Never Always (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Then: Freshman Orientation - Grady

“We’ll talk about it when I get back…I just want to go to bed—…It’s late…Good night.”

He knew that voice. Why the hell did he know that voice? More importantly, where was the voice coming from? Besides the femininity of it, the tone was mature and warm with a noticeably missing accent. All the girls he’d met today had it and it’d taken him a few beats to get used to it.

Grady rounded the corner and stopped. He knew.

There was a girl sitting on the floor, face turned up to the ceiling with her eyes closed. Completely fed up with the world. He knew that look and he knew her, his memory banks tickled with that sense of familiarity. Which was odd because it didn’t happen often. He was used to moving around every four years and never seeing the friends he’d made again.

But this face—

“Page?”

The name slipped out of him like he’d been saying it for years.

Her eyes popped open and she turned her head, a frown marring her face.

Slam! He hit so hard, his loose tooth rattled. He went careening to the ground and knew it was going to hurt.

But he didn’t hit the grass.

He landed on the girl he’d accidently ran into.

“Oh my—Page! Are you ok?” someone yelled.

Page? Who names their kid Page? He scrambled to his feet, a gathering of kids had already circled them. “It was an accident! I swear!” he said.

But no one seemed to care or notice he was giving excuses. They were all too busy staring at the girl on the ground behind him. Oh, crap. Did he kill her? Grady whirled around and looked down at her. A pair of green eyes, wide and shinning, were staring up at him, her mouth comically hanging open like the bass his father fished.

“Are you ok?” he asked her. “I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t saying anything. Why wasn’t she saying anything? She could’ve apologized for being in his way.

“Move!” Several of the kids stepped aside as one of the teachers came through. “Page, honey, are you ok?” The teacher knelt down next to her. “Page—”

The little girl gasped, huffing in air like one does air from a balloon to make your voice sound funny. “Can’t breathe,” she squeaked.

Grady couldn’t help himself.

He smiled.

“Holy shit,” he exclaimed. “It is you.”

He recognized the older version of that gaping face and smiled like he had back then. She looked confused as hell—an attractive confused. He shook his head and took several steps towards her.

“Who are—” the frown changed as she squinted at him “Grady?”

Ha! She remembered his name. His smile got bigger as he nodded. “Yeah! Hey! You remember?”

She shrugged. “Barely but hi.”

Her smile was a lot less beaming as his but he could ignore that. He’d found a fucking connection! Someone he actually knew! Thank god! He plopped down on the floor next to her and continued to smile.