Where the fuck did she go?

I had been looking around this Hell of a maze for ten minutes without a fucking clue where Rylie had gone. She wasn't in any of the places I'd searched and I was thoroughly confused. I stopped where I was, scratching the back of my neck when suddenly, 

Splat. 

My head felt wet, wet with what could only be paint. I spun around to find Rylie at the top of a wooden tower, laughing out cutout window. I had to ignore how gorgeous she looked when she laughed so that I could focus enough to pull a paintball out of my bag and toss it up. It hit the corner of the window and blue splattered everywhere, but Rylie ducked out of the way in time. 

Dammit. 

I gathered my thoughts and started jogging towards the tower. She must have realised what I was doing as I started to feel my back and head wet with paint. By the time I got to the bottom of the ladder I must have been dripping. To make matters better, she was standing at teh top of the ladder with a mischevious grin on her face. She took this opportuinty to let go of a balloon which I couldn't dodge in time. It hit me quare in the face, pink splattering off my glasses. I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve and shook my head. She was going to pay. 

I started to climb as my hair only got thicker with paint. I could hear her laugh as I climbed the wooden ladder - probably splintering my hands in the process - as quick as I could. When I was nearly to the top I realised she had stopped throwing balloons on me. I daringly looked up and she wasn't in the small doorway. This only meant one thing; she was out of balloons. 

I smirked as I reached the door, pulling myself up through the door. She was cowering in the corner as I went for my bag, grabbing a balloon out as I stalked closer to her. My arm involuntarily, it seemed, threw the balloon in her direction, but she managed to duck away from it to run to the other side of the tiny tower. 

I ran around chasing her, reaching into my balloon bag every few seconds to pelt her with all the balloons I still had left. She shrieked as one landed in her dark hair, now coloured pink. She stopped for a moment and laughed, so I took this as a perfect opportunity to sling her to the floor. 

I straddled the poor girl, grabbing paint balloons from my bag while she squirmed beneath me. I tried not to think too much about the position we were in, otherwise things could have gotten very awkward very quickly. Instead, I focussed on popping paint balloons on Rylie's pale face, now multicoloured.

"Max, stop!" She squealed as I was about to squish another one into her hair. I stupidly paused, long enough for her to push my paint-balloon-filled hand into my face. It popped on my goggles and blue covered my vision. 

"Oh you are so going down!" I challenged, quickly wiping the paint off my glasses and mouth with my sleeve. I pinned one of Rylie's arms to the wood so that I could get more balloons with my other hand. I was just throwing a blue balloon her way when her hand - the one that wasn't pinned down - reached for the empty bag by my hip. 

I smirked when an adorable frown took hold of her lips. "I have none left," I informed her, grinning for so many reasons other than her failure. 

One of which was the fact that I was sitting on top of her, ridiculously close to her. She must have only just realised this as she turned serious. I started leaning in, not able to take my eyes away from those lips. I wanted to kiss her so badly, almost more than I'd wanted anything my entire life. 

But of course the universe decided otherwise and Rylie pushed my shoulders with a forced laugh. I shook my head before joining her laughing, all the time wondering why she was forcing her laugh. I didn't get it. 

We climbed down the ladder and walked back to the start, chatting away as if nothing had happened. Maybe it was nothing to Rylie, but it wasn't nothing to me. 

"Oh my God you should have seen your face after the balloon hit you," she laughed, pushing her safety glasses to the top of her head. I frowned. 

"It came out of nowhere! What did you expect me to look like?"

She poked her tongue out at me. "Just because you suck at paintball."

"Oh that's it," I said, making a move to run at her. She ran away giggling and squealing, so of course I had to chase her. She somehow got onto my back and wrapped her legs around my hips. 

How could a simple movement like that be so hot? At least she had the stupid white smocks on. I didn't want to imagine if we were in this position with her bare legs wrapped around my hips..

Fuck. 

"Now you can't get me because I've got you!" She exclaimed, sounding like a kid. Oh yes she did have me, wrapped around her little finger. 

I tried to laugh as I continued to walk, trying as hard as I could to not think about her legs or just any part of her. Thankfully the start wasn't too far away so she was off my back very shortly. Thank. Fucking. God. 

We took off our smocks and goggles and handed them in, thanking the people who ran the joint before walking out onto the street. 

"I think we should wash the paint off our faces," Rylie said, looking ridiculous in her jeans, jumper and multicoloured face. I can't imagine I looked any better. 

"Good idea, Ry." 

We found a tap near the public toilet and took turns washing our faces. 

"Am I all good?" She asked me, looking up at me with her face dripping with water. I nodded. "Am I?"

She nodded as well, before we crossed the nearly empty street to get to a cafe. It was a tiny little think with faded turquoise walls and a killer view of the waterfront. I followed Rylie to the tables along the waterfront, sitting down opposite her. 

There was a rail beside the table but nothing else that separated us and the abandoned beach. The waitress came over and took our orders before we lapsed into silence. She was staring out at the ocean and I was staring at her. 

Damn, I loved her. 

Shit, I loved her. 

Fuck. What do I do now?

