𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞☆||𝗄𝗂𝗋𝗄 𝗁𝖺𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗍

6| 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫.

𝟔:𝟎𝟑 𝐚𝐦

I wandered through the trails on the beach, my feet sinking into the sand with each step i took.
The sun was only just rising, and the sound of flying seagulls was overhead as I took a deep breath of the oceans strong scent.

Eventually, I found a spot to sit, dragging my fingers through the soft sand as I looked out into the ocean. I noticed the beautiful clouds that say above the distant waves, overhead of the sea animals that lay on the ocean floor. I thought about their individual lives, and how every living thing has a different story. The blank sky left a bitter feeling in my stomach, as I truly felt how alone I was. The whole beach was empty, and I was sat alone with my distressing guilt.

As I looked far out into the sea blue waves, I hugged myself tightly, a single tear falling off my cheek as a breeze flew through the sand. Lightly between the sound of flowing waves, someones footsteps got louder and louder. "Hey." A soft spoken stranger stood behind me, holding a pack of cigarettes between his pale fingers. "Hi." I try to wipe my eyes, hiding my tears. "Can I sit?" A cheesy smile cracked on his face as he moved to sit down next to me. "Need a cig?" He looked at me with deep blue eyes, his blonde hair fluffing up around his ears. He was definitely cute, he had a rocker look. Long, fluffy blonde hair with deep blue eyes and ripped skinny jeans. "Yes please." I sighed with relief as he lit the cigarette under his palm.

"What brings you out here so early?" He took a long drag from his cig before looking up at the sky and exhaling. His cute pale face was shone upon by the orange morning sky, his jaw tilted to the clouds as he sat with his wobbling arms rested on his knees.

"Just, resolving some things." I copy his movements, blowing smoke into the sky before turning to him. He looked at me with a slim smile, contagious enough to spread to my lips for the first time since I broke up with Kirk. "Ah, same."  He nodded before pointing to the distant clouds with the tip of his burning cigarette.

"See those clouds? I wanna go there some day." He let out a chuckle. "W-what?" I smiled with confusion. "You know, make friends with the little doggy ghosts while floating around in the clouds!" He bumped me with his shoulder, laughing lightly. "I could totally fly around watching over my dumb bandmates, or famous people!" There was a silence, I was all rosey and red from his weird jokes for some reason.

"Nah, i'm just messing around, i'm not going anywhere." He laughed before bumping his shoulder against mine. I began to giggle, but I was overshadowed with the remembrance of Kirk. I told him I wouldn't go anywhere, now here we are. I'm back in my hometown of Canon Beach, Oregon. Back where I started 25 years ago.

With a sudden jerk of his arm going into the air, he looked at his watch, then back at me. "Would you wanna grab breakfast with me?"

"But your a stranger." I giggled.

"Okay, stranger.. You got a name?" He said sarcastically.

"I'm Amara, you?"

"James." He said with a tired smile before taking my hand and leading me off the sand.

His cold hands sent a shiver down my spine, squeezing his hand tighter as I jumped up to my feet. "Pig 'n Pancake is open!" He pointed to the bright green sign, taking my hand and running through the prickly sea grass. "Come on!" We ran onto the concrete, slyly making it through the door of the dimly lit restaurant, the smell of hazelnut coffee making us drool.

"We can eat free if we eat a whole plate of pancakes in 20 minutes." He grinned before taking a seat and immediately calling the waitress over.

𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞:

"James, you have syrup on your nose, blegh!" I licked my thumb and wiped it off of his nose as we continued to chow down on the pancakes. These were a childhood favorite, of course I would end up eating 7 pancakes and 2 cups of hazelnut coffee.

"I still don't know how you ate 7!" He could barely speak with how full his stomach was, before letting out a huge belch for the whole restaurant to hear. "Wow.. Cute." I smacked his arm as he was taking a sip of coffee, making him choke. He choked on the warm beverage, the brown coffee splattering onto his face as we broke out in teary eyes laughter. "I blame you!" He slammed his fist on the table, hiding his face while trying not to hysterically disrupt the building with his laughing. "Sh!" I wiped off his face quickly before covering his giggling mouth with my hand. "James.."

After cleaning ourselves up, we stepped out into the fresh morning breeze getting looks from passing pedestrians, full from pancakes and coffee, we said our goodbyes with the slip of a phone number, and a side hug. "Seeya" He smiled awkwardly as we parted ways.

Walking home, I felt a warm presence, almost Like Kirk was with me the whole time, and we were walking together. I never felt like we truly weren't good for each-other. I could get him down to a level of deep conversation where he began to feel comfortable crying in front of me, and cuddling me.

As I got back home, I plopped onto my bed, my emotions instantly attacking me like piranhas. I couldn't help but think about Kirk, the dream I had about him. I could feel my fingers gripping the sides of my thighs tighter, a painful sting ineffective, i just couldn't get his name out of my head. My eyes were filled with blinding tears as I began to let everything out. I choked a sob as my cries got louder and louder. The cute, caring, amazing boyfriend I had was a thousand miles away, forgetting about me. His addiction had started after the Master of Puppets tour, after Cliffs death. He drank and drank, destroying hotel rooms, refusing to talk to me until he was on his knees sobbing and crying, screaming at god to give his best friend back.

I remembered how broken he felt, like he was screaming deafeningly loud in an echo chamber and nobody could hear him. At night, I could hear him silently sobbing and whining in his sleep, repeating Cliffs name with quivering lips as I held him, desperately trying to comfort him back to sleep. He was a fragile person, everything that happened the morning of September 26th, he felt guilt for.