Dust and Shades of Grey

The rain and the dark didn’t bother me as much as they should. The things that were bothering me were wiL and Nana. Nana was just a baby and she must be freezing and terrified. And wiL; he was sleeping in this weather...

I followed the road until it turned left, but instead of turning with the road, I crossed the soggy patch of grass until I got to the park gates. Yeah, I know, the most obvious place to go. It wouldn’t take long for Chris to find me, but at least his anger would be replaced with worry, unless he was angry at me for running out, in which case I couldn't win either way.
I walked through the gates and into the vacant park. I sighed and made my way over to the bench on the opposite side of the park.

“So much for staying out of trouble.”

I screamed and jumped a foot in the air. Nana bolted upright and started barking. The voice came from behind me, so I wheeled around to face its owner. Of course, subconsciously, I knew who it was, but it still didn’t stop the surprise. “WiL.” I said, no emotion in my voice.

He was stood there staring at me with a small smirk on his face. The rain was running off the huge raincoat he was wearing that fell to his knees. He also had a scarf tightly wrapped around his neck which I frowned at; it was cold, but not that cold.

I felt pathetic, looking like a shivering drowned rat. I tried to hide the goose bumps on my exposed arms by pulling down the sleeves of my jacket, but that only led to more discomfort.
WiL’s smile widened as he took in my appearance. He looked back into my eyes and motioned with his hand that I should follow him.
I obeyed, obviously, and jogged to his side. Nana was more hesitant, however, and she eyed wiL warily. I tugged her leash and she followed reluctantly.

“It always was like you to do something like this.” He said, the smile clear in his voice.
“What?” I shouted a rumble of thunder
“A gang of psychopaths are after you so you go running around Seattle alone and in the dark.” WiL shouted back.
I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it. He was right. I always was the reckless one.
“Chris didn’t take me ditching school lightly.”
“Did you expect him to?”
I looked at him and shook my head. He nodded and looked ahead again.
I blinked the water out of my eyes and shivered. Maybe it was cold enough for scarves...
WiL seemed to notice how cold I was, and he started taking his coat off.
“Woah! What’re you doing?” I asked, putting my hands up as if to stop oncoming traffic.
“Giving you my jacket…” WiL said simply.
“No you’re not.” I folded my arms stubbornly.
“Rhianne, you’re freezing, I can see that even if it is pitch black,” he reasoned.
“I’ll be fine.” I kept up my stubborn manner.
WiL rolled his eyes and placed his jacket over my shoulders. The coat was cold, but maybe that was just my own clothes. Despite the sudden chill that shot through my body, if felt better.
“Better?” WiL said as if he’d read my thoughts.
I nodded. “Thanks.” WiL just smiled and looked away again. He never looked at me for long, he always diverted his eyes. Weird…

I watched him as he squinted into the rain. It looked like he was looking at something that I couldn’t see, but that was just wiL.
A strange twinge in my heart made me stop, dead. WiL noticed and turned around, looking concerned.
“Are you okay?” He asked, backtracking towards me.
“Yeah, just...Nana's too strong for me” I lied. The feeling had made its way into my throat now. I’d had this feeling before, a long time ago when wiL was still in the band, but I’d denied what it was even then.
WiL laughed and reached forward to take the leash off me. I shivered again and wiL put an arm around me, causing another awkward flutter in my chest.

Oh boy… I thought, as I was steered forward by wiL. I turned away from him and rolled my eyes. This could not be happening, not again.