Don't Go Out in the Woods Tonight...

A couple hours later I decide that I'm starving. I make my way down to the kitchen from my room and try to be quiet going down the stairs. There is a guest in the house.

In the kitchen I start some form of dinner by getting left overs out of the fridge. I'm heating them over the stove when a hear the refrigerator open.

I jump and whirl around. I come face to face with my new house guest. He flinches at my movement, but somehow manages to not drop the milk carton.

"When did you wake up?" I ask, watching him take out a glass and pour the milk.

"Who said I was asleep?" He doesn't look at me as he puts the milk back in the fridge.

I just roll my eyes and look back at the skillet. Troy looks out of the corner of his eye as he sits down in one of the kitchen chairs. I get a plate and bring my food over to the table.

"So..." he says, looking at me.

"So?"

"So, what's in that room across from yours?" He asks.

"A room." I and tuck into my food.

He raises an eyebrow, and I try my best to ignore him staring at me. Finally, he ignores me too and drinks his milk.

"Hey... Is there anymore of that... what is that?" Troy asks.

"It's some sort of rice mix," I tell him. "There's more in the skillet."

He gets up and gets his own. He walks back over and looks at me. I look up at him and kinda have to admit that he has neat eyes.

"The room across from yours. What's in there?" He tries again.

I roll my eyes again and get up. He eats as i clean the dishes. I wish my parents didn't have class at the same time. I liked being on my own, but this guy... Not so much.

Once the dishes are put away, I walk out of the kitchen. Or try to. Troy has decided to be all tough and scary. He stands in front of me and keeps me from moving around him.

"If you want to know what in the spare room so bad, why not go look yourself? Stop harassing me!" I get frustrated and try to just plow past him. Not the best Idea.

His arm catches me around the waist and spins me around. I stumble and fall into him. oh, just great. I look up at him, maybe to give him a piece of my mind

"Oh would you just stop it!" I shove him away. "It's a painting studio. Okay? Canvas and paint. Alright?!"

I bolt out the door. I don't even care if it's late, if the sun is going down. I just want to get into the woods.

The red door whips open and bounces off the stone wall. I barely notice as I run. Some how I manage to get out to the meadow without tripping or falling, even with the dimming light.

My breathing is harsh and shallow. I collapse by the stream and gasp for air. i sit up and look around. It's pretty at sunset.

A black blur flashes in the deep of the forest. That's bad. Oh, that's really bad. I had forgotten about the bear.

My heart starts pounding and the black blur come out from behind a tree. Two bright light shine out from where the head is; the eyes. The fading light casts long dark shadows, but I see that it's not a bear.

It's a wolf.

A big, black, scary as everything wolf. It stalks out from the deep forest and starts coming closer. I feel my eyes widen. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get eaten. I don't want to get eaten.

I jump to my feet and the wolf stops. The failing light is just enough for me to see the ears swivel back and forth. That was enough nature watching for me, and survival instincts kick in.

Home feels a lot further away now. Night has fallen and there's a giant, bear sized, black wolf in the woods behind my house. I don't look back. I don't hear anything, and I don't want to see it if it is behind me.

A branch snaps and I turn to the side. There it is. I trip and fall, throwing my arms out to catch myself before my face gets smashed by the forest floor. My stop is so sudden, the wolf loses it's balance turning to come at me again.

The wolf takes a step towards me, but I don't let it get closer. I run. I hear it behind me. I don't even care. I just focus on the stone wall and red door that are coming into view.

Soon all I hear is my heartbeat in my ears and the rush of air going in and out of my lungs. I slam against the red door, pulling it open and getting into my yard as quick as possible. As I pull it closed, i see no sign of the black wolf, no wolf at all. Doesn't make me pause as I slam the door and turn to rush into the house.

I bump into something and scream. It jumped the wall. I'm gonna die in my own backyard.

"Oh, would you please calm down. " The something says as it holds me up.

My eyes open and I look up at Troy. He raises an eyebrow, like he's questioning me. Well i give him an answer right away.

"There's a wolf. A big hungry coming to get us wolf," I tell him all in one quick breath. I grab his hand and drag him inside. The doors get locked and the curtains get closed. I'm still trying to catch my breath when I collapse on the couch.

I look up at Troy. He's chuckling. Laughing... He's actually laughing.

"I ALMOST DIED, IDIOT! SHUT UP!" I throw a pillow at him; it's the closest thing.

He doesn't even have to dodge, my aim is so bad. He continues to laugh. Finally, he manages to calm down a little.

"Your face... Your eyes were huge!" He takes a deep breath, a bemused smile on his face. I look away. That's just not fair. I feel his weight sink into the couch next to me. I look at him and he's surprisingly serious, considering he was laughing so hard just a moment ago.

"What do you want?" I ask, not for any real answer.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think... You were so scared. I'm sorry..." He's actually sincere. I look away again.

"It's not your fault a giant wolf chased me through the woods," I mumble. Uugh. It's like I care about his feelings.

"Yeah, i--"

He stops in his sentence. I look back at him. He shakes his head and i hear him sigh.

"You're right. Come on, i'l make you... a midnight snack or something," He says, getting up from the couch and walking into the kitchen. I follow.

"Its no where close to midnight," I retort. I can tell he rolls his eyes even without seeing.

He makes hot chocolate. I pester him about it, and he snaps back at me. It's all sort of surreal. I feel relaxed. The cup is warming me up to the core. I look at him.

"Troy... Do you think the wolf is still out there?"

He looks at me and just shakes his head. I wonder how he's so sure, but I leave it alone, cause... I guess I believe him. We sit in silence and finish the hot chocolate.

"Oh, I can't stand it," Troy says, walking out of the kitchen. "Where's the music system in here?'

"What?"

"Music, speakers, that sort of thing. Where is it?"

I follow him into the living room and show him. After a couple minutes of going through CDs, he picks one out and puts it in.

"Seriously... 20's swing music? Are you secretly over 90 years old or something?" I roll my eyes at him and he just ignores me. I can't even believe we have this stuff in our house. I look at him and he has a mischievous smirk, his eyes gleaming. "What are you smi--AH!"

He walks over and sweeps him into a dance. It's terribly clumsy and extremely ridiculous, but... fun. Wait. What?? Troy just chuckles softly and we dance around the living room.

"Alright, alright... Stop it," I push away from him gently. I can't stand this, it's too weird. Troy just chuckles and ruffles my hair. I swat at him and he ruffles my hair again.

"Stop that," I tell him, trying to fix my hair.

He tries to ruffle my hair again and I dodge away, poking my tongue out at him. His lips pull up in a smirks and war ensues.

Somehow, and I'm not sure how, the next thing registering in my brain is that we're sitting on the couch. Troy has me backed against on of the arms and his arms are braced on either side of me. Arrgh, no escape.

I look at him, and he looks at me like he's got a secret hidden away. It's gotten really quiet, and I realize that the CD is over, but it's a different kind of quiet.

Troy leans closer, stopping just a few centimeters from my face. Different parts of my brain are screaming different things and suddenly... We're kissing.

Then, just to top everything off, the door bell rings.