Wanders

Chapter 18

"Finn" I'm being shaken awake. "Finn" Im shaken again. I open my eyes and look around. My brain is still floating around in the land of sleep as my eyes try to catch up on the world around me. Blue hair flops in front of my face.
"Finn, get up." May says squishing my cheeks. I swat her away and sit up tucking my hair behind my ears.
"Goodmorning sunshine, we've got places to go and things to see!" She smiles and runs towards the door. I look across the room to see Liam peeking at me from the top of a book he was reading, his eyebrow raised.
"I suppose I should follow her." I say huffing.
"I suppose." He says looking back at the pages in his book. Annoyed I stand up and walk towards the door stopping to put my shoes back on a grab a jacket. I walk outside to find the sunlight shining bright and baking into my pale skin, what time of day is it? I really didn't need a jacket today. I find May just around the house waiting for me.
"It's too warm for a jacket silly." She says waving her bare arms around. I nod in agreement and throw mine off hanging it from the porch railing in front of the house. I follow May back through the path we always go. We stop on the other side of the train tracks and peek through the trains looking out to the park. There on the swing sits Eli.
"What's she doing there?" I ask.
May shrugs, "Go talk to her." I roll my eyes at her and head towards the edge of the train to walk out to the park when I stop. A tall boy walks towards her and she stands up to greet him. He hugs her and she laughs at something he says. I can see how happy she looks talking to him. Maybe that's who she was talking about when she said she had a crush? The boy turns my way and looks in my direction. His hair is brown and styled so it spikes up and he wears glasses. He scrunches his eyebrows up as Elli looks my way too.
"Finn?" She asks starting to walk towards me. I panic and turn to run but my foot catches on the train tracks and I fall.
"Owww." I complain sitting up.
"Where have you been, and what happened to your hair?!?" Eli asks helping me up.
"Well uh I just went away." I say. Eli goes to respond but she sees me eyeballing the strange tall guy she's with.
"This is Sam." She smiles.
"Hey, it's nice to meet you." His voice is deep and raspy sounding.
"Nice to meet you too." I offer a smile.
"Wanna go grab something to eat with us?" Eli asks.
"Uh yeah sure. " I say. We walk away from the train tracks and I look back at May, she says nothing and turns back into the woods.
~ ~ ~ ~

We're all gathered around a table at the local restaurant in town. Eli invited Matthew and Oakley too so here they are. Our entire group is once again united plus 2 more. It's like I'm 5th wheeling these lovers. It makes it kind of awkward for me. I order mac n' cheese and French fries with pink lemonade. They all talk about the last day of school and tell stories about funny things that have happened lately in their lives. I lean against the window and watch the cars pass outside. I start feeling deja vu come on and wonder why, but then I see it. Wander boy is sitting on the curb beside a building looking in at the restaurant. He's looking right at me. I'm confused as to why he's there when I get interrupted by my food sitting in front of me. All thoughts of Wander boy disappear as I eat the delicious meal. It feels like I haven't eaten in forever. When was the last time I ate?

When dinners over I look out the window again, Wander boy is no longer there.
"Let's have a sleepover! At my house." Matthew says happily. I mentally roll my eyes but decide I'd go. All I really wanted to do was go back to Liam's house.
~ ~ ~
It's been a couple hours at Matthews and all we've done is play board games on his living room floor. His parents are gone a business trip so we're left alone with a house full of snacks and board games. The sun is setting and we've gotten bored of scrabble so we decide to play hide and go seek. It's a dumb game but Matthews house is big and it'll be fun to find places to hide. I find a room upstairs with a patio that looks out into the woods. I hear the distant sound of Matthew counting, " 34, 35, 36...." and decide I have enough time to sit on the patio. I slide the glass door shut behind me and sit at the edge dangling my legs off the edge. I watch the trees sway and listen to the cicadas. The cold breeze of the night brings goosebumps to my knees. I hear the glass doors slide open and I turn to look. I watch as Sam steps out and looks at me.
  "Oh, I didn't know you were out here. Mind if I join you?" He asks his deep voice echoing in the silent night.
"No it's alright." I say patting the space next to me. "How's the game of hide and go seek?" I ask laughing.
"Oh boy, it's real fun." He rolls his eyes smirking.
"I bet. " I laugh. He looks straight forward out into the woods, it makes his jawline jut out and for a minute I feel like no one else is in the world but us two. I shake the thought from my head because it's stupid.
"How long have you and Eli been together?" I question.
"We aren't dating yet, she doesn't want to. She says she just wants to be close friends for now." He looks towards me.
"That sounds... dumb." I smile. 
"Yeah right. " he laughs, "I don't know, girls are odd. " Sam looks down as he picks at the small rip in the knee of his jeans.
"I can agree with you." I smile.
He looks up at me again, "What would you do if we went into some sort of apocalypse?" Sam asked me.
"I would probably just let the zombies eat me. Maybe I'd turn into a zombie, you never know. Being a zombie could be cool. They have no obligations or anything. Just to eat and roam. " I bring my feet up from hanging off the deck and sit criss cross towards Sam.
"You must really like eating brains then!" He pretends to look shocked and makes a cross shape out of his fingers, "Stay away, you deranged zombie." Sam laughs.  I laugh with him and shake my head.
"You're funny." I tell him smiling.
"I only learned from the best, aka myself. " his laugh is a deep laugh and in this moment I realize how handsome he looks. It gets silent between us but not awkwardly silent. He cups my face in his hand and leans forward pushing his lips against mine. I kiss him back, our soft lips move against each other and his warmth spreads through me. It's a moment that feels like it lasts an eternity and all too fast at the same time.
  We're broken from the kiss when a scream erupts through the house and all around us.