Stormie

Chapter Three - Austin

Austin

I thought fate was just some bullshit story people made up to try and make sense of things they couldn't necessarily explain.

But as I stood there, staring up at this girl who knew me better than my own parents did, I agreed for just a second that maybe desinty wasn't such a joke.

It was like she appeared out of nowhere, in the middle of this club to give me a heart attack mixed with the greatest dream I'd ever had. I hadn't seen her for two years, and it obviously did a lot to change her from the girl I knew into the one who ran away from me the second I shouted her name.

She rarely, if ever, took her hair down at camp and now it was bright red and wild. Her pale, freckled skin reflected the lights around her like she was a shining star in a world of her own darkness. I always knew she was different from anyone else I'd ever meet and forgetting about her after we got too old for camp had been harder than I expected.

But here she was, or had been at least, right in front of me and my heart increased its beating at the sight.

I convinced myself I wasn't seeing things but even after I jumped down from the stage and called her name a few more times, she didn't come back. I didn't understand why she would run from me but then again I hardly ever had any clue about what she'd do or say. Sammie was the first girl I ever had a real crush on and while it was tiring to keep up with her, I wouldn't have traded what we had for anything. Even my fourteen year old self knew that pretty well.

When it was evident she wasn't coming back and had most likely left the building, I walked back to the stage, realizing for the first time since I'd taken it off that I wasn't wearing a shirt. That was why she ran, I thought as I cursed the damned long, red scar cutting across my tan skin. It scared me some mornings when I first looked in the mirror having forgotten about the single worst night to ever happen to me.

I'd never shown it to Sammie, I never told her about what happened. It was too unnerving, too much of a real thing to tell someone about that time when you almost died, waiting to take your last breath because it would have been better than dealing with the pain.

I shoved the reminder back under my shirt, pulling it over my head and then turning to pack up my stuff. I had no doubt she'd call the cops if I didn't leave within ten minutes. She was probably waiting outside, number already dialed if she was that angry that I'd broken in here.

I didn't know it would cause such a problem, I didn't understand why she was so mad to find me. I probably wouldn't ever get an answer but the best thing I could come up with was maybe she worked here and didn't want to get in trouble with the boss.

I made one more pass through the first floor, calling her name one last time before I left the place, feeling stupid when I saw it was only my car in the lot behind the club. I was probably still hungover, imagining the only girl to ever know about my music, to ever understand me more than maybe I understood myself.

I was lonely, being stuck across the country for the summer from the two people that came to be like family to me. My real family felt like strangers who wouldn't even smile as you passed them on the street.

I'd been home for a good eight hours and already I was giving into the emptiness, putting Samantha Owens up on that balcony like a damsel in distress who needed saving. I laughed at the thought; Sammie took help from no one, she would probably be the one saving me.

I pictured her smile the whole drive back home. An hour was not enough time but I knew once I stepped through the door of my house, my dad would be on my case about where I'd been, how classes were going, where I was applying to law school. I tried to remember all of the stories she used to tell me about her own life, all the corny jokes she'd say when she was overly tired at three in the morning.