A Moment with Her

All the Pretty Things

When Ripley went to lunch that day her suspicions appeared confirmed he wasn't alright. She had noticed his mood had been rather dark today and when she asked him if he was okay? he said, "I'll be fine".

"That's weird I thought Lily came to school today?" said Brandon.

"Yeah me too?" responded Steven.

"Maybe she got sick or has some homework to do?" Said Ripley.

Then Dany tapped at the table and told Ripley, "Yo, let's go!" 

"What happened?" asked Elias.

Dany then responded with, "Just some stuff".

Ripley picked up her lunch and took it with her and they both left.

This left Elias feeling nervous was Lily going to retaliate he didn't know and the thought made him sick. 

____________

"Was it Lily? Is she okay?" asked Ripley.

"I don't know she just told me to meet her in the choir room ASAP!"

"Isn't their class in there?"

"No, not right now anyway".

When they finally made it Lily was sitting in a corner crying.

"Lily what happened?"asked Dany.

When Lily looked up she grew a scowl on her face.

"What's said doing here?" Lily said accusatorily.

Ripley tilted her head and said, "What did I do?"

"It's your fault he hates me! You said that I should tell him how I felt! Now everything ruined" she cried. 

Ripley was taken back she never pegged Elias for the type to make someone feel bad after a confession.

"What happened?" asked Dany trying to grab Lily's attention.

"He said I assaulted him" she cried out.

Ripley went still.

"Assaulted? what happened?" asked Dany.

"I told him to go with me to the football field this morning before class started and he did" she wiped a tear rolling down her face while Dany combed her hair back "and when we got there I wanted to tell him how I felt but I was so excited about us confessing our feelings that I tried to kiss him".

Dany and Ripley meet each other's eyes.

"He pushed me away so I tried again".

"Why didn't you stop?" asked Ripley in shock.

"I wanted him so bad".

Ripley felt disgusted she then had a flood of old feelings rushing back towards and she said to herself 'I can't be here'.

"Ripley are you okay?" asked Dany.

"I can't be here". Ripley said out loud and she got up and left.

_______________

Ripley left the classroom and she swore she could taste her stomach.

'f**k' she thought she needed air and she rushed outside into the parking lot.

She started taking deep breaths and kept telling herself that she was okay as she kept on walking she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

When Ripley turned around she saw Elias walking towards her.

"Ripley?"

Without a second thought, she rushed up to him only standing just a few feet away from him.

_____________

Elias POV: 

She was so close.

Ripley had a tear in her eye and she then said,

"I'm sorry".

'What? why is she sorry?'

"Ripley, what happened?" I said sternly.

"I'm sorry that she hurt you. You must be feeling awful and this whole day you've just been holding it in."

So, she knew. That's why her and Dany left during lunch.

"What did she say?"

"She said that she forced herself on you and that you misunderstood".

"Did you believe her".

"No, I think she's full of s**t, to be honest. Because there's no excuse for that kind of behavior".

Elias felt justified in his feelings. He had felt disgusted and awful the whole day.

"You wanna get out of here?" She said.

Elias nodded his head and they headed towards her car.

_______________

As they made their way towards her car they managed to miss a glaring Jason watching from inside the West building looking through the second-story window.

"What the f**k!" He quickly took his phone out and snapped a picture of them together sending it to Sarah;

Jason:

What the hell is this?

Sarah:

I knew it! I told her what happened, and she said that she had to get his side of the story before she reached an opinion. Something about her past or whatever.

Jason:

Who the f**k made her a saint! You know what? They both deserve each other! He's full of s**t and so is she.

Sarah:

I don't know I wouldn't go that far, she's pretty sincere even if Elias is a monster.

Jason:

Doesn't it bother you that your friend is going out with your Ex? 

Sarah:

Things are different.

Jason:

Are they, though? Because it looks a lot like history is repeating its self.

Sarah:

Jason, I've gone through too much therapy to start this again I got to go, bye.

Sarah sighed and put her phone away. She felt a lot of things, a part of her was jealous that Ripley and Elias were getting so close but another part of her also like Ripley way more than she cared for Elias.

_______

Ripley drove while Elias gave her instructions on where to go. They had the music blaring while the windows were down Elias couldn't remember when was the last time he felt this relaxed with someone else. 

