petrichor - w.clark

V

THE LIGHTS FLICKERED ON as amaris flipped the switch on in the auto shop. her blue eyes looked around the dusty auto shop before looking back over at the tall blonde. "you're sure this isn't like totally illegal?" she asked. "sneaking into school and all that..."

"nah, i come in here all the time to just get away from shit after school hours." james said as he sat on the roof of a rusty 1997 red bmw. "old hide out spot. i've been trying to fix this bad boy up since the start of the school year. i think it'd be so cool to take it drifting or something."

amaris looked over at him, a concerned expression on her face. "drifting? that shit'll kill you if you're not safe." she said as she walked around the small space, looking at all the different tools.

the beach blonde laughed it off, shrugging his shoulders. he was always safe when he did it, even installed everything in the car necessary to keep himself as safe as possible, he even wore a helmet. "yeah, it can, if you're a bozo." he told her.

she sighed, "true i guess. why are we even here?" she asked him. she didn't know why he took her here, this was like the start of some horror movie to her, but she brushed that feeling off.

little did amaris know, she was the star of this horror movie.

there was no response for a few moments. but then he finally spoke up, "remember when we first met? we skipped fifth period, mrs biobitches class, always came here." he said, purposefully screwing up their old science teachers name. he hated her. mrs biovich was the correct name.

she nodded, "yeah, i do. that was fun. you'd work on some car in here and then we'd chuck darts at a picture of principal gardner." she smiled, reminiscing on the memories that they'd had in there. they spent a lot of time shit talking that was for sure. amaris always felt guilty about skipping class, so she'd go to tutoring every single day after class in order to make up for anything she missed.

he snapped his fingers together, hopping off the car. rummaging through a rusty tool box, he picked out the exact darts they used 2 years prior, along with the picture. "what do you think? game of darts?" he asked, a wide grin plastered across his face.

amaris was definitely going to play darts. and she did. they did. for two hours straight, reminiscing on the memories they had before their split of friendship.

she felt good, finally. it had been months since she fully felt good, normal good. so much had been happening in her life it felt like it was falling apart, but being there with james had somehow made her forget about all her worries, financial issues, everything. she felt at peace.

peace was a feeling that amaris very rarely felt during her life. it was rough finding peace when so many things had been crumbling in her life and not building back up to create something better like mr erickson told her things would.

it had been two years of hearing the same phrase; "you'll find a beautiful creation after the fall." from the teacher.

nothing beautiful had been created, but maybe reconnecting with james was that beautiful creation after the fall.

—

"it's getting late, i should probably head home, i don't want my parents worrying too much about me." amaris spoke after a couple of hours had passed by of them chatting, playing darts as well.

james nodded, hopping off the hood of the car. "that's true. i'm gonna work a little on this car i think." he said with a shrug, not concerned about how late he would be out. it was a weekend.

she nodded. thank god they'd taken separate cars just to be safer. "yeah okay. well, be safe, i'll see you monday?" she asked, hoping they wouldn't not see each other after that moment.

he nodded, "sure will do! monday morning." he smiled softly.

then she had walked away, heading back to her car.

the night was coming to an end, finally.

—

authors note ;;

sorry for another short chapter! but i hope you're all enjoying this story so far!!