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"I don't want to be here anymore."Strangely, he mentally recoiled. He didn't know how to take her words. What was bothering her, exactly? She didn't want to be here? "What do you mean?"
"I don't know." It was too easy to hear the frustration in her voice. "I feel like I'm wasting my life away in this place."
He reflexively took her hand. "Don't talk like that. You're too harsh. I'm here with you, you know."
A small smile crept on her face. "I'm sorry... I didn't say it to mean that way."
"I know you didn't. You're just having mid-life crisis but only because you're so young, you can't wait."
This time, she genuinely laughed and he mocked being offended. "What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Like I said, you're so young. You can't wait to do everything that comes to your mind."
She looked away from his face. Her eyes landed on the setting sun beyond her parents' porch, beyond the horizon. For a few moments, she did nothing but stare at the bright light and he knew he'd give up so much just to know what she was looking for or what she was thinking. "How come you talk like you know everything?"
"I don't. I just can't think of anything else to say to make you not worry. Seriously, you're not wasting away. So don't worry away."
"Don't think I haven't tried not to worry. But come on, for more than 18 years, it's always this house, this town, this city, in the middle of this desert..."
He chuckled. "I'm going to be honest and tell you that I don't have the slightest idea of what you feel right now."
"Sure," she rolled her eyes. "You've only lived here for three years. Now that I've thought of it, I'm starting to wonder why you're even staying here when you know there's much much more.""I'm staying here because it's tiring out there. Because I like it here."
She stood up and walked up to the porch's barricade. "You say that because you don't know what its like to be stuck somewhere." She folded her arms across her chest.
He followed her and leaned on the barricade. Now that he knows how badly she wants an escape, he told himself that he's going to be close enough to chase after her if ever she does break away. "Yes, and also because I mean it. Because you're here."
She took a step closer to him and then cautiously glanced through the window to see if any of her parents were in the living room. She doesn't exactly like the idea of them seeing how close she was to him now. She reached up and placed one of her hands on his face, letting her thumb lightly rest on his lips. "When I get sick and tired of this town and I decide to runaway, will you let me go?"
He couldn't say or do anything but nod.
She sighed. "If someone's going to take me away from here, will it be you?"
Again, he nodded but this time, he put his arms around her and held her close. He whispered, "We'll take the next bus, destination: setting sun."
A/N: "We'll take the next bus, destination: setting sun." is from Paper Chase by The Academy Is... First posted on my Multiply. Now, I want you to do the kilig dance.
