The Lonely Girl

4

"So did you make it to the Mongols yet and the Golden Horde?"

I hoped she didn't notice the way my voice shook just being this close to her. 

I had no idea what prompted me to grab my things and stride to their seat they had been previously sitting in, but I couldn't take another second being around Colton and those assholes.

Alec made things tolerable, usually, but lately had taken to putting his headphones in and ignoring everyone else like the plague, and so that left me suffering while my ex girlfriend flirted with Alec's friend right in front of me. 

I would've called Colton a friend, too, but it was more like we were acquaintances.  I didn't want to be friends with anyone who treated people the way he did, least of all women. 

I felt terrible for anyone being shackled to that asshat.  The woman he eventually married was going to be doomed. 

The least I could do was spend some time with Camille, who'd looked at me as if I'd grown a second head just to even attempt to sit with her on the bus, though her friend had been all for it. 

I couldn't help the magnetic pull that drew me to her. 

Yes, I felt terrible that I allowed the guys to say horrible things about her and sometimes her friend, but there wasn't much I could do besides tell them to knock their shit off and remind them they'd beat the hell out of anyone who spoke about their sister or mother that way. 

The reprimands only went so far, though, and they usually picked up right where they left off once I was out of earshot, anyway, if their never changing behavior was any clue. 

Only for Alec.  If it weren't for him...

Camille shifted uncomfortably in her seat, eyes flicking from me to the confused 'friends' seated at the back of the bus.  

I had no problems ignoring what they thought was 'appropriate' for me.  Who I hung out with outside of their toxic group was none of their business, especially since once Nate came to his senses about their true nature we'd be out of there faster than Usain Bolt crushing another world record. 

There was a sense of rebellion that came with sitting with Camille, but it wasn't just that about her that made me want to sit with her. 

I couldn't help but feel that there was some strange familiarity that called me to her, like I'd met her before but had no recollection of it whatsoever. 

A flash of the sunlight scorched into my retinas and I was suddenly brought back to a football game in August, our first of the season. 

The weather had been unseasonably hot and by the time the sun set, the stadium lights blinded me just as effectively as the daylight had. 

A gorgeous silhouette cast in a dark shadow laughed in a twinkling cacophony of brightness that flooded the dark night around us.  

Her hand fit perfectly in mine, soft and smooth and sweet as her scent that floated into my nose as I bent down to push her silky strands of long brown hair behind her ear until--