strangers in the night

chapter one

Ah, summer. Not only summer, but summer in California. One of the coolest places you could possibly live, and I was grounded.
Well, kinda.
My mom worked five days a week until 6 and my dad was off in Arizona doing god knows what.
Well his last card was from Arizona. He could be in New York by now if he wanted to be.

I wasn't the rebellious type, but when my parents were getting divorced my mom let me get away with a ton of shit, so now that it's all over and settled she's pulled in the reins a ton.

I accidentally say "Jesus Christ" one too many times and suddenly I'm grounded? The audacity of this woman.

I mean, she's usually pretty calm, except when I don't clean my room and when I call her Stacy to her face. We look a lot alike too, or at least I'm told. We have the same brown eyes and honey blonde hair.

I am different though. I have freckles and hope in my eyes.

Anyways, back to the point. I was in this little comic book store. I don't even like comic books, I never did but there wasn't anything else for me to do. Most jobs don't hire 15 year olds and they wouldn't kick me out for not buying anything.

It was better than home. Not that I had a bad home, but our house was a little shabby. Stacey said she was gonna fix it up, and I could even help her but we moved in in December. It's July. The sink drips so often it drives me crazy.

Plus I don't like the color of my room. It's not only a god awful beige, but the paint is peeling. Maybe one day I'll paint it over. Something fun. Purple. I don't care.

So far I had hung out with two people this summer. Edgar and Alan Frog, self proclaimed "vampire hunters" the immaturity of teenage boys I could never understand, truly.

I would be doing anything, just walking around, sitting on the counter, or maybe even reading a comic book if I was bored enough, and I'd be sneak attacked. usually it was Edgar who would try to make sure I was still human.
Garlic would be thrown, holy water sprayed, the works.

Sometimes I'm not sure why I still hang out with them.

"Hey Maya, it's 5:30. You might wanna be getting home soon." I looked up to see Alan standing next to me with a look on his face. After looking at me for a few seconds longer he asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah.. I was just thinking. Sorry." I looked over at their clock, and saw it was only 5:25. I still had a good hour left before Stacey got home, so I had 45 more minutes here. "I've got awhile here. I can stay a bit."

"Alright, but don't get into too much trouble when she catches you." Edgar said, walking past us.

"She won't catch me, Frog." I crossed my arms. "Anyways, if she ever did, I have some vampire hunters here to protect me." I said sarcastically.

"Oh wow. You're pulling at the heart strings." He mocked me. Mimicking all my movements and emotions.

He treated me like a little sister, and I wasn't sure if it was more endearing or anger inducing. Maybe his intentions were in the right place, which is nearly never true for a teenage boy, but his words never hit the mark.

"Whatever. I'm gonna look over here" I said, walking towards the horror comics.

"Okay Maya. Don't get too scared." He said, somewhat kidding.

"Mm" I absentmindedly acknowledged his comment, and didn't even have the energy to fight him on it.

As I was making my way towards horrors, a boy walked into the shop. Not totally unusual, but he was the cutest boy I had ever seen around here. I mean the shop was just us and this kid. And I realized I was staring as I thought all of this.

I quickly looked down at some comic, and started leafing through it as I noticed him walking towards me. I filled with anxiety to the brim. What if he asked me why I was staring? Should I lie? I mean it's not a bad reason to be staring, but it's awkward to just tell someone you've never met.

Before he had time to make it to me, if that was his goal, Edgar and Alan saved the day. For once. They went about normal torment that I didn't care enough to listen to. As they're talking about some Superman comic, I zoned out. I didn't care much anyways, and I was kind of into this one comic. About vampires, funnily enough.
Just as I was starting to get into it, Edgar snatched the book I had in my hands.

"Hey I was reading that!" I was already fed up with the day, but this was gonna be the death of me.

"Well tough. I need it for a sec, champ."

I really thought I was gonna kill him. Truly and honestly.

"You don't have anymore copies?" I crossed my arms. "Just this? In an entire comic book store?!"

"Sorry, just this. Now be quiet, I'm busy." He walked off book in hand and I threw my arms up exasperatedly. This was theatrical for Edgar.
Alan just shrugged and went on with his life.

Edgar took it over to this kid who he probably didn't even know the name of, torturing him even though Alan was already bored of it. I never truly understood what made him tick, but at least he was passionate.

I kept browsing around when the kid who came in earlier approached me. I hadn't noticed because I was so caught up in myself anyways and I was actively trying to avoid any chance of conversation.

I looked up from whatever I had been absentmindedly reading, and met the same pair of strikingly blue eyes.

"Did I scare ya?" He smirked a little bit and only then did I realize I had probably jumped about a foot in the air.

"Oh Jesus, sorry." I nervously laughed and looked down. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be there. Sorry."

He looked a little sympathetic, and I could tell he wasn't going to care. "Hey no need to apologize. You're in the horror stuff, didn't think you'd get scared."

"Oh yeah, I guess not." I felt kind of stupid. I knew nothing about comics anyways. I was praying to the universe that he didn't ask me anything. "Do you like scary stuff?"

"No way,-" he stopped and looked confused. "I don't believe we've introduced ourselves."

I smiled at his word choice. "Well, I am Maya Scott. Who're you?"

"I'm Sam Emerson. Just moved here."

"Well, nice to meet you." I brushed some hair behind my ear, and noticed the time. I needed to get home soon. "I'd love to talk more, but I've got to get home. My mom doesn't even know I'm out." I mentally kicked myself for saying that, now this kid that I don't even know other than a name, -which could be totally fake- knows I have nobody there for me.

Not that he himself could do much damage, he was a little scrawny, but tall. Still, I worried.

"Oh, I can walk you home." He noticed my unease. "If you'd like."

"Listen, I just don't know you all too well, and my mom doesn't even know I leave the house. If she saw me come home with a boy it might kill her." He laughed at what I had to say and picked up another book.

"Well okay, Maya Scott. Have a wonderful trip home and I'll see you later."

"Whatever you say, boss." He crinkled his nose a little bit at that.

As I walked out the door I waved bye at him and he winked. Adventurous boy.