To Capture A Ring

Hide n' seek

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I hit shuffle. Creed’s song ‘A Thousand faces’ started blaring in my ears. Oh, how I could relate. I sent a quick text to Mariah and shoved my phone back in my pocket. Just as I was nearly home, I saw his car out front of my house on the top of the hill. Parked across the street. I sighed anxiously. Doesn’t he have other things to do? I asked myself mentally, I was finally at the top of my hill, out of breath and panting. I went up the porch steps, and pulled open the backdoor, entering my kitchen. There he was at the table, my sister and her boyfriend there too. I went to the fridge grabbing an ice-cold water bottle and walked out of the room, he smirked at me. He knows what he is doing. He thinks it’s a game. My sister Brianna caught him smiling at me and gave me one of the dirtiest looks ever, so I hurried out of the kitchen, up the steps, to my bedroom. She is dating Jordan’s best friend, Markie, but has a HUGE crush on Jordan.

I turned the knob and threw open my bedroom door. The light pink walls suddenly annoyed me as I threw myself on the bed and screamed into the pillow. Everything seemed to be annoying me now. I reached over to my bedside table and turned my stereo on. My favorite CD started playing right where I left off. I turned the volume up, trying to drown out my thoughts. I pulled my pillow over my head and just let out one big muffled scream. I saw my door get thrown open. “HEY!” Brianna yelled. I reached over and turned the volume down, so I could hear her. “A bunch of us are playing manhunt in the woods, since it’s getting dark, we’re going to use flashlights and go in pairs. Jordan texted Fred. He and Mariah are playing. Do you want to come play too?” I was surprised she even asked me. “Yeah!” I said, clearly excited. Jumping out of bed and shutting the radio off, followed her downstairs. Jordan, and Markie were outside waiting. A few other neighborhood kids gathered in our driveway. My 12-year-old sister Mikayla ran outside to join us too.

Everyone was talking to someone, except me. I still didn’t see Mariah. “Let’s go, everyone else is meeting us at the diamond, in the woods.” Markie yelled. The diamond was an old baseball field in the woods up the road from my house. They made a new one and left this one to wither away. Everyone took off running, jogging, or walking. I decided to just walk, no sense in running. We weren’t even playing the game yet.

We got to the diamond, I ran when I saw Mariah. I slowed my run to a jog once I got closer to her. I gave her a questioning look when I noticed she was wearing Fred’s jacket. She just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at me. I gave her a knowing look. I looked behind me when I heard Jordan’s voice. I turned around quickly when his eyes met mine. He was talking to Fred, who was spilling everything about his day with Mariah. “Alright everybody, time to partner up!” Markie yelled, claiming Brianna as his. I looked around, knowing Fred was going to steal Mariah from me. Before I could choose my partner, “I got dibs on Tatiana!” I knew exactly whose voice that was. Jordan. Internally, I was screaming, but on the outside, I remained calm. “Mariah and Fred, are it!” I yelled, drawing attention away from Jordan and I, and placing it on Mariah and Fred. I scanned the crowd to see all the teams. There were faces I recognized and faces I couldn’t.

.I ran towards 2nd base. Whipping my head around quickly to see if Jordan was following. He was. I slowed down once we were sheltered by the cover of the trees. I was afraid to fully stop. Afraid to be alone with Jordan, I decided to sit on a broken tree to wait for him to catch up to me. I knew these woods better than anyone. I explore them all the time, by myself. This tree I led us to is my thinking spot. If I’m not with Mariah, and I can’t be found, this is where you’d find me, but I knew he’d never find this area again, I felt safe enough bringing him here without ever having to worry about interruption when I want to be alone. I only ever brought one person here before, and that was my best friend.

He caught up, breathing heavily. He snapped twigs underneath his feet, crushing dead leaves as well. He sat down next to me, "You really know your way through these woods.” I laughed quietly. “My house is right down the road. I’ve had time to explore.” it was his turn to laugh. We sat there joking and laughing with each other for a few minutes, speaking about the most random things, genuinely getting to know each other. That’s when I noticed he was slowly getting closer to me. I stood up from the tree I was sitting on, and leaned against another tree next to where I was just sitting. He stood as well, standing directly in front of me, placing his hand behind me on the tree, directly above where my shoulder rested gently against the rough bark on the tall tree I was leaning against. My thoughts were screaming at me to move, but I remained in place, looking at him, waiting for his next move.

