One More Summer

Chapter 3

-Michael-

        Almost two weeks went by. I felt empty. It was not a new feeling, and I'd made it through it before, I reminded myself, looking at the scars on my wrists. But that didn't help.

        It wasn't because of Emma that I felt this way. Yes, I missed her, and that was what had caused the first few days of heartache. But after that, I couldn't get the long-haired girl from the beach out of my head. It was stupid. I didn't even know her name, and from what she'd seen, she probably hated me.

        I'd learned from my past. I tried as hard as I could to not let the depression pull me under again. It was hard when life didn't even feel like living.

        So I threw myself into the band that I had with Calum and Luke. I filled the songs I wrote with heartbroken lyrics.

        "Dude, are you doing okay?" Calum asked me one day at band practice as I angrily strummed my guitar. 

        "Yeah, man. I'll be fine," I sighed, setting the guitar down. 

        "Okay. You know my friend Ashton?" Calum asked, and I shrugged in response. "Well, he's a drummer, it turns out. So since we need an actual drummer and not Luke's pathetic skills, he's auditioning today."

         "That's great!" I said, and I genuinely meant it. Just then there was a knock on the door. Calum stood up to open it, revealing a guy with curly brown hair and snakebites. I expected him to be alone, but following him was the girl from the beach, the one with short hair. Her eyes widened in surprise as the other girl followed her in.

        "Leah," the first girl whispered. So that was her name. Leah. It fit perfectly.

        "Casey, you can stay here, but I'm leaving," Leah said angrily, but it was pretty obvious that she wasn't actually going anywhere.

        "No, please, I need to talk to you," I said frantically, and Leah eyed me warily.

        "Ugh. Whatever," she said, and we stepped to the side of the room. "Explain." I took a deep breath, looking Leah in the eyes.

        "First off, I swear I didn't mean to hit her." Leah just raised her eyebrows. 

        "Then why'd you do it?"

        "I'm-I'm not really sure. And I know I've ruined my chances of ever being with her again, and since you might know her, please just tell her I'm sorry, okay?" I said.

        "So, that's all you wanted to talk to me about?" Leah asked, looking suspicious. Well, even more suspicious.

        "Yeah, pretty much," I lied. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that her face fell just the tiniest bit when I said all I wanted to know about was Emma.

        "I can't believe I'm going to say this," Leah breathed. "But you're really messing with my head." My eyes widened. Surely she couldn't be feeling the same way as me, could she? 

        "What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

        "It's like-" she said, and laughed softly, nervously, breathy. "It's like I can't function without you. And this-this is so weird. I've met you, twice, and from what I can tell, you seem like a son of a bitch. But now that I'm talking to you, it's like I'm seeing in color, not black and white." Her face went red as she finished speaking.

        "Um.." I said, not sure how to tell her that I was feeling the exact same way. Her eyes widened, and a hand went to her mouth.

        "Shit, sorry," she mumbled, and turn and practically ran from me.

        "Leah-" I half called out, reaching a hand after her, but it was too late. I'd lost the chance to tell her how I felt.