chapter 1 Stranger

Chapter 1: Stranger

Sitting alone in one of the bookstores comfy arm chairs seemed to me to be one of the most pathetic was I could possibly spend my Friday evening. Ignoring my shame I walked proudly into the store and made a sharp right. I looked through the magazines searching for something more deep than the latest Hollywood breakup/affair and Hanna Montana’s scandalous new music video. Deciding to go for something informing I picked up the latest National Geographic.

Now to dodge the people and pray the seat I wanted was open and I didn’t look like a complete fool. Just my luck they were both occupied. With a sigh I went to the café area, great back to the work place. Yes it’s true: I love the bookstore so much I just had to work there, even if it was only the café. I sat at the only free table next to the large front windows. I find my mind delve into an article on the majestic eagle.

“Um… hello,” I was brought back to earth by the small voice.

“Oh, yes,” I sighed as I put down the magazine.

“I was wondering whether this seat was taken,” he motioned towards the seat opposite me.

“Oh…” I gasped, then realizing this boy had interrupted me simply to get a chair. “Nope,” I said in a somewhat agitated voice pulling my magazine back up. He sat down in the seat right before I could get deep into the article again.

“What are you doing?” I asked incredulously.

“Sitting,” he said coolly. My eyes went back to the magazine but I could scarcely concentrate. He wasn’t reading anything but he had a vanilla bean frapachino. I allowed a small smile when I remembered that was my friend’s favorite drink. My attention then turned to his looks. His hair was black, wavy and sort of long, down to his shoulders. His skin was rather pale and his lips were thin. His eyes were focused outside the window watching the cars go by. They were a light blue… that’s when I realized that I shouldn’t be looking into his eyes like that even if he’d just sat down across from me at the very small café table. He wore a crisp, white, collared long-sleeved shirt. He had on black slacks and his shoes were shiny black dress shoes.

“Why so dressed up?” I asked with a sigh, resigned to the fact that I would share this table; I was just too lazy to care.

“No reason,” he sighed giving me a quick glance before he looked out the window again. I watched him for a moment and then tried to read the magazine.

“So bald eagles?” he chuckled.

“Yep,” I giggled back.

“Is it really that interesting?” he laughed.

“Not really,” I sighed, “just something to do.”

“What a girl like you not have a date tonight?” he asks. I look up to find nothing but seriousness in his eyes.

“Actually here I am with you,” I giggled, “Here to answer all your personal questions.” I laughed harder when he gave a broad smile.

“Wonderful,” he laughs when I stop. With a quick giggle I blush and look around the room. The room is filled with chatting but no one seems to be turned our way. I look back at him but again he’s watching out the window. I go back to reading this time an article on some mummy.

“Are you sure you should be reading that without paying for it?” he asks suddenly looking at me again.

“Oh… yeah I guess I shouldn’t… wait how do you know I didn’t pay for it?”

“No bag,” he shrugs.

“What if I asked not to have a bag?”

“Well you said you shouldn’t so now we both know for sure that you never bought it,” he smiles at me.

“What about you, don’t you have a date?” I laugh after a quick pause.

“I will answer the same you did, I am here to answer all your personal questions,” he laughed.

“Nice,” is all I can think to say. My smile fades and I turn back to the book. God, he had looked me over too. How could he not have and still notice that I didn’t have a bag.

“Well are you going to pay for that?” he teases, I can see it on the smile across his face.

“Nope,” was all I could say. In a rush I picked up my purse and walk back to the stand where I found the magazine. I looked over my shoulder and shuddered inwardly as he followed. I put it back and worked my way to the center aisle.

“It was just a question, you don’t have to storm off,” he comforted trying to keep up with me.

“Maybe I didn’t like the question,” I sighed as I walked past the customer service desk and stopped at the young adult section.

“Well maybe I won’t ask the question again,” he muttered. “You can’t tell me you still read from this section?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes as a matter of fact I do, if you have a problem with that why don’t you go sit back in the café?” I snapped.

“Oh come on I was just joking, I read from here sometimes too,” he consoled.

“Really?” I asked skeptically.

“Oh yes I found the Twilight Saga quite interesting,” he smiled.

“You read the Twilight Saga?” I asked unbelievingly.

“No, but my sister did, she seemed particularly excited about it,” he said looking at the books now.

“Thanks,” I puffed. With a sigh I started looking through all the books.

“So I take it you read them?”

“Oh… yeah,” was all I could say.

“Wow, I wouldn’t have pegged you for one of those main stream girls…” he sighed.

“Oh I’m not, it was… very captivating at first, probably because it’s every girls dream to have two boys head over heal in love with them, willing to do anything for their affections,” I sighed going to a different aisle.

