The meal that his chef, Michael, made was amazing. It was tortellini filled with cheese, with grilled chicken, broccoli, and a choice of drink. We got a liter of Coke, so it wouldn't look suspicious to get two cups.
When we finished our meal, Darren brought it out to the kitchen and helped clean up. On his way back into the room, he called over his shoulder that he would be busy for the next few hours and if they could leave him to his studies. We sat on the floor because it felt weird in the bed together.
"So what's up with the walls? Who painted them?" I asked, sick of the silence.
"I did." He said and refused to elaborate.
"How? That's so cool!" I cheered, then he covered my mouth, signaling to stay quiet.
"They can't know you're here, remember? You can't scream like that, or they'll hear you!"
"Right. But they are really cool!" I wisper yelled.
He gave a quiet grunt and sat farther away from me than before.
"Well, it's only 10:15 a.m., so we still have plenty of time before night. We should make a plan to keep you hidden because keeping you in here is far too risky. They will get suspicious. And they insist on cleaning my room twice a week. Currently, they are planning on cleaning tomorrow, so we need to relocate you before then."
"Relocate?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah. Like change your placement."
"I'm not a piece of furniture." I said, with a little attitude.
Darren sighed heavily, and I flinched. He watched me for a moment, a pained look on his face, but didn't say anything.
He looked away from me and continued. "I will need to keep you hidden, so tonight we move. I'll bring you to the end of the guest wing. Nobody ever goes there because we never have guests over. It'll still be pretty clean because they clean those courters once every two weeks." He paused, anxious but pretending to be stoic, like always. "If you are uncomfortable there, I will find you somewhere better, don't be afraid to complain. Although it might not be done straight away, because we have a lot of staff. I dont want us getting caught."
He glanced down at the carpet, where my hand was bundled tightly in a fist, shaking, and he put his hand over it gently. I flinched again at the movement, which seemed to hurt him more than me.
He pulled his hand back, like he touched a rabid dog and didn't want it to bite him. He stood from the floor and left the room, glancing back caushisly at me.
I heard him tell a maid that his studies are taking longer than usual because he is learning something new. She said to take his time, and they will clean his quarters when he wishes it.
He came back into the room and said, "Good news. We have more time. We don't need to evacuate tonight. This gives us time to plan how we'll do it. We don't need to rush now. Just rest." He smiled, and I felt butterflies race through my stomach before I remembered I just met him.
Over the next few hours, we talked about everything under the sun. I told him about growing up alone and trying to survive without knowing how, and he told me about how his mom would bake with him every Sunday until she passed away. We talked about the similarities we faced when making friends and the differences we had in the way we handled it. I would hide and skip school, staying at a gas station a mile away. He would get into fights because telling people didn't work, and he wasn't going to leave the problem unsolved. The biggest difference between us was that I was a runner and he was a fighter. He stood up for himself and his mom. I ran.
"We should go for a walk." Darren said as the sun set.
"But it's getting late. Shouldn't this be the perfect time to move?" I replied, confused.
"We have plenty of time. Besides, theirs a gorgeous spot by a cliff we can watch the sunset. It's not too far from here."
I hesitated but stood up and followed him. He walked to the window and opened it. I stared at him like he was insane.
"Are you crazy?" I wispered as he held out his hand in offering.
"Maybe, but I'd rather be crazy than miss this view."
I don't know why, but I took his hand and climbed on the windowsill. I looked at him, and he smiled. We were on the second floor. How did he think we were going to get down?
He saw my troubled face and began explaining. "Their are small walls on the sides of the window as they come down. You need to put your feet on opposite walls and slide down by removing pressure." When he saw my confused face, he added, "Or we can get down the same way we got up." His face heats up in a heartbeat.
Next thing I knew, I was tied to his chest, holding onto his shoulders with all my strength as my feet dangled in the air. I wimpered in fear as I closed my eyes.
"Maybe we should've just tied blankets together?" I wispered as my voice shaked.
"Don't worry. Trust me, I've got you." He wispered back. "If we tied blankets together, the maids could've found it and realized I snook out. The mansion is huge, so this was the best plan. They could just think I'm wandering around on break."
His foot slipped, and we fell another twenty feet. I gulped in air so as not to scream, and I felt Darren do the same thing. He wrapped his arms around me as I squeezed under his arms.
We landed on the ground, Darren mostly taking the impact, but I landed wrong on my ankle, and I heard it crack. I bit my arm and screamed into it.
"Are you hurt?" Darren asked.
"No." I lied.
"Liar. You are obviously hurt. Where?" He gently touched my arms as he made his way down to my ankle, and I felt my heart pickup at his hands command. He slipped down my chest, lingering a little longer than necessary before moving onto my waist. He reached my hips and stopped completely, lost in the erg to pull be closer. He traced his hand down my thighs and took a breath. When he realized what he was doing, he immediately pulled his hands back in alarm. He held them above his head and started apologizing. "I'm so sorry. It won't happen again. I don't know what I was doing!" But from the look on his face, he knew what he was doing.
I played dumb and asked, "What were you doing? I was distracted, sorry. Did you do something weird?"
"No. Not weird." He replied, releaved I wasn't mad. He gently caressed my knee as he moved to my ankle. When he touched it, I winced, and he let go of it. "I knew it. You did get hurt. Why didn't you just say that? We can go back."
"No. I wanna see it. The place you were talking about. The sun hasnt set yet. We can make it."
He rolled his eyes but helped me to my feet. I took a step forward and faltered. I fell to the ground, biting my lip so I didn't scream.
He bent down and turned around so I could climb on his back. I did so, and he stood up, holding my thighs so I didn't fall off.
As we walked, I felt his hands tracing circles on my thighs. I did everything in my power to keep my breathing steady, but I had never been touched like that before.
"Are you alright?" He asked as we climbed a hill.
"Yeah." I mumbled, embarrassed.
We reached the cliff, and it was beautiful. The sky looked like it was painted with vibrant colors of pinks, blues, and yellows. The trees looked almost black in the view.
Darren set me down and looked at me. "Astrid. You noticed, right?" I blushed so hard as I tried to recover from the question. He smiled a knowing grin. "You did, didn't you. Your face says it all." It was more of a statement than a question, but I replied anyway.
"Yeah." I put my face in my hands, trying to hide my face. "I noticed."
He touched my shoulder, and I felt electricity run through my viens. "Since you already know, theirs nothing I'm going to lose if I ask you to go out with me?"
I looked at him, and suddenly we were nose to nose, but neither of us moved. We just locked eye contact and stayed still as our faces grew red.
Then, he leaned closer ever so slightly, as if asking for permission, and kissed me.