When she parked, she got out her sketch pad and pencils pouch to bring with her. Elias decided to leave his bag in the car, but not before taking out his camera bag.

"I didn't know you liked photography?"

"Well I guess I'm just full of surprises" he grumbled.

"Are you going to take any pictures of me?" She said clapping her hands together, pulling them to her chest while her eyes blinked dramatically.

"I was planning on taking pictures of pretty things only. It is a Polaroid, after all, every picture counts" He said while winking at her.

"Ouch! are you this charming to everyone?" She said a little hurt.

"Nah, just you" Elias didn't see the hurt look on her face before she masked it. 

"Well aren't I lucky," she said sarcastically.

They walked down the trail in silence for fifteen minutes. Elias thought it had been a comfortable fifteen minutes whereas Ripley's mood began to shift towards something sour.

As they passed through some trees she stopped In view of the creek. It was adorable she thought there were ducks and bevers doing laps around the water it was exactly what she wanted.

"There's an off-trail part to the creek that's a bit more private," So she followed him. 

Walking through some tall grass she was meet with a cute corner behind the main trail where one giant tree stood. Its large earthy roots dipped in and out of the earth. Vines hung low and the mud remained firm but humid. Ripley sat on a root protruding from the ground where Elias chose to stand to look around.

"It's so peaceful," she said.

"I use to come here a lot in middle school".

"Yeah, and what did you do here?"

"Ugh, hide from my parents smoke some weed whatever middle school kids do".

"I think we have very different memories of middle school buddy".

"Why what did you do In middle school?"

"I Studied went to sleepovers and did some boxing".

"You boxed?"

"No, I box" She corrected him with a smirk.

"Ripley you are the most interesting girl I've ever meet".

"Nah, you just don't talk to enough people".

"Fair enough. Then I take it back you are the most average person I have ever meet".

"Why thank you, good Sir," She told him before opening up her sketchbook.

"So why were you hiding from your parents?"

"Huh?" he responded.

"You said you came here when you hid from your parents what happened?" Then she lifted her head towards him and said; "Sorry, I mean if you're comfortable with that?"

"No, um my parents where in the middle of a divorce and they kept trying to put me in the middle of there fights so I would just leave. What about you? Your parents divorced?"

"My parents weren't married which was probably a good thing".

"How come? You two don't get along?" 

" No, my mom skipped town when I was two and my dad took care of me and my brother for as long as he could, but when my brother got older and volunteered to take care of me my dad went overseas".

"That must be hard?" He said watching her.

She shrugged her shoulders while picking up a pencil.

"I mean sometimes but I still have my Abuela and Titi's for the girl stuff". She said not wanting the draw out this part of her life. So she shrugged it off as though her parents leaving didn't bother her in some way".

"So is that why you moved here from Pennsylvania? Your dad?"

Ripley stilled her drawing and looked up at him before giving him a hesitant;

"No, I mean he was able to get a job transfer but it was to South Korea but there were some things that happened so we moved here".

"Like what?"

Ripley inhaled deeply before looking up at him again. Was she frustrated at him? Elia began to backtrack.

"I mean I get it if it's too hard to talk about it," he sputtered awkwardly.

"Yeah, it kinds is".

"Wow, I didn't think I would hit a nerve. Must have been something big since you're always so cheerful".

"You think I'm cheerful? and here I thought our grumpy personalities is what brought us together? Hm, fascinating," she said sarcastically. 

"Yeah, you've been a really hard nut to crack emphasis on the nut," Elias said with a laugh.

Ripley was feeling particularly sensitive today and his teasing wasn't helping her by the least.

"Hey Elias all joking aside can you ease up on the roasting?"

Elias blinked a few times in confusion he thought they were playing?

"I know you're joking but continuously saying rude things without any nice parts in between just comes off at plain mean and it's been a long day for both of us".

Elias felt embarrassed there he went again hurting her feelings. He's always been told by his parents that he should learn how to talk to people because a lot of the things he says comes out poorly but seeing the hurt in her eyes made him feel ashamed.

Ripley didn't look up for a while, and as she began to shade in her drawing of the creek and then she heard a click. When she looked up Elias had his camera pointed at her. The Polaroid printed out a white piece of film from the side of the camera where he quickly took it and placed it upside down at the top of a tree branch next to him.

"I thought you were only taking picture of pretty things?" She said plainly. 

"I am".