Quiet, part 3

I, being only nineteen at the time, had the ability to fall in love at the drop of a hat, and taking her hand that night and leading her out into the cold and to my car to listen to this really mellow CD I had made, under a blanket of stars, drinking hot chocolate, could have really done me in. But in the back of my mind, and something that kept wanting to come out, was the fact that she was a girl I extremely disliked just six months before, and in not seeing her at all in the six months up until that point, should not have caused me to suddenly like her. But again, there we were, sitting side by side in my car, with the heater on, the windows down, enjoying our warm drinks and the mellow sounds of some band that I can still hear in my mind today.

It was only an hour or so that we sat in my car before the CD had finished and I was driving her back to her father's apartment; she seemed tired, yawning quite a bit and continuously apologizing, swearing she wasn't bored, just tired, and that she had been up since four that morning packing and trying to get home as quickly as she could.

That was something else that was beginning to bother me; she at times was telling me these outrageous stories about how amazing her first semester of school had been. She loved Austin, she loved the private education, and she loved her dorm, and so on and so on. But then again, on the other hand, she was complaining about how she could never love, and it was a realization she had come to while at school, and she was in such a rush to get back home and she kept talking about how much she was looking forward to this break and how much she had missed Hull.

So when she was getting out of my car when I finally pulled into her dad's apartment complex, I asked her if she was okay; if she was really okay.

"You know," she smiled and looked to the dark sky before answering, "sometimes I think I'm going to be okay," she spoke quietly and then laughed, "you don't want to come in do you, my dad's out of town?"

"Are you sure," I answered, stepping out of my car.

"Yeah, I need to unpack, so I won't be getting to bed for at least another few hours, and the night's still young, right," she asked, taking my hand and leading me into her father's apartment.

We made our way up the stairs to her room which was the only room in use on the second floor. She had three or four large bags piled in the back corner and the closet open with another basket of clothes sitting outside of it. Her bed was yet to be made and her computer sat in several pieces, waiting to be put together and plugged in.

It was the first time I had ever been in her room and found it to be very comfortable; I almost began to wish it was my room.

"Are your parents home," she asked, unfolding her laundry and hanging it in her closet as I sat on her unmade bed.

"No, they went to visit my Uncle in Georgia," I answered, lying back on her bed, "my brother went with them too, I didn't get home in time from school, they left a few days ago. That's why I was at the church tonight, I was bored out of my mind, there's just nothing to do in this town, but it's funny though how much I really do love it."

"I know what you mean," she came from hanging her laundry and sat beside me on the bed, "it's like, when we were in school, all I could think about was getting away from this hellhole you know? But now, I miss it so much when I'm not here," she laughed and leaned her head against my shoulder, "I guess that's just us growing up," she spoke quietly and kept her head on my shoulder.

Having her that close made me nervous and I'm sure she could tell as she didn't stay close very long before she was up and unpacking other bags. She never seemed to pay me any attention, but she always kept very engaged in the conversation.

"I really like this room," I mentioned, breaking a silence that had come upon us between her unpacking and my trying to make her bed.

"Have you never been in here before," she asked.

"Nope, at least not that I can remember," I laughed, "you and I weren't the greatest of friends back then, right?"

"Really," she asked, "I always assumed we were pretty close."

"Did you," I asked back, wondering if she was being sarcastic, because I honestly couldn't tell.

"Yes, did you not," she answered back, this time coming closer to me and paying me very close attention.

"I don't know," I answered, unsure of how to answer.

"Well, we always sat next to each other in class and you and I were always flirting back and forth in between classes, right," she asked, sitting down on the bed as I stood, and I thought that she had to know that I wasn't one that ever flirted, I wasn't sure how to.

"Can I be completely honest," I asked her and then watched her stand and turn out the lights in the room, "I really never thought of you and I as friends, and tonight when you invited me to sit beside you at the church, I was actually shocked," I paused a little to watch her as she opened the window and pulled back the covers on her bed and crawled in, and then I just stopped talking as she began to.

"Let's just not talk tonight Will," she spoke very quiet, as if she were trying not to wake someone in the same room as us, "let's just sleep, okay," she slid over in her bed and made a spot for me. Without thinking, almost as if I were hypnotized I slid off my shoes and moved into the bed with her. She didn't say another word that night, just fell asleep, holding onto my hand and staying as close as she could.