Time was moving slowly, almost standing still, I could feel my heart speeding up in my chest. My anxiety grew. Suddenly, he broke the silence with his voice, “Kiss me” he said. Oh my gosh, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for, the moment I’ve been hoping for. “No, you kiss me.” my voice shaking slightly, almost losing all of my barely existent confidence. “Fine but only if you kiss me here first” he pointed to his cheek. I hesitated for a moment, then leaned slightly forwards, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “Oh, and here too” he pointed to the other. I rolled my eyes, and leaned my head forward again, but before I was able to make contact with the opposite cheek, he turned his head at the last second, his lips were on mine. Everything stopped. Everything went quiet. His lips were softer than I expected. I only hoped for this moment for as long as I’ve known him. He pressed his lips slightly harder against mine, moving his hands to my waist, pulling me closer to him. We broke apart for air, and then he came in for another one. I don’t know how much time had passed, but I heard talking. it was getting closer. We broke apart, I drew in some air, unaware that I was even holding my breath. As I saw lights coming towards us. He must have noticed them too, because he took my hand and pulled me away from the spot, we were just in.

We circled around the lights, and made our way closer to the diamond. He let go of my hand, and climbed a tree, right next to the clearing. He climbed higher and then found a stable branch. Sitting, he looked down to me. I carefully climbed up, making sure I had the appropriate footing before proceeding. Don’t look down. I am terrified of heights. I sat next to him, and he moved closer to me, wrapping his arm around me, pulling me into him. I slowly inhaled, taking in this moment, breathing in his scent. He smelled like old spice, a smell of which I loved. Nearly everyone was back on the field now, since being found. Only a few more missing, it's quite hilarious since we are so close and one of the last to be found.I felt his rough hand touch my cheek, and smiled as he pressed his lips to mine once again, my heart racing as fast as it did when he kissed me the first time. It felt as though my heart could beat right out of my chest. He swung one of his legs over the branch that we were both sitting on, now facing me. I followed his lead, swinging my leg over, our knees touching. He rested his hand on my thigh, leaning slightly towards me, with his lips curved upwards into a small smile, “You never answered my question earlier.” I decided to play dumb and gave him a questioning look, raising my right eyebrow at him, “What question?” the smiled disappeared from his face, seriousness consuming his usually goofy face. “Do you like me?” he repeated the same question he asked earlier. I felt my face heating up.“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. That’s for me to know, and you to find out.” This caused him to laugh loudly. “Over there.” We both heard someone yell. Damn, they’re coming and going to ruin our moment.

“Sh*t.” He swore. I giggled at that, hearing everyone get closer, I sighed “So, you’re gonna play hard to get, huh?” he asked with a cocky grin on his face, as I was blinded by a light. “They’re up there!” I heard a male’s voice. Fred. “Found you guys!” Mariah screeched. Everyone laughed at her voice. She can be annoying sometimes. I rolled my eyes. Jordan jumped down the tree, turning around, he held his arms out for me. I swung my leg over the branch and lunged into his arms. He lowered me to the ground, setting me gently on my feet. “Thank you” I said quietly.

“Alright everyone, let's call it a night. We can play again tomorrow night.” Markie loudly said. Everyone parted ways, leaving Mariah, Brianna, Fred, Markie, Jordan, and I. Markie took the lead, and we headed back towards my house. Jordan staying in back of the group by himself, physically he was there, but the look in his eyes showed me he was far away. Mariah and Fred were already deep in conversation. I slowed down, and let Jordan catch up to me. “You ok?” “Nothing, just thinking about things. I work tomorrow morning. When will I see you again?” He asked, biting his lip nervously. I love it when he does that. “You can see me whenever you want.” He stopped walking, and grabbed my hand, making me stop too. I faced him. “I don’t want to lose our friendship if things go sour.” I nodded, understanding, wanting the same. That is one thing I am afraid of, losing him entirely, because I couldn’t keep my feelings in line. “Well, I guess we’d both have to make that promise to each other, and make good with it, but for now, we can just see how things go.” “Maybe someday in the near future we’ll end up together, you never know.” I was now hanging onto every word of his, allowing it to replay in my head, taking it all in, making sure I heard him correctly. I was shocked. I noticed he was still holding my hand, I gave it a small tug, “Come on, we don’t want them thinking we got lost.” I said, and he laughed, seeming to be back to his normal self.

We walked back to my house making small talk. I learned a lot about him in the short while it took. I walked towards my back porch, stopping at the bottom of the steps. “I’m gonna head home, I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll text you.” he looked tired, or upset. I wasn’t sure exactly which one it was. “But you don’t have my number.” I laughed. “But I do” he said with a goofy grin. I raised my right brow, hoping he would answer, but instead he just pulled me into his arms, hugging me, placing a kiss upon my cheek, then he turned and left without another word.