Right Here in My Arms

I opened the door and grinned, “Hey you.”

“Hey!” Ville smiled and walked into the house.

I closed the door behind him and looked at him. Yeah, okay, alright... I broke Ensio’s promise and continued to break it, but he didn’t suspect a thing. I had seen Ville a lot now lately and we hung out almost every other day... Something like that, I suppose. I had also seen Ensio a few times and he didn’t suspect a thing. He thought that I had still been avoiding him. I still didn’t see how Ensio thought Ville was a bad influence. He seemed fine to me and the more and more I hung out with him I realized that Ville was a great person. I really like who he was and what kind of person he was. Ensio didn’t know what he was talking about. It’s not hurting anyone for me to be hanging with Ville.

“What do you want to do today?” Ville asked.

I shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Lunch?”

I groaned, “Why lunch? Why lunch? We always have lunch, Ville.”

He laughed, “Alright then, what do you suggest?”

I smiled, “Anything but lunch, please. Maybe we can just walk around town for a little while. Coffee maybe?”

“Coffee sounds wonderful,” he grinned.

We left the house and took a cab into town and then walked around for a few hours. He showed me some of his own hangouts and some places that were his favorite spots. We finally decided to go get some coffee, so we were now heading towards the nearest coffee shop; the same little coffee shop that we always go to.

I looked over at him and sighed, happily.

“What?” he asked, looking at me with a half smile.

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his and rested my head on his shoulder, “I just really like hanging out with you... That’s all.”

He chuckled and looked back ahead, “I like hanging out with you too.”

I closed my eyes and let Ville guide me down the street. I stumbled every now and again, but managed to catch myself so I didn’t fall down and take him down with me.

Ville moved his arm to reached into his pocket, causing my head to break from his shoulder.

I opened my eyes and looked at what he pulled out of his pocket. I groaned and rolled my eyes, releasing my arm from around his. I straightened up and huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

“What?” he questioned.

I gestured to what was in his hand and sighed.

“What’s wrong with this?” he asked me as he pulled out a cigarette from the cartage and putting it in between his lips.

“I hate cigarettes,” I mumbled, “Hate them.”

“So I’ve noticed,” he mentioned before chuckling, and light his cigarette with the lighter he pulled out as well.

I stood in front of the coffee shop and looked at him, “Do you want me to wait out here with you until you finish?”

“Nah. Go on inside and order what you want. I’ll finish my cigarette and I’ll be right in, okay?” he mentioned, gently smacking my shoulder with his hand.

I nodded and walked into the shop. I ordered a drink for Ville and me and wondered around the store as they made it and once they called my name I took the drinks and picked a spot – the usual spot – in the corner. I sipped at my coffee and looked over as Ville walked in, “That was quick.” I held his coffee mug up and smiled at him.

“I didn’t finish the whole thing,” he mentioned walking over to the table. He sat in the seat across from me and laughed, “How’d you know what I wanted?”

I set the mug in front of him and shrugged, “Ville, we go to the exact same coffee shop and we both order the exact same thing every time... I thought it would be pretty obvious what you’d order this time.”

He nodded and chuckled, “Alright, alright, touché.” He took a drink of his coffee and leaned back in his chair.

I stared down at my coffee and chewed on my bottom lip, thinking. I scratched the back of my head and slowly raised my eyes to look at Ville to see him staring at me. “What?” I asked with a smile, “What’re you staring at?

“Why do you hate cigarettes so much?”

I groaned and shook my head at him, “Not right now, Ville... Please.”

“Come on, just tell me,” he smiled at me and raised a brow.

I pursed my lips and looked back down to my coffee. I didn’t exactly feel like explained it, “Alright.”

He leaned back forward and rested his elbows on the table.

I didn’t want to go into the extremely long story, so I decided to give him the short story. Simple, quick and easy. “I’ve lost three people in my life – three very important people – to lung cancer... Due to smoking,” I mumbled.

His face went from interest to upset. “Oh, Rowan. I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head, “It’s alright. I’ve slowly come to accept that they’re gone, but I’ve hated smoking ever since.”

“I’m so sorry... That’s horrible,” he frowned.

I shook my head again, “It’s okay... Don’t worry.”

He sighed and sipped at his coffee, looking down at the table. He got very quite and seemed to be deep in his thoughts.

I stared at him for a little while. Just examining his face and trying to read his expression and his emotion. I couldn’t tell whether or not he was upset or if he was mad... or maybe he was just neutral. His emotion didn’t exactly seem anywhere, to be honest. I mentally slapped myself and reached over, taking the beanie off of his head. I put it on mine and smiled, “So what do you want to do after this?”

He looked up at me and chuckled. He ran his hands through his curly brown hair and leaned back in his chair again. “I don’t know,” he shrugged.

I took a drink of my coffee and then set the mug down. He wasn’t exactly one to offer any ideas to do anything other than lunch. “I kind of do want to be out anymore, so do you want to go back to my place?” I questioned.

He stretched out and yawned before looking back at me, “You look cute in that beanie.”

I chuckled and grinned at him, “Thanks.”

He leaned back over the table and smiled, “I’m tired.”

“You should go home and take a nap then,” I suggested to him.

He shrugged, “But then I wouldn’t be hanging out with you.”

