11.47

                My eyes fell to the clock yet again, and I stood up. Mom looked up at me curiously as I stood.

                We had been sitting on the couch with Hank watching TV. Hank didn’t even seem to notice that I had stood up. His eyes were fogged over, staring blankly at the TV.

                “I’m going over to Mitch’s house,” I said.

                “Oh, okay. Have fun!” she said.

                “Don’t I always,” I said before leaving the house.

                I put in my earphones as I started walking, wondering why the hell I was doing this. Part of it was wild curiosity. Ezra was…intriguing.

                Whatever the reason was, I found the brick wall coming into my view a few minutes later. And sure enough, there was Ezra, sitting up on top of it.

                “I knew you would come,” he said happily as I approached the wall.

                “I’m probably going to regret coming,” I said, and spread my arms out wide. “But here I am.”

                “Here you are indeed,” he said, jumping down from the wall and landing in a crouch. He straightened up and gave me his easy smile.

                “I hope someday you break your ankles doing that,” I said.

                “I never have before,” he said, starting to walk.

                I followed him, surprised his idea of fun wasn’t sitting up on the wall all day. I realized that this was the first time I had ever seen him not on the wall.

                “Stoop kid afraid to leave the stoop,” I said.

                He glanced back at me, slowing his pace so that I was walking next to him. “Am I stoop kid?” he asked. “Because I’m not afraid to leave the stoop. I just left the stoop!”

                “Where are we going?” I asked, suddenly realizing that this was a very, very bad idea. He could easily be leading me somewhere to jump me with his friends. After all, we had obviously fought with them before.

                “Stop being so paranoid,” he said, laughing. “I’m not leading you to your doom, Rio. I’m leading you to the park. It beats sitting on a wall doing nothing. Besides, I want to swing.”

                I stared at him. “How old are you?”

                “Almost 19,” he said, his smile growing. “Learn how to enjoy the little things in life, Rio!”

                I shook my head. “You’re crazy,” I said, but something about it made me smile a little.

                I eyed Ezra carefully, focusing on his eyes. Eyes were the entryway into a person’s soul. Their past, their secrets, their feelings. All of it was in the eyes. My cousin Ethan and I were both talented at figuring out people just from their eyes.

                Ezra’s eyes said that he wasn’t innocent or ignorant, but he either was truly a happy-go-lucky person, or else he was very good at putting up a cheerful façade.

                “You’re staring at me,” he said.

                “I’m trying to figure out your deepest, darkest secrets,” I said.

                “Oh. Well, sometimes I wear socks and sandals. I guess that’s a pretty deep, dark secret of mine,” he said thoughtfully.

                “As long as they’re Nike sandals,” I said.

                “Hashtag white boy,” he said with a grin.

                We entered the park and I followed him over to the swings. I looked up and mentally groaned, praying that the guy standing over near the play set with a younger boy wouldn’t recognize me.

                But he turned around and his eyes landed on me. His face brightened and I watched in horror as he started running over to me.

                “Ay dios mio,” I groaned as he approached.

                “Hi!” he cried, stopping in front of me. “You’re Shane’s…” He looked around as if making sure we weren’t being overheard. “Shane’s boyfriend!”

                “Uh...” I stared at him, regretting my friendship with Mitch for this very reason.

                “He and Shane broke up,” Ezra said, putting his arm around my waist. “We’re dating.”

                “What he said,” I said, jerking my thumb at Ezra.

                “Really?” His eyes widened.

                “What was your name? Adam Winchester?” I asked.

                “Austin!” he corrected.

                “Oh, whatever. Close enough. You’re both forgotten characters,” I said dismissively.

                He frowned. “I don’t get it.”

                “Something tells me you don’t get a lot of things,” I said.

                Austin Winchester was some annoying guy that used to be roommates with Jace’s friend. I guess he hardcore stalked every single person he met, and assumed everyone was his friend. He had, sadly, met me. Shane and I had pretended to be dating, even making out, just to mess with him.

                “What was your name? Rio?” he asked.

                “Yep. Look at that, it’s like we’re best friends,” I said.

