On The Run: Part Two

Chapter Thirty-Five - "Inconsequential Truths"

Trey

“Sam?”

She turned, and I was taken aback. It was her.

She looked shocked, and stared around worriedly, “What are you doing here?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“I was invited. What are you?” I asked. I thought I deserved the greater amount of shock, since she’d left me. Had she even actually left?

“Jake’s my brother,” she replied, and stared questioningly.

I stared dumbfounded at her for a few seconds. If the world got any smaller, I’d suffocate.

“I’m friends with Sarah’s daughter,” I finally said.

She nodded and gave me a shy smile, as she glanced back at a table filled with people who I assumed were her family. They were glancing over and staring curiously.

I sensed her worry, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone,” I muttered and walked off, feeling used, even though at the time, I knew I was being used.

“Hey man,” Fitch said, walking over, “What are you doing here?”

I’d moved over to the hotel bar, swirling my way through a bottle of scotch. I don’t know what it was – it had started long before seeing Samantha tonight – but I felt like I was sinking into an abyss of depression.

I liked my job, and I loved the secrecy of my identity; I loved D.C., my apartment, and my friends, but I suddenly felt so empty. I don’t know how to explain empty really; it’s like a lack of any wants or desires, all the while knowing that – well, feeling like – you don’t have that much at all.

I looked up, as Fitch settled next to me.

I shrugged, “Wallowing.”

“Why? What’s up?”

I shook my head, “It’s nothing. Want something to drink?”

“No, thanks.”

Before he could press on, on the matter, I asked, “Have you thought about my offer?”

I’d asked him to come to D.C. with me, to work. The engineers at the company could do with a few interns, and I’d offered Fitch one of the positions. I knew how much he liked working on the cars at Benny’s Auto Shop, so I thought he’d jump at the chance.

But of course, it meant leaving Chloe, so he was still thinking about it, when I knew for a fact he’d made up his mind.

He shrugged, “I need a little more time.”

I smiled to myself, and let out a sigh, “Sure.”

“Come on, Trey. What’s up?” he asked, a sincere look of concern on his face.

I sighed, “I just . . . I feel like something’s missing, you know. I feel like I’m stuck in this rut, and nothing can get me out, and I’m part of the problem, so maybe I should find that thing that’s missing; that thing that I want, but I don’t know what it is.”

He stared wordlessly at me. I could understand his predicament; I wouldn’t know what to say to me either. I was finding it very hard to grasp the concept of what exactly was wrong with me, but I knew that I was talking to the wrong person.

I looked up, and my heart stopped. “Oh my God.”

Fitch followed my gaze to Chloe, who was standing at the entrance in a floor-length fitted red dress that hugged her perfectly. From where I sat, a small distance away, I could see the way the neckline dipped slightly, with the straps meeting at the back in what I presumed must have been a large bow.