Ice Flower Path of ice

Chapter 15

We walk out of the club, hands looped with Brock’s head resting on my shoulder, his soft hair brushing against my cheek. Adrenaline still pumping through my body, I feel the electric high still shifting through my body, just from a single kiss. It’s very similar to fear, though the difference is obvious, the feeling in my stomach mimics the same as fear but feels so much better, rather than wanting to hide it away I want it there, with me, always. I look at Brock, being able to see him in my peripheral vision just isn’t enough, I need to see him fully, he has a smudge of paint across his left cheek, it’s very faint but still noticeable enough that I’m surprised I didn’t notice it at the show, it’s vibrant orange but spread out so it covers a lot of his cheek, then again I guess it could look a little like someone blushing, which could be why I didn’t notice. It looks cute, very cute actually. It reminds me of the time we went to the battledome in P.E, he had paint on him then too, it was equally as adorable.

“Hey Brock.” I pause, tracing my thumb around the centre of the smudge. “You know you have paint on your face right?”  He nods, his head still on my shoulder.

“Yup yup. I always have one on some part of my body when we have a gig, I’m not sure why but they always make me calmer, somehow.”

“Is it always pink?”

“Nope nupe, I just find the nearest paint and put it on, why? Don’t you like it?”

“No I love it, I was just curious is all.” He nods again and shuffles slightly closer, though I am still curious, does he put the paint on for all social events or does he only put it on for gigs, he had only mentioned gigs but then that doesn’t explain why he had it on during that P.E lesson. Come to think about it I didn’t know very much in terms of how he deals with things, dating him will hopefully open that avenue more for me, I’ll get to know everything about him, unless I manage to pull some douche move or something else happens.

The street around us is dark, the only light coming from the street lights looming above us, I have to admit in this type of area it looks a little ominous, the back alleys aren’t light at all and just immersed in darkness that only looks darker because of the light around us, I have no doubt that if we were walking down one of those back alleys it would seem brighter than it looks from here. There’s a little graffiti along the walls, some of it phallic, some of it very deep; one saying ‘freedom is a right not a luxury’ along with various other messages. There’s a single poster advertising a new movie, one that I myself am not particularly interested in, though I had heard a few people at school talking about it, probably involved in some sort of franchise, which is a given considering there’s a big number three plastered right next to the name of the movie.

“Hey Dusty, I know a shortcut back to the school, it’s down one of the alleys so it’s a little dark but eh it’s faster than this way.”

“Ummm sure, which way is it?”

“Well there’s one problem, I don’t remember exactly.” He giggles, his cheeks becoming slightly flushed.

“Then-”

“But I know where abouts it is, one of those alleys.” He points to two alleyways ahead of us, the one on the left for some reason being darker than the one on the right, it gives me the creeps to be perfectly honest.

“What’s wrong with the way that we’re going?” I would go but like I said they give me the creeps. He simply shrugs.

“I dunno, those ways are more fun.” You know what fuck it if he really wants to go why not? It’s not like anything bad will happen anyway.

“Ok ok we’ll go that way.” He hugs me tighter for a second before releasing me.

“Come on I think it’s this way.” He points at the darker alley, of course he does, it’s always the creepier one. He starts running and grabs my hand so I’m forced to run too, the wind blowing through my hair moving out of place. We stop running at the entrance to the alley, Brock smiles before taking a confident step into the alleyway. And I thought I was the braver one, apparently not. I take a deep breath and step into the darkness, my eyes take a moment to adjust but once they do it’s relatively easy to see, well it’s not, I can make out the shadows of objects, myself and Brock included but I can’t really see what colours they are etc unless I get close. I grab Brock's hand making sure to keep hold, if I don’t I’m lost, quite literally, we’ve taken three turns and I now have no idea where we are or where we came from, having also passed two other streets and cut into other alleys. We take another turn, and another, and another before I finally speak.