                “We are friends!” he said happily. “You should hang out with me, Jace, Shane, and Mitch sometime!”

                “Maybe tomorrow. I’m busy,” I said.

                “With your boyfriend?” He giggled.

                Ezra nodded. “Yea, we’re on a date. So if you could kindly leave…” He waggled his eyebrows.

                Austin’s eyes widened and he nodded. “I got it!” He turned and made his way back over to the play set.

                “Who the hell was he?” Ezra asked, letting his arm drop from my waist.

                “Some creepy dude who stalks my best friend,” I said.

                “Mitch?” Ezra asked.

                I nodded. “Yep. The guy who apparently made nice work of your face.” I snickered.

                Ezra frowned. “It’s not nice to talk to your boyfriend that way!”

                I laughed. “Yea, what was up with that?”

                Ezra grinned and shrugged. “I wanted to play along too!”

                “Fair enough,” I said. “This is boring.”

                “Well, what do you want to do?” Ezra asked.

                “I don’t want to hang out with you,” I said, wondering if Mitch was home. Texting him was usually no use.

                “I want to show you something. Come with me,” he said, jumping off of the swing.

                I sighed and got up, following him. We walked in silence for a while, down through a quiet neighborhood. He led me over to a small, forested area and up through a beaten in path.

                We walked over to one of the many trees in the middle of the area. Ezra gripped a higher up branch and swung himself onto the tree. He began to slowly climb it and glanced down at me.

                “Are you coming?” he asked.

                “I’m not climbing up that,” I said, remembering the way my brother had fallen out of a tree in our backyard when we were kids.

                “I do it all the time. I promise it’s safe,” he said.

                “I’m not climbing up that,” I repeated.

                Ezra frowned. “Aw, come on. I want to show you something. Just trust me! You’ll be fine!”

                I hesitated before gripping a branch and pulling myself up. Ezra slowed his climbing so that I could copy him and step on the sturdier branches.

                We made it to the top of the tree and Ezra seated himself on a thick branch. I sat down next to him, looking down and wondering if I would snap my neck falling from this height.

                “You’re not going to fall,” Ezra said, watching me. “I mean, as long as you don’t do anything stupid.”

                “Why did you bring me up here?” I asked, peeling my eyes away from the long drop below me and fixing my gaze on Ezra’s bright green eyes.

                “I wanted to show you the view from up here,” he said, swinging his legs. “I love coming up here. Don’t you feel bigger than your problems?”

                I looked down again at everything below us. “Uh…I don’t really have any problems.” Well, aside from the drug addicted brother, multiple people who wanted to jump me, and constantly worried parents.

                “Everyone has problems,” Ezra said, leaning back a little and tilting his head up to look at the sky. He squinted at the sunlight. “Everyone has problems, and they just cope with them in different ways. For instance, you get into fights. I climb trees.”

                “I don’t get into fights because I have problems to handle,” I said.

                “But you like getting into fights to let out anger,” he said. “You have a lot of pent up anger.”

                “Maybe I would feel better if I pushed you out of the tree,” I suggested.

                He smiled. “Now, now. This isn’t a Separate Peace.”

                I looked away from him. Everyone has problems.

                Of course everyone has problems. Little ones, big ones. Things that wouldn’t matter by dinnertime and things would still haunt you until the day you died.

                I forced those thoughts out of my mind. My gaze shifted back to Ezra, who was still squinting up at the sky, his legs swinging back and force lazily.

                I wondered what his problems were. Were they little, or big? He seemed like such an easygoing person, but those were usually the most traumatized. My cousin was like that. Easygoing on the outside, but emotionally scarred beyond repair on the inside.

                And then I wondered how Ezra would react if he knew what I was like on the inside. I knew how bitter I was on the inside. I never tried to deny it. I just tried not to let it creep out too often, because I didn’t want to be such a bitter person.

                “You’re so deep in thought,” Ezra said, and I realized that he was watching me now. “What are you thinking about?”

                “What you said,” I said. “That everyone has problems.”

                “Well of course everyone has problems,” Ezra said. “But our problems don’t define us. How we handle them defines us.”

