I let out an exhausted sigh as my back hit the bed.

Finally, we're back at the hotel.

Today is only day two and I'm already exhausted.

We had to walk five miles all the way to Central Park. Not just there, we had to also walk five miles back to the hotel. Yes, ten miles through hectic streets. I swear New York drivers are crazy; I almost got run over like eight times in the same minute! They never look if people are walking and every two seconds someone has to honk for no good reason. I even saw a driver honk at an old lady and she took her cane and hit the front of the car repeatedly. It was hilarious! I never knew old people could be so violent!

"Whatcha thinking about?" Ryder asked as he flopped onto his bed.

"The old lady we saw today, remember, she hit the taxi with her cane?"

Ryder looked at me, his face was serious. "That was my Grandma."

My mouth opened in shock, "really?!?!"

He laughed and put his hands behind his head. "No."

"Of course it wasn't," I rolled my eyes. "She was totally badass."

He turned his body to face me. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean? That I'm not badass?"

"Pretty much."

"Shut up, you know that's not true. I'm totally badass."

Wow he is so defensive.

"Stop arguing with me. I made it clear that you aren't so deal with it."

He made a 'hmph' noise and crossed his arms over his chest. Wow he's so pouty, just like a baby.

"It's 6:00pm," Ryder noted as he checked the time on his phone. "We need to be downstairs in the lobby at 7:00pm."

Ugh. I forgot we had to go to the broadway show Wicked tonight. Sure that sounds amazing but after walking ten miles, I'd rather just sleep and chill in the room.

"You can get ready, I'm not going."

Ryder sat up from his laying position. "Why not?"

"Ryder, the ten miles we had to walk today almost killed me; well it almost killed my legs but still. I just want to stay here but please go."

Ryder studied me but said nothing which started to creep me out.

""W-What!?" I snapped.

"Why did you even come on this trip? You don't want to do anything. Did you even enjoy Central Park today?"

I sat up from my laying position and put my legs criss-crossed. "I'm sorry I'm such a buzzkill. I enjoy this trip but I'm just so exhausted. And to be honest, I wasn't that excited to go on this trip. I mostly came to escape."

Ryder's eyes challenged mine, trying to figure me out. "What do you mean you came to escape?"

"Um...nothing. I just wanted to leave our town for a little while." I lied. I couldn't tell Ryder I only came on this trip to get away from Michael.

"Ok," Ryder said as he picked up the phone that belonged to the room. "I understand."

I watched him curiously as he pressed different numbers. "What are you doing?"

"Ordering room service, duh."

I took the phone out of his hands. "No. Don't Ryder I'm serio-''

He grabbed the phone back easily. His brown eyes captured mine in a second and swallowed me whole. "I'm serious too. I'm going to stay with you. We can order room service and watch movies and hangout."

I couldn't breathe when he looked at me with so much intensity. My mind was spinning and all I could think about was making him happy instead of arguing with him.

"I really wish you would just go with everyone. I already made you stay with me yesterday at the Empire State Building, and now it's happening again. I can't take away the experience from you but if you want to stay with me, you can. I'm not going to force you or stop you from doing anything."

Ryder smiled at my words.

Well that did the trick. I guess he really does like getting his way.

Soon after, Ryder ordered us room service and to my surprise the food came super quick. Well, super quick I mean twenty minutes.

We got a medium sized pizza and two Coca Colas. For room service pizza, it was actually pretty amazing.

"Yuck. This shit is trash," Ryder mumbled in between chewing.

"Yeah, you're right- wait what? This pizza is amazing!" I said and took a sip of coke.

"More like mediocre," he scoffed.

We sat on Ryder's bed while eating our dinner, trying very hard not to get it on the white covers.

Instead of watching a movie, Ryder and I decided to watch The Office on Netflix. I kid you not, every other second I was giggling. I mean, how can you not laugh? It's the office! Even Ryder was laughing hysterically. I found out tonight that The Office is his absolute favorite show.

You learn something new everyday.

After we were finished watching a couple episodes, Ryder shut off his computer and cleaned up his bed from all the crumbs we left.

Don't worry, I helped him clean.

After we were done cleaning, we sat on the humongous balcony. As Ryder and I sat on the balcony, it felt like the moon was only shinning for us. The moonlight shimmered on Ryder's face and body. Of course I could not help but stare so my eyes traveled up and down, all around.

