XPLR | Colby Brock

~29~

Long chapter since I've been gone... 1200 words...

The train must've been abandoned for years. The cars were rusted up and covered in graffiti, tags of people who have already grown into their own. Even a few dated back 2001.

Colby traced his hand over a large 'C' that was graffitied onto the side of one train car. It really was pretty, in my opinion, like it was trapped in its own time. And god knows when it was put out of service.

He stepped up on a ladder and climbed up and I followed close behind. From this spot, that's on top of a hill, you could see the tall trees of the nearby forest cascaded in the light of the waning crescent moon.

So beautiful.

Colby was right. How does he always know what to take me to? It's like he knows what I'll love right away.

"Do you like it?" he asked as he looked over at me. It's like he could read my thoughts. "I love it. It's so beautiful," I say as I look out over the trees.

"Let's take a picture," he said as he leaned back and looked at me. "Of ourselves?" I say as I look at the trees. He nodded. "Of course."

I could already see the trouble that would come of it. I guess he could see it on my face. He moved towards me. "Come on, Rose, it's okay. I won't show it to anyone, I promise. I won't even put it on any social media."

I stood up and backed away playfully, trying to lighten the mood. "No. You'll show it to Sam or Jake or someone," I said as I backed up, until I eventually had to jump over the gap between train cars.

"Be careful!" He said with a laugh as he jumped over as well.

"Oh come on, take chances, right?" I teased as I turned and ran towards the next gap and jumped over it as well.

"Rose! The roof of one of the cars could fall through!" He said as he followed me, jumping a little more carefully. I laughed a bit and jumped on the roof. "I think it's safe."

"Well maybe this one, but the next one might not be so lucky," he said as he laughed. I moved off and jumped on to the next car.

"All of this just to avoid one picture?" he teased.

"Yes," I said half seriously. In truth it was because I was in a good mood. A lot of the time I'm quiet and closed off, and I sure like sitting and staying to myself. But right now I just wanted to jump from train car to train car with someone I consider one of my best friends. Not my best friend... but one of my greatest friends.

He smiled as he followed me. "Seriously though, be careful. I don't want you to get hurt," he said with a sincere smile. I moved towards the edge of the train to look over. We weren't that high.

"I won't get hurt," I said as I stood on my toes and held my arms out to balances. Suddenly he was right next to me, taking my hand and pulling me back onto the center of the roof with him. He didn't let go of my hand.

"If you're so worried about what people would think if we had a picture to show for this little adventure, it would be a worse story for the both of us if I took you home with a sprained wrist, or broken ankle, or whatever. And how guilty would I feel if you couldn't play a song as beautiful as Winter's Wind?"

He pulled me closer. "The answer is very guilty. I want you to keep playing like that forever," he said as he looked down at me.

I was speechless. Not that I was shocked, I just didn't know how to respond. He had gotten so serious so quick. In all his videos he was so quirky and funny. It was weird seeing him this way.

He didn't let me go when I gave a small tug so he might let me back away. "You're so different, Rose. You know that?" he said shyly as his grip loosened on my arm.

"Different? How?" I ask softly as I look away.

"You're smart. You've got a mind. And it seems so endless yet so closed off. There's so much I don't know about you but what I do know I really like. You're so beautiful, and your music skills are... they're just perfect. You're just perfect."

I pressed my lips into a line and let go of his hand. I didn't know what to say to that, so I didn't say anything. There was a few seconds of silence between us. Then he smiled warmly at me.

"Come on. I'll race you to the caboose!" he said and sprinted off down the top of the train cars. He won, but it was because he was tall and he had a head start.

He smiled as I jumped over the last gap. "I won. That means we take our picture," he said with a smirk. I gasped sarcastically. "I didn't agree to that!"

He smiled. "I know. And you wouldn't have done it if I told you before we raced," he said with a shrug. I groaned sarcastically. "Fine."

He smiled. "Thank you! I promise I won't show anyone."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah," I said as he set his phone up with a timer. I sat down on the floor of the train criss-crossed, and once he had the phone set up where he liked it, he came over and sat by me and sat with one leg straight on the ground and one bent. He moved close enough my leg sat on his flat one.

He leaned back so his arm was behind me. I wasn't sure what to do, and I knew he'd like anything. So I closed my eyes and smiled, holding up a peace sigh with two fingers.

It took the picture, and he took his phone and looked at it, and smiled wide. "See? What did I tell you? Beautiful." He said as he showed me, then looked back at it, saving the picture. Our whole bodies were in the frame.

I laughed a bit. I did kind of like the way it came out, I looked cute, I thought, which was rare for me.

He looked around. "Hm... I wish we had a way to mark we've been here. Like... Sam and I have stickers... but I don't want to use an XPLR sticker if it's not me and him. We need something for ourselves."

He looked at me and smirked. I shook my head. "Oh know, what?"

He moved over to me, and there was no where to go, so I stayed. He smiled and reached behind my head and took out the ribbon that held my hair half up. "Your hair is so beautiful down anyway," he said as he looked at the red ribbon in his hands as my hair fell into place again.

I watched him climb down the latter of the caboose and I followed. He waited for me, then tied the ribbon around the fourth step of the latter.

"Perfect. It's conquered."