                “Just what I wanted. A deep speech while sitting in a tree with a guy I just met,” I said.

                “I aim to please,” he said, bowing a little. He reached over, grabbing a leaf off the tree. He pulled out a lighter, flicking it so that it sparked, fringing the edge of the leaf.

                “Is that safe?” I asked.

                “Probably not,” he said, flicking it again so that a flame erupted this time. He held the leaf over it until it was completely burned away. He did it with a few more leaves before seeming to grow bored of the activity. He put his lighter away, and grabbed another leaf, beginning to absentmindedly shred it with his hands.

                We both fell silent again, just watching the ground. Squirrels ran by, and birds landed, and the world moved on like it always did. I didn’t feel bigger than my problems, but I did feel like I could forget about them for just a little.

                After a long while, I finally picked my head up. “I’m going to head home,” I said.

                “I’ll walk with you,” Ezra said, gripping the branch and slowly lowering himself. I followed him down the tree until we had hit the ground.

                “You’re not following me to my house. I don’t want you to know where I live,” I said.

                “I could just look that up online if I really wanted to. But don’t worry, I’m not out to burn your house down with you and your family helplessly trapped inside,” he said, chuckling. “I’m just going to walk with you until I’m back at the wall.”

                “You seem to really love that wall,” I said. “It’s kind of creepy.”

                “I like it,” he said, grinning. “Will I be charmed by your presence tonight?”

                “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m tired. I want to sleep tonight. Besides, I’m sick of you already. I’ve spent too much time with you.”

                “Some people are naturally charming. You’re naturally an asshole,” he said, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement.

                “I aim to please,” I mocked.

                “My point is proven,” he said.

                “Shut up,” I said, lightly punching his arm.

                “Oh, and abusive,” he said. “Then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less of Mitch Marion’s best friend.”

                “So what, you hate Mitch?” I asked.

                “My grand plan was to steal you away from him,” he said. “Damn, you’ve figured me out.”

                I rolled my eyes. “I’m being serious.”

                “So am I.” He kicked a rock up the street. “No, I don’t hate Mitch. Like I said, I was drunk the night he scarred me. I’m over it. I probably deserved it. We attacked you guys, after all. He was just defending himself.”

                “Well, if you want to kill him, I won’t stop you,” I said.

                “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, smiling.

                We reached the brick wall and I watched Ezra as he easily climbed onto it. He glanced back at me and gave a short wave.

                “See you later Rio,” he said, and then surprised me by jumping down to the other side of the wall.

                I shrugged it off and made my way back home. The smell of brownies attacked my nose as I entered the kitchen.

                “Hi Rio! You’re home early,” mom said. She and Hank were cleaning up the kitchen, and there were two stacks of brownies on the kitchen table.

                “Uh-huh. Mitch had something else to do,” I said, my eyes shooting to the brownies. “Can I eat all of those?”

                Mom rolled her eyes. “You can have one. The brownies on the left have nuts in them, and the brownies on the right are for your cousin and his friends.”

                “Ethan has friends?” I asked.

                “Rio! Honestly.” Mom shook her head. “Will you run those over to Ethan tomorrow please? Maybe you and Hank can go together.”

                “Sure,” I said, grabbing a brownie from the left and biting into it.

                “I don’t want to go to Ethan’s house. He’s weird,” Hank grumbled.

                “Hank, stop it,” mom said. “Eat a brownie and stop complaining.”

                Hank obeyed her, biting into a brownie. I left the kitchen, fighting off my thoughts. When we were younger, Hank would always call Ethan weird, sure. But he was never so serious about it. He used to love going to Ethan’s house and playing with the two of us.

                I shut my bedroom door, sitting down on my bed and finishing off the brownie I had been eating. I laid down, folding my hands behind my head and staring up at my ceiling. I sighed out loud, realizing that today probably wouldn’t be the last time I would find myself spending time with Ezra.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.N.- So let me know what you think of Ezra now that you've seen more of him! Also, I might upload the next chapter tomorrow because *drum roll* Ethan! ;D