You're Lookin' So Fly.

Almost a week passed by, and I hadn't heard from Cristofer.

I thought about him every now and then, though. Never had I come across someone who was so welcoming and accepting. It made me wonder.

I was in my basement, which was also my dark room. It took me forever to get it up and running, but it was worth it.

I popped open the film cartridge, winding the film onto a spool and setting it in the developer.

I sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, crossing my arms across my chest. It got kind of boring after a while, developing photos was so tedious and time consuming. But, again. It's worth it.

My phone started ringing, and I hesitantly reached for it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Mikayla?"

"Christofer?"

"HEY! I thought I lost your number, so I was freaking out for a bit. But then I found it, obviously." He babbled on.

I laughed, getting up and checking on my film. I moved it into the stop bath, and turned back to the chair. "Anyway," Christofer said after a slightly awkward silence, "I was wondering if you wanted to hang today?"

I glanced around, "Sure, I'm kinda in the middle of doing something though. You wanna come over to my place?" I suggested.

"SURE!" Christofer said. I smiled, he was always in such a good mood.

"Alright," I said, giving him the directions to my house before hanging up.

No more than five minutes later, I heard the doorbell ringing.

I trudged upstairs, "Come in!" I called. "I FEEL AWKWARD JUST OPENING SOMEONE'S DOOR," Christofer yelled from the other side. I rolled my eyes, "Just do it!" I said.

The door opened, and Christofer peeked around the corner, "This is SO weird." he said, shutting it behind him and walking over to me. I noticed that he, again, was not wearing shoes.

He stuck his hands in his front pockets, and grinned up at me, "So what are you up to?" he asked. "Oh, just…" I gasped, remembering my film was still in the basement. I motioned for him to follow me, and quickly made my way downstairs.

"Be careful," I called as it started getting darker. I heard him stumble down the stairs a little before he followed me into the dark room.

"This is sick," he said, looking around. I smiled, "I did this all myself." I said.

"Really?" Christofer said, looking back at me. I nodded, grabbing my film and cutting the slides individually. I handed him one, and he looked at it. "It's me!" he smiled, handing it back to me. I laughed, going over to an enlarger to print it.

I set the prints aside, and led Christofer back upstairs. "So, um…" I realized how awkward it was, being that we'd never hung out besides that time at the trail.

"What do you wanna do?" I asked. Christofer shoved his hands into his front pockets, and looked up at me, "Walk?" he suggested.

His sense of style was great. If every guy in the world dressed like he did, I think life would be perfect. He had on a white v-neck, a tan vest, and skinny jeans. He had a handful of necklaces on, piling down his chest. His wrist was filled with different wristbands and bracelets.

God, I love this boy.

I nodded, "Sounds good."

----------------------------------------

"So…" It was silent as we walked, but it wasn't an awkward silence. "Do you like it here?" Christofer asked, looking over at me.

I shrugged, "It's a lot better than Virginia." I said.

It was silent again, and we found ourselves walking down the path we'd met on in the previous days. His hand brushed against mine, and for a moment I felt an urge to just lace my fingers with his.

But I just met this kid, that would be weird.

"What exactly…happened in Virginia?" he asked hesitantly. We neared the same willow tree, sliding underneath it and lying down.

We stared up at the sky, overcast with a few bits of sunlight shining in random places. "Things happened…with my family." I said.

He nodded, looking over at me for a moment before looking back up at the sky.

"My sister moved in with us, and I thought it was going to be great. Having someone closer to my age, you know?" I looked over at him.

He looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

"But, a few months after she moved in, we fought constantly. Not just like, verbal fighting. We would gut into full on fist fights, and I would always be the one to get into trouble. " I said, taking a deep breath. I had never told anyone any of this.

But looking at Christofer, the curiosity in his eyes. I could just tell that he wouldn't repeat it to anyone.

"Then, she got into high school, and she started doing things. She started hanging out with the bad crowd, and she would come home at random hours of the night. She would sneak out, and come back in the early hours of the morning. She would smoke pot in the house. She set the smoke alarm off one time, and just blew it off saying that the alarm goes off sometimes."

"Then one day, I was over at a friend's house. We were getting ready for a party, and my mom called me crying. She told me my sister hit her in the back of the head, almost knocking her unconscious, and ran away. She was lucky I wasn't there, because I quite honestly would have beaten her ass."

I let out a breath, looking over at Christofer. He nodded understandingly, urging me to continue.

"So after that, she was only gone for a few hours before they found her. She came home, and avoided everyone. She treated me like shit, me and my family. The worst thing was, my dad didn't believe us. He thought she was good. He thought I was the reason she was acting out. One day, she never came home from school. She ran away, again. This time, she was gone for months. I had to stay inside, and I wasn't allowed outside. If I went to a friend's house, I had to stay inside. I couldn't go anywhere, out of fear that my sister would hurt me. I found out a lot about her, things I never thought she would do. The drugs she did, the things she did at school. The people she hung out with."

I let out a shaky sigh, a tear falling down my cheek.

"Eventually, she was found, and her dad came to pick her up. When I got into high school, her friends knew who I was. They started following me, thinking I was just like her. I had to avoid them, taking different routes to my classes every day. When I told them I wasn't like her, they started threatening me. I had to deal with this until they finally got the hint that I was totally different than her. But, even with her gone, I still felt like she was there. Like she was going to hurt me, and I was just sick of living in fear. Living in her shadow, I guess."

I looked over at Christofer, a huge feeling lifted off of my chest. He scooted closer, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm so sorry, Mikayla." he whispered.

I felt more tears coming, and buried my head in his chest. His grip around me tightened, and for once in my life, I felt safe.