“Ah, if only,” he sighed wistfully pulling his hands together in a girly fashion.

“Shut up,” I laughed as I gave him a small punch on the shoulder.

“Wow you have quite the arm little miss, do you enjoy beating people up?” he laughed.

“Oh come on you weakling,” I giggled as I picked up a book and tried to read the back.

“So what do you think of it now?”

“It’s just gotten kind of old,” I sighed.

“I see…”

“Have you read any good books lately?”

“Have you heard of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?”

“Of course I love that book!” I exclaimed turning to face him with joy all over my face.

“Ok, ok, calm down it’s not that exciting!” he giggled as he placed his hands on my arms to keep me from jumping. I froze in place with the smile still ear to ear as he looked at me. I hate to say it but we just kind of looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. I could see the laughter there clearly but hidden somewhere deeper was a tender and elated feeling. Just as suddenly as it had begun we cut it off. I stood staring at each others’ feet for who knows how long.

I pulled away and started looking through the books. I found Heist Society and began looking at it. I couldn’t force myself to read the summery on the back like I had so many times before but I focused on my peripherals trying to see what he was doing. As far as I could tell he was simply looking at the books next to him.

“Looks interesting,” he sighed finally coming over to me, “another sissy romance book I assume.”

“Maybe, I haven’t been able to read it yet.”

“Why?” he asked honestly.

“Not enough money,” I sigh as I put it back on the shelf.

“Don’t have a job hu?” he almost laughed.

“Actually I do, I work at the café here in fact,” I quipped in a matter of fact tone.

“Do they pay you well?” he laughs.

“I suppose but most of it goes to gas, insurance, and lunch,” I sighed looking back at the books, “besides I have more important books to buy.”

“Oh I’d like to see this list,” he chuckles. I give him a play punch on his left arm. He rubs it but laughs harder.

“It’s not that bad,” I snapped but blushed at the same time.

“Then what’s on it?”

“That and… some other things…”

“Like what?”

“Come here,” I took his hand and took him to the manga section next door.

“Oh graphic novels, no not bad at all,” he laughs.

“Wild Ones 10 and Gentlemen’s Alliance 11 and I finish both series,” I say proudly.

“You enjoy these?” he chuckles picking one up and flipping through it.

“Yes I do and if you don’t like it you can just leave,” I pout.

“No I don’t think I will,” he laughed a little but it didn’t reach his eyes. he was still looking through a manga.

“So what do you read?” I ask softly after a minutes pause.

“Ha!” he laughs loudly, “Not much really.”

“So what gives you the right to criticize what I read?” I whine.

“Because I can!” he sticks his tongue out at me and replaces the book.

“Well what do you read when you do?” I shout.

“Way to change the subject,” he smirks.

“I asked a question!”

“And it was nicely phrased wasn’t it?” he quipped and then turned to walk away.

“Just answer it!”

“Fantasy,” he suddenly turns around and whispers in my ear. We are inches away and his hands seem to be fighting the urge to wrap around my upper arms.

“What kind of fantasy?” I whisper.

“Lord of the Rings,” he sighs and then turns back around. I walk behind him towards the fantasy/scify section.

“Oh I love those movies!” is all I can think to say.

“There’s more than just the movies,” he says sadly.

“I know, but that doesn’t stop the movies from being good.”

“Did you know that it was originally meant to be one long book and that Tolkien didn’t like the title of the last because it gave away the ending?” he chuckles softly, fully expecting me to not know.

“I know that and many things. My dad’s a big fan of the books and for me they were a must read,” I sighed with a smile. He looks up in surprise and then a big smile spreads across his face.

“You’ve read them?” he asks all excited.

“Of course, not only those but the Hobbit and the Silmarillion as well,” I laugh.

“Well that’s a surprise I wouldn’t think a girl like you would read something like these.”

“I like a bit of everything really,” I sighed.

“Wow, really?”

“Well I… I guess, I try to keep my mind open and except most everything,” I say shyly fingering some of the other books.

“That’s… that’s great,” he sighed picking up a book.

“So do you only like fantasy books?”

“I read classics every now and then.”

“My dad loves the classics; I swear he’s read most all of them.”

“Nonsense, you can never read all of the classics.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you saw his library.”

“What does your dad do?”

“Things,” I giggled.

“For a living, what does he do for a living,” he laughed looking up at me for a minute and then back to his book.

“He’s a doctor,” I laughed.

“Oh that’s nice.”

“Yes it’s very nice when trying to fake being sick to get out of a math test,” I laughed.

“I’m sure, but at least you’ll have someone on hand if anything serious happens.”

