, which places meant the most to me? It didn't take long for it to come to me though, the places I had thought of would always be in the back of my mind. 

I reached my hand out of the end of the jacket, using my hand to flick my hair back. I ran further up, leaving Ruel behind me. I stopped at the very top at the hill, having a bit of a twirl around. I smiled at the way the jacket swirled up around my body. Then I basically collapsed down on the driest part of the concrete I could find, gazing up at the sky. This was the first spot I liked a lot from London. It was the best place to watch the stars. There weren't many houses around the area, so you could see almost the entire sea of stars. I just sat there, at peace with the world around me, enjoying the stars and waiting for the tall human to catch up with me.

a/n

hehe i rly write a lot of cliche romance moments don't i? n e waysss i apologise for the delay, i was just feeling a little unmotivated but i am back now and chapters will be released as per usual:))

Remember to be amazing, not that you need a reminder, but here's one just in case.

13/12/21

- Bri<3

Word Count: 1223