Part 2

"Can we take that way?" Dan asked loud enough for me to hear from the very back and waited for me to catch up to him.

I was running out of breath.

"That's a........ That's a long way home!" I tried to catch my breath.

"Oh? I didn't know" he spoke in a sarcastic tone and smirked.

I wanted to stay longer with him but I was too tired to cycle anymore.

"We'll be late if we took that way" I informed him.

The sun had already set and the town was coming to the life.

The streetlights started to turn on making it easier to look at him and his facial expressions were neutral. The warm breeze of summer wind brushed through his golden hair as his gaze never left the corner of the street.

It stayed the same for a while. I looked at his features, admiring every bit of it. He didn't notice me staring, it seemed like he was thinking about something.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath and smiled.

"Yeah, sorry for trying to force you"

The whole ride was quiet.

He got tired and slowed his pace, meeting mine.

We rode for about ten minutes before Dan's house came into the view.

I stopped at the door of his house and watched as he got off his bike and walked towards his house.

He tried to waste as much time as possible which came across to me as him not wanting to enter his house.

His house was mediocre and he lived with his mother who was as incredible as him.

He stationed his bicycle in the garage and walked towards the front gate before knocking on the door.

In a tick, the door opened revealing a tall man who seemed to be in his 40s.

I quickly recognised him as his mothers' boyfriend.

He looked down at Dan and told him something.

I couldn't catch what he was saying since I was pretty far from his house but soon enough he walked inside.

Dan waved me goodbye before closing the door.

His parents got divorced when he was in 7th-grade and she started dating Justin, her current boyfriend after a year. He was quite scary,

He was muscular and had connections with lots of dangerous people.

I lived two blocks away from Dan so after few minutes I arrived at my house.

"I'm home" I informed.

"Welcome home," my mom said from the kitchen.

My father was most of the time out of the valley due to some business matter so it was her who would do maximum of the thing.

She treated me with care and gave me all the attention I needed.

"go get ready for dinner," she said aloud enough for me to hear.

I went to my room.

The lights were on and the room was sizzling from the summer heat.

I decided to take a short shower to refresh myself.

I was extremely exhausted.

I felt a sense of pleasure as the droplets of water lightly stroke my bare skin making me forget about everything.

After 15 minutes, I got out of the bathroom and dried myself.

I got changed into my nightwear and was intending to play grand theft auto 3 which I freshly brought but I saw the painting I was working on and decided to complete it. I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it today no matter how long I worked on it but still, it would bring me one step closer to accomplishing the finished painting.

Besides gaming, I liked painting too.

I love to bring life to a picture and play with numerous colours. I also use it as a form of expression. Each colour has an implication and I would rather choose to express myself through paintings than words.

I was working on the painting of Dan playing football.

It was a picture from the 8th grade and was of the sports festival.

It was a tremendous picture.

We can't detect his face as he's facing backwards to the camera however, you can still tell it's him because of that tall, slender body and blonde hair. He had his name written on Jersey's back.

The moment was captured right before the goal that made the team win the competition.

Everyone was so gratified with him and were praising him.

I saw how happy he was, how happy they were.

He was surrounded by the oceans of people while I was watching him from the far, alone.

and maybe that's when I realized

Who was the side character.