"What?"

Rylie was looking at me, her cheeks warming as she caught my staring. 

"I'm just trying to figure you out," I said, the first thing that I could come up. It was better than 'I just realised I'm in love with you'. 

I leaned back on my chair, trying to create the illusion of 'casual' when on the inside I was freaking out. "Qna?" I suggested, hoping it would calm me down. 

"Sure," she smiled, leaning her head on one of her hands. "Buzz not!"

"Damn it," I cursed, not shaking the smile from my face. "Hmm.." I had to think, but when I remembered her collapse in the hall on Friday at school, I knew what I was going to ask. "What was really wrong on Friday?"

"Can I pass?" She asked. I shook my head. 

"Is it that bad?"

It was her turn to shake her head. "I just don't like talking about myself."

I rolled my eyes, waiting for her to continue as I knew she would. 

"Fine," she relented, looking down at the table. "So a few years ago I become majorly sleep deprived. I didn't sleep for three months straight and I-" she paused, taking a deep breath "-kind of got in a car accident because I passed out. So I went to a psychologist and she said a few useless things and gave me prescriptions for sleeping tablets and also two different sorts of painkillers. Usually I only really get sleep headaches that bad when I'm sick, hence why it was so bad. So yeah."

Oh my God. Shit. 

"And if you want to know what it's like, imagine walking underwater. Your vision is blurry, you can hear stuff but it sounds really distant and you get dizzy." 

She kept smiling but I just kept frowning. I didn't realise it was something so serious. Her eyes gave away how much it truly impacted her but she kept up her act by rolling her eyes. 

"And this is why I don't tell people," she told me, crossing her arms. "They just get cautious and treat me like I'm a baby. I don't like being treated as if I can break at any time."

Fair enough. If she didn't want to be treated like a baby then she wouldn't. Not from me anyway. 

"It's your turn."

"Okay! Um... Have you ever had a girlfriend?" My heart skipped a beat. Really? Why did she have to ask that question?

"Yeah, one. For two weeks," I frowned, even more so when I heard her laugh. I looked up, puzzled. 

"Why so short?"

I ran a hand through my hair, looking out at the crashing waves before back to the girl I wished was my girlfriend. 'Well, she turned out to be a massive bitch. Didn't even kiss her."

Something seemed to go off in that perlexing brain of hers but she didn't share the lightbulb of information. Well, I didn't give her the change. 

"Favourite band?" I asked, changing the subject. 

"Good Charlotte and Coldplay," she responded as if she didn't have to think about it. 

The waitress came up to the table with a lemonade and a coke, setting them in front of us before leaving again. 

"Who was your first kiss?" She asked, as if she would have exploded if she hadn't. Ah, this must have been her lightbulb. I grinned for real, as I nodded towards her. 

"It was you."

Her eyes widened in surprise but a small, involuntary smile overcame her face. "Really?"

I nodded. 

She frowned. "Sorry."

Could this chick have gotten any more confusing? "Why on Earth would you be sorry?"

She shrugged, trying to avoid the subject. "Your turn."

I wouldn't have a bar of it. I wanted to know. "That's my question."

She sighed, fiddling with the straw in her lemonade. "Because it was a dare. That's got to suck as a first kiss."

"I am certainly not complaining," I blurted out. Thankfully our food came before she could ask about my little slip. Far out, I was doing a great job of not letting her know that I liked her. Loved her. Shit, that was going to take some getting used to. 

For the rest of the afternoon we played qna on and off, where I learnt so many things about Rylie. They all just made me like her so much more. Seriously, what type of person's best moment of the school year was helping a year seven who had tripped over and dropped all of her things? If it had been anyone else they would have left the annoying kid there but no, Rylie had to be such a goddamn Saint and help them. 

I swear to God if she was a bad person she would be so much easier to ignore. I wouldn't have a problem with not letting myself slip up because I probably wouldn't like her. Sure she was stunning and I would probably notice her anyway - how could anyone not? - but I wouldn't feel like this. 

We headed home when the clouds started to roll in, filling me with hope for rain. Or even better, a storm. 

We got back to the carpark where we had met this morning. She got off the bike and I copied her. She pulled her things out of the bike and got ready to leave. I wasn't ready for her to leave. I was tempted to ask if she wanted to come over for dinner, but I didn't want to seem desperate. Or a complete weirdo. So I let her go. 

"Thanks for a great day," she said, quickly wrapping her arms around my abdomen. I didn't realise what she was doing until she was gone and until I was left standing like an idiot, smiling after her. 

I got back on my bike and rode home, walking up the path into the empty house. I couldn't get rid of the stupid grin on my face, especially as I replayed the day's events. 

Best day ever.

***

A/N: It's half past twelve. I have to get up for school in 5 and a half hours I think. actually maybe it's six hours, I dunno, I suck at maths. Anyway I know it's been two weeks since my last upload for this. I know I'm a horrible person but I'm a busy girl! I just hope you enjoyed it and I hope it won't be so long before my next upload. It shouldn't be, but who know's what'll happen? Thank you all for staying dedicated. Love you all!