Decode

He slowed down as we got into the city.

“Come on, we’re going for an adventure.” he smiled, showing me the MAX line.

“Wow, you go on these?” I asked, amused.

“I hate these things.” he admitted.

“Then why are we on one?” I asked. I hated them too. There were too many people on them that sneezed and coughed all over the place. Not to mention the creepy people that just stare at you like they want you, even if you’re not famous. We stood there in silence while the shuttle stopped and let people on and off. I noticed a couple seats away, there were a bunch of teenaged girls in a group, looking over our way. One would look over and whisper to another one and so on so forth.

“Rob, I think those girls noticed you.” I said in his ear. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses, which I thought was stupid. I mean, we are in Oregon. There is no sun. His smile went from one ear to another, and even though most of his facial expressions were hidden, I could tell he was thinking of a plan.

Why do his plans always end up badly?

“Rob what are you doing?” I smiled, as he began rubbing my arm.

“Nothing.”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing.” I said. He had said it like he was up to something. His hands slid up to my neck, where he grabbed me and put his lips on mine. Not really kissing me, but connecting our lips.

“What are you doing?” I asked, shocked. He began massaging my lips with his. Then he worked his way up to my forehead, where he planted a single peck, and hugged me close to him. No matter how many times I wanted to tell him to stop, it never came out. The group of girls glared and got off on the next stop. Rob smiled to himself.

“Happy with yourself?” I asked, “You’ve made me the target in a game of darts.” He shrugged his shoulders and smiled as if he didn’t care. I sighed as the shuttle began again. Through out more stops, Rob was humming quietly to himself. A familiar tune I was sure of, but I couldn’t place on where I’d heard it before.

“This is our stop.” he said when the MAX began to slow down. He dragged me out the doors and onto the sidewalk.

“Why did we have to get out of your car?” I whined. I didn’t feel like walking in these shoes.

“Not like we’d find any parking, and I’d probably kill someone with my car.” he giggled, “I’m horrible at driving.”

“I can’t argue with that.” I said. He gave me a playful hurtful look.

“You suck, just get over it.” I said. I smiled to show I wasn’t really meaning it. He took my hand in his. His excuse was that I could get lost. Uh huh. After walking five blocks, he said, “Ah, we’re here.”

I looked around to see where ‘here’ was and what it was, but failed. Rob saw my confused look and pulled me into Powell’s Book Store.

“We went through all that, for books?” I asked.

“What with you being an English teacher, wouldn’t you enjoy literature?”

“Yeah, I do, but-”

“Then shut up.” he said. We were in there for at least fifteen minutes and then I saw a familiar face.

“Cassie?” I asked. She turned around.
\

“Oh, you scared me.” she said. Another girl was with her that I didn’t know, “This is my friend Megan. Megan, this is my teacher.”

“Oo, awkward.” Megan said, laughing.

“Hey Rob.” Cassie said. Megan looked him down.

“Oh my god, you’re Robert Pattinson!” she exclaimed, A man about seventeen showed up. I knew this face. He was in my class last year.

“Hey Jono!” I said. The boy with chin length blonde hair held Megan’s hand.

“Hey Mandabach.” he said. He saw Rob too, “ Dude, you’re so gay.”

“Jono, shut up.” Megan slapped his arm.

“Jono you’re a fag.” Cassie said at the same time.

“Sorry dude, but seriously that’s such a cheap shot. You play Edward.” Jono said. Rob must have took this as an apology, cause he didn’t seem to have hard feelings. He said, “ If I knew this is where it’d end up, I would’ve stayed in London.”

I felt saddened by this. That means I would’ve never met Rob.

“What are you guys up to?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Just hanging out. We didn’t want to go home, and this is where I like it the best.” Cassie said.

“Same here. Listen, there’s this place in town called Chaos Parlor. It’s all ages and every Thursday at seven there’s open mic night. You should check it out.” Rob told Cassie.

“Alright, I’ll look into it.” she said.

“Well we should probably get going.” Jono said. The began to head out the door, but Cassie turned around and said, “I’ll play if you do.” and continued out the door.

I began laughing, “Ha ha, she got you. So are you going to play?”

“Yeah, I can’t not do it.” He smiled. He was changing a life. He didn’t know how much good he did.