Chasing An Echo

The Stranger

AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry for the late update guys. I've been super busy...but the above picture is of Theo...You will find out who he is.

*****************************************************************************

Echo stepped out the house and back onto the porch.

Thankfully the Thompsons got the point and left...for now at least. Echo's mom was still there though, waiting around for her more than likely. She turned when she heard Echo approaching and gave her a tight smile. Echo forced half a smile back but then something coming up the road fast caught Echo's attention.

It was a car, going waaaayyyy past the speed limit. Echo rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. The car was a 2009 BMW E 89 Z4 Roadster convertible with twin turbo charged engines and a 7 speed DCT transmission. And before you ask, NO she's not a car geek. But her idiot brother was and had ranted about this car for years now.

Even before he could afford the car all he did was talk about it..ALL....THE....TIME. Its gotten to the point that if he wasn't talking about girls, complaining about his job or picking on Echo, he was talking about his car, his 'baby'.

But for something he cherished so much, Echo could not believe how reckless he was driving it. Liam barely missed a parked car before skidding to a stop near the curb. Echo wasn't the only one who was shocked by her brothers blatant carelessness, their mother also wore a look of utter disbelief.

The driver's door swung open, but it wasn't a tall lanky guy with floppy red hair that got out., it wasn't Liam. It was some random dude, some complete stranger. This dude was slightly bigger than Liam, but not as tall. He had greasy black hair and piercings. He wore a plain white t-shirt, faded blue jeans and only from what Echos seen so far, has a total of 3 tattoos. Two on his right arm, one on the side of his neck. Definitely not Liam's usual crowd.

When he saw us, he slightly smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

The passenger door suddenly opened then almost instantly slammed shut again. Now it was Liam who got out...... and he looked pissed. He stalked around the front of the car to reclaim his keys from the mystery driver. Stranger dude nonchalantly tossed Liam the keys which only angered Echo's brother more. He got in the guys face, but the guy didn't back down despite being a whole foot shorter, which looked like it surprised Liam just as much as it did Echo.

"Dude, what the hell! Do you even know how expensive this car was! You could have wrecked it!" Liam yelled. The guy gave a soft smirk and cocked one eye brow up at Liam.

"Dude, what the hell! Its just a car" He mocked. He pushed past Liam and continued towards Echo.

He stopped a few feet away from the small porch and she noticed him taking in her face

" Your Echo right? Echo Louise Harris?" He said randomly.

"Aren't you suppose to like introduce yourself before you make it obvious your some creepy stalker?"

"Um yea....my bad...But are you Echo?" He asked, still not introducing himself.

Echo slowly nodded yes all the while thinking this guy is creepy...but in a sexy way. If that makes sense.

"I'm Theo by the way, Theo Williams." He said.

"Mmkay....Nice to meet you 'Theo' but can you tell me why your here? And how you know me??" Echo said quizzically. He gave her a short laugh, more of a laughing-snort really then scratched the back of his scruffy head.

"Yeah I guess I went about that kinda weird huh? My bad if I creeped you out. Im here to find you. All Amelia talked about was you and given that shes-" he trailed off for a moment, looking as sad as Echo felt," Well I decided I'd meet you.... for her you know"

This dude has a really hard time fully explaining himself, it was frustrating how mysterious he was being.

"Okay.....So how exactly did you know Amelia then" At first he seemed really confused by her question then for some reason a hint of hurt clouded his already dark eyes.

"She never mentioned me?" He asked and Echo gave a slight shake of her head.

"Me and Amelia.....Well I'm her...Or I was her boyfriend. For like the past six months now."

A boyfriend? Amelia never mentioned that. And for six months?? How much of her new life did she keep from Echo? Why didn't she want her to know?? Was she hiding this for a reason?

How much of a double life had Amelia been living? He knew about Echo, but why did Echo never hear of him?

Maybe their relationship wasn't as serious as he's taking it. That would be just like Amelia, to lead a guy on for this long.

Or maybe...Maybe Amelia just didn't want Echo involved anymore. She moved away to get far from everything that reminded her of her parents. Had Echo become an unwelcome reminder?

Echo didn't know the answer herself. But maybe this Theo guy would. Maybe this perfect stranger could fill her in on her best friend. Ironic isn't it?