“I guess,” I sigh with a smile still looking at the book titles, “What does your dad do?”

“Things,” he said mockingly.

“Oh come on! You know what I mean!” I play punched him again.

“Ow! Haha,” he starts laughing, “My dad’s a lawyer.”

“Wow, a lawyer, sounds interesting,” I giggled.

“I suppose.”

“Hey if you’re ever in trouble,” I suggested.

“Yeah,” he sighed sadly.

“Y’all don’t see eye to eye?” I whispered.

“Y’all?” he laughed, “What are we? In the deep south?” he puts his book down and looks at me.

“Hey it’s how I speak.”

“Nice,” he laughed.

“That’s all you can think to say?”

“Sometimes that’s all that’s needed,” he laughed again and lay back on the bookshelf.

“Nice.”

“See.”

“Sure I do,” I giggled, “It’s an excellent way to change the subject.”

“Just drop it!” he sighed, nothing but serious and sad in his eyes.

“Fine!” I snap and then turn to walk away.

“Hey where the hell do you think you’re going!” he yelled as he came after me.

“Away!” I laughed as I realized he was following me. Why I was laughing was beyond me, I’m sure any sane person would have been thoroughly freaked out by this point.

“Come on, it’s just a touchy subject, doesn’t mean this has to come to an end!” he shouts as I stalk into the music section.

“What kind of music do you like?” I ask suddenly as I stop abruptly to look at the new releases.

“What?” he almost runs into me before he stops.

“What kind of music do you like?” I ask exasperatedly.

“I… I like different things,” he says.

“Hey me too,” I smirk as I pick up the eclipse soundtrack.

“Oh no, it’s following us,” he said in a ghost voice.

“Shut up,” I laugh as I poke him in the rib.

“Ow, once again,” he giggles.

“Buck up, be a man,” I laughed.

“Sure,” he sighed.

“Well what would you listen too?”

“Come here,” he pulls me to the rock section and scans an Michael Bublé CD he puts the head phones up to our ears and we start listening to Fever.

“Ha, that’s slightly ironic.”

“What?”

“You like that word don’t you?”

“Really,” he sighed, “What’s ironic?”

“I have this CD,” I laughed.

“Well that’s something new, you like jazz?”

“I told you I keep my mind open to everything.”

“I see,” was all he said.

“So is there anything else you like to listen too?”

“Show me some of the things you like to listen to.”

“Come,” was all I said as I grabbed his wrist again and pulled him to the soundtracks. I pulled out Narnia: the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe soundtrack and we started listening to The Blitz.

“Narnia soundtrack… have you read those?” he chuckled.

“Some of them,” I sighed.

“Nice.”

“Yep.”

“So I take it you read a lot?”

“Yes and no,” I sighed putting the CD back.

“How so?” I couldn’t help but laugh at the little rhyme we’d made.

“Well I like to think I read a lot, I plan on reading lots of books and I have shelf upon shelf of books but sometimes I just don’t feel like reading them.”

“Let me guess you have about ten books in various places on your bed side table and then a few left out on those shelves?”

“Yeah, I’m not proud of it, it’s a horrible habit. But you know I love to buy books and I’d like to think that I’ll read them all but I just never get around to it.”

“Me too,” he laughed.

“How old are you?” I asked suddenly.

“Wow, what’s with the sudden subject change?”

“Just wondering, it’s kind of weird… that we just started talking…” I started looking at the different CD’s.

“Seventeen,” he sighed, “What about you?”

“Sixteen.”

“Junior?”

“Yep.”

“What about you?”

“Same.”

“Nice.”

“Glad to see you’ve adopted my word.”

“So what do you do? What do you enjoy most?”

“Definitely hanging out with friends,” he sighed.

“Me too I suppose.”

“What do you do then? Besides hanging out with friends.”

“Oh, I think I spend the majority of my time listening to my iPod followed by just wasting time,” I sighed.

“Just waste time hu?”

“Yep.”

“Don’t do anything at all but rot away?” he inquired.

“Well,” he was starting to get to me so I decided to tell the truth, “in my spare time I come up with random stories ok.” I walked over to a new section.

“Nothing to be ashamed of,” he chuckled as I picked out an All American Rejects CD.

“Sure.”

“No really, I do that sometimes.” I didn’t want to tell him but that’s what made me upset. I wanted the fact that I come up with random stories be my thing, what set me apart from the crowd.

“Do you write a lot then?”

“Sure, I write lots of things, stories, poems, lyrics, anything really,” he giggled.

“Is that all you do?”

“No, I’m somewhat of a photographer as well.”

“That’s nice, you know I like taking photos.”