I laughed, “We’ve hung out all week, Ville. You can go back home, I don’t mind. I should probably get some stuff done back at my house anyways.”

He looked down then back to me, “Alright.” He chugged the last of his coffee and set the mug on the table.

“I didn’t mean we had to leave right now,” I mentioned, “But okay.” I drank the last little bit of my coffee and set the mug beside his. I stood up just as he did and followed him out of the coffee shop. I walked alongside him as we walked down the sidewalk. It kind of sucked that we didn’t exactly hang out that long but I still enjoyed the time that we were hanging out.

“Let’s hang out and actually do something tomorrow... Something other than coffee or lunch,” Ville mentioned.

I shrugged, “I can’t. I’ve got to work with my dad tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he nodded and shoved his hands in his pocket.

I nodded and sighed, “Yeah, but maybe the day after tomorrow or something?”

“Maybe,” he smirked. He called a cab over and climbed inside.

I climbed in next to him and looked over at him, “What else is there to do in Finland?”

He shrugged, “We’ll find something.” He told the cab driver the address and then looked back over to me. “You know something,” he said.

I grinned, “I know a lot of somethings, Ville.”

He rolled his eyes, “Smartass.”

I hugged his arm and giggled while I laid my head on his shoulder, “I’m kidding. What were you going to say?”

“I was going to say,” he paused for a second, “I should take you out drinking.”

I let go of his arm and shook my head, “I don’t drink – well, I drink, but I rarely do it.”

“You’re in Finland now, love,” he replied, “You do now.”

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck with the palm of my hand now, “Finns drink a lot?”

He nodded, “Yes, and we’re well known for holding our liquor well.”

I groaned, “Then I’m definitely not drinking with you. If you hold your liquor well, then I’m not drinking around you.”

“What? Why?” he asked chucking.

“Because I probably don’t hold my liquor well,” I replied.

“Do you know that?” he asked.

I shook my head, “No, like I said... I rarely drink.”

“Then how do you know that you can’t hold your liquor well?” he grinned.

I thought for a second and shrugged.

“You won’t know something until you try it,” he replied, slightly shrugging his shoulders.

I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head, “Alright, alright. I get it. Maybe one day you can take me for a drink.” The cab driver stopped in front of my house and I turned and looked at Ville. “Well, I shall see you later, then. Have a nice nap when you get home,” I mentioned with a smile, taking the beanie off of my head and handing it to him.

“Will do, Rowan,” he replied with a nod, taking the beanie, “You have a wonderful evening.”

“I will. Thanks,” I climbed out of the cab and closed the door behind me. I walked up to the house and walked in. I took my shoes off and set them by the door.

“Rowan?”

I looked up and raised a brow, “Dad? What’re you doing home so early?”

“I took the rest of the day off,” he replied, “Where were you?”

“I was out with Ville. We grabbed some coffee,” I mentioned.

He raised his brows and nodded, “Right. I was worried because I didn’t get a call and I came home to an empty house. Ville, huh?”

“I’m so sorry, dad. I completely spaced that out,” I said. I slightly frowned at the way he asked Ville. His tone was weird. “Yeah... Ville.”

“It’s alright,” he smiled and nodded, “You and Ville have been hanging out a lot lately, haven’t you?”

I nodded, “Yeah, we have.”

“That’s good. I’m glad to hear you’ve got another friend other than Ensio,” he chuckled but then shrugged his shoulder and shook his head.

I laughed and nodded, “Right? He’s pretty cool.”

“I guess Ville seems... Okay. I’m not sure,” he replied

I smiled, “He’s really cool. He’s a sweet guy.”

“Glad to hear it,” he nodded.

I sighed and pursed my lips for a second. “Well, I’m gonna go disappear and clean my room for a little bit. I kind of destroyed it this morning,” I replied.

“I saw that,” he chuckled, “I didn’t know it could get so messy.”

I laughed and shrugged my shoulders, “Me either until I needed to find something.” I walked through the living room and into my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and looked at my messy room. I tried to self motivate myself to actually clean it, but I couldn’t get there. I stepped over each little pile of things on my flooring and got onto my bed. I grabbed the book from my nightstand.

I didn’t really feel so much guilty anymore for seeing Ville behind Ensio’s back. Ensio didn’t get to tell me who to see and what to do. Sure, he was my friend – a great friend – but he didn’t get to tell me anything. It was rude of him to do that and so rudely call Ville a bad influence. Ville was a sweetheart and nothing near a bad influence. It made me mad that Ensio did that and I had all the intention to go and see Ville. If Ensio found out – which I doubted he would considering that he didn’t suspect anything – then he would have to get over it. Ville’s my friend as well and I have every right to hang out with him whenever – business or not.

Ville really intrigued me and he made me curious about him. I didn’t know what it was about him but he just reeled me in. There was something with him that was different from anyone else that I had ever met. He was weird – special. I wanted to get to know him and figure him out to the point where I didn’t have to question something about him. I wanted to know what it was that reeled me in so much. What interested and intrigued me so much about him? He’s human just like everyone else, but he just seemed extremely different and unique to me. I didn’t understand and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I hoped that soon I’d figure it out. I needed to figure it out. No one else made me this interested. I’ve met a lot of people – in a lot of place - and they never were this interesting. I’ve always heard that there are some people in the world that have something about them that really interests you – in any way – and I was determined to figure out what it was with Ville.