Thank god he wasn't paying attention to me because I was staring him down like a hawk. His eyes were fixated on the moon and all its glory.

Tonight is a full moon so the moon seemed to shine brighter than normal, or I was imagining it.

We couldn't really see the stars because of all the city lights but I knew they were all there, shinning brightly in the sky.

"I'm glad I stayed with you tonight. This was way better than some dumb play." Ryder admitted out of nowhere.

I smirked. "Ah, so you like hanging out with me?"

He took his attention away from the moon to me. The gold in his eyes looked like stars, twinkling in the dark brown of his eye.

Yeah, I didn't need to look at the sky to know if the stars were there.

Instead of answering me, he just smirked right back. "I know you like hanging out with me too, Autumn."

My face felt hot as I heard him say my name. It sounded so soothing yet so dangerous at the same time.

When my eyes met his lips, they reminded me of sin. The way his lips curved into a smirk. Just one kiss from him and your innocence would be gone.

Something inside of me wanted to kiss his lips. I wanted to feel, taste sin.

How easy it would be to just give into this feeling, this desire.

I swear there is something about the night that makes everything so...seductive.

When he caught me staring at his lips, I turned even more red and internally panicked. "What? No no you're wrong I don't like hanging out with-''

"Why do you fight it so much?" He interjected me with a question I didn't want to answer.

Turning my face to look ahead of me instead of at him, I gulped nervously. "F-Fight what?"

"Everything. Your feelings for instance."

"Pfft," I scoffed. "I don't feel anything."

He laughed at me, as if I told a joke. "Why do you lie?"

I whipped my head to look at him. "Why are you being so annoying and asking so many questions?!"

He watched my nervous state. "I'm trying to figure you out."

"Why?"

"Now look who's asking a question." Ryder mocked me, laughing.

"Oh my god just answer!"

He stopped laughing and became serious again. "I don't know. You're...different."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? That I'm 'special'? Challenged?"

"Who said different was bad? I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you're not like everyone else. Whenever I see you, you always look like you're in pain; even when you're with your friends. But there's something about that pain that seems to make you stronger. It's like you're carrying the world on your shoulders with ease, which doesn't make sense. How can someone with so much pain be able to conquer everyday like it's not a big deal?"

"You don't know I'm in pain." I mumbled under my breath.

He smiled with care. "Oh princess, it's not hard to tell. I can see it on your face, your body."

I looked down at the floor. My mouth wouldn't open so I could not protest or fight him. All I could do was stay still. Could he tell that I was in pain always?

"You know what you remind me of?"

"W-What?" I barely whispered.

"A warrior."

My eyes met the side of his face as he stared at the moon. "Why do I remind you of a warrior?"

"The bruises on your body remind me of battle scars; you wear them like an exquisite dress made of hellfire. The way you fight emotions and feelings reminds me of struggle and war. The amount of bravery you have to continue on each day is beyond powerful. You, Autumn, are a warrior."

I didn't speak, I continued to listen to him.

"I think it's fascinating the way you prosper through the deepest parts of hell. I don't know your whole life story but just by the looks of it you are by far the strongest person I know."

"It's not as easy as it looks," I muttered. "Some nights all you can do is lay in bed and hope to fall asleep before you fall apart. But there will be better days, at least I hope, that's what I tell myself."

"We are the same, Autumn." Ryder spoke. His eyes held so much vulnerability.

"How so?" I asked him.

He wearily smiled. "We are both...broken. Shattered. Destroyed."

This. This is what I longed for- to see Ryder's weak side.

His emotional side.

"Pain has made us who we are. Me and you are both so protective over ourselves, what we feel, how we act."

"We are the same, huh." I thought out loud and he smiled.

"Yeah, we really are."

Two opposite people: the popular football player and the new, shy girl. Two people, who aren't really that different from each other as society may think.

Two broken people, who sit under the same sky, who connect on a stronger level than people usually do.

We were both the exact same. Just two broken teenagers.

You know I never thought I would be able to heal, even if the scars left my body. But there's something about this boy that gives me strength, hope, and courage that there will most certainly be better days.

Our eyes stared deeply into each others and I realized I found the thing that will save me.

My healer. Ryder will be the one the save me.

Something lit off in my head. Something made me look at Ryder with a more intense view. I didn't just like this boy, it was definitely stronger than like.

And something deep inside me said he felt the exact same way.