“Oh really?” he faked a snob voice.

“Really really,” I gave a nervous laugh.

“That’s from a movie isn’t it?”

“Yeah… I think it is…”

“Ha, do you not know which movie it is?”

“Nope,” I laughed.

“Wow.”

“Oh no, it happens to me all the time,” I laughed.

“What you repeat lines from movies you don’t remember?”

“Oh I do it with songs too.”

“Nice.”

“That it is.”

“So you listen to these guys too?”

“Yep.”

“Good stuff.”

“What’s your favorite song by them?”

“Well I do like Gives You Hell but I love It Ends Tonight.”

“Yeah I like those songs too.”

“Not your favorite songs are they?”

“Well I love them most out of the All American Rejects songs.”

“Then what is your favorite song?”

“There are so many!” I exclaim.

“Well list a few!”

“Well… Your Guardian Angel comes to mind first and then Face Down.”

“Alright Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, your tastes are not so bad, go on.”

“Hm… I like Stolen and… Iris and Breaking Benjamin, the band.” He sat and watched as I went on and on about the music I listened to.

“My tastes are a little stranger,” he laughed when I finished.

“Like what do you listen to?”

“Let’s see if I can find some,” he took my hand and I followed him to the world music section, “Well here’s Seven Nations.”

“You like Seven Nations?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah, do you?”

“I have two of their CD’s on my iPod!”

“How many songs do you have on your iPod?”

“Oh near 3,000,” I say slyly.

“Holy Crap!” he laughs. I giggle a little with him.

“I know, but I don’t think I’ve listened to about a third of them, it’s just what I’ve collected from CD’s I borrow and what my dad has,” I sighed as I start to flip through some of the music.

“So for all this love of music you have, do you play an instrument?”

“Actually…” I say nervously, “no I’m just too lazy.”

“Ah that’s where we differ, I play the guitar,” he gave me a cocky grin.

“My mother used to play guitar,” I said sullenly.

“Why doesn’t she anymore?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I sighed moving along the racks.

“I see,” he sighed but he was still followed me.

“Hey look it’s the Beatles” I laughed as we went around the corner.

“Yeah it is, you like the Beatles?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“They’re pretty good.”

“My mother was a fan,” I said sadly my smile fading slightly. No matter how much I tried I wouldn’t be able to get her off my mind now.

“Good stuff,” he sighed as he stood beside me and stuck his hand in his pockets.

“Yeah,” I sighed.

“Let’s go look at something else,” he whispered taking my hand again. Slowly we walked over to the movies.

“So what about your mom? What does she do?”

“She’s a stay at home mom, trust me it’s a pain in the butt,” he laughed.

“Just be happy she’s there,” I sighed wistfully.

“Alright talk, what happened to your mom?” he said suddenly spinning around and holding onto my upper arms. Taken by shock I didn’t respond immediately.

“I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well quit bringing it up!” he shouted.

“Fine I will!” I shouted back and made my way out of the section.

“Hey wait a second!” he yelled after me. I turned and sure enough he was still there.

“Look you need to stop!” I turned around and gave him a threatening look.

“Oh no what are you going to do to me?” he said faking a scared voice.

“I’ll call the cops you stalker!”

“Right because you aren’t in any way responsible for me following you!” he said sarcastically.

“How the hell is it my fault that you can’t seem to let me walk away!?” I started walking down a side aisle that ran perpendicular to the shelves.

“Because you followed me too,” he laughed. My face was starting to heat in anger and my fists were clenched at my sides.

“Well now I’m not!”

“But wait! That’s not the only reason!” he was shouting and laughing at the same time. it was just a little creepy.

“Then why on earth are you following me and keep it down before we get thrown out,” I whispered because I saw several people starting to stare. He pulled me into an aisle.

“Because you’re just that captivating,” he whispered back with a huge grin on his face.

“Get a life stalker,” I whispered threateningly as I slapped his hands away and walked to the main aisle. I stalked down the aisle and gave an annoyed smile when I noticed he went to the end of the aisle and stopped watching sadly as I went.

The nerve of that boy! Hell I didn’t even now his bloody name why on earth did we end up talking like that! Did I really almost tell him about my mom! For all I know he could be some kind of pervert trying to get laid or worse an ax murderer on his way to getting me out back so he could pull his ax out. I felt so disappointed in myself as I walked out the door and headed for my car. I was shocked that it was already dark out. I was rather surprised as I turned on the car and realized it was getting rather close to ten. I sighed but turned on my CD player and drove off listening to Ok Go’s Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. I laughed at the irony and then felt the disappointment sink in.

Author's Note

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[Amy]

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