Once Upon A Forever (Preview)

Chapter Four

I am resting at my solidarity

content

with the integrated essence

of morning

Willingly elusive

for the fear of getting there alone

to the place I long to be

Cooper

Four Years Ago

"You coming over tonight?" Thanks to my dad's obsession with safety, Ariel's voice came at me through the car speakers in surround sound.

"I have to study," I said.

"Study for what?" Ariel said, waking me up from my daydream.

"Uni is going to be a lot harder than High School."

"I don't know why you're even going," Ariel said. "You're dad said he's giving you a job at one of his hotels. And, in a few years, you'll be taking it over."

Just like staying in Ash Falls, working for my dad wasn't top on my list of things I wanted to do. I pressed the button for the ignition, and then, pulled out of the parking space. Having wrapped up another long shift at the Ferris wheel, I hadn't the time or the desire to talk to her. I wanted to tell her it was really over this time. We were never getting back together. Then again, Ariel wouldn't bat one eye at what I had to say. She lived in her own world. A world, I didn't want to be part of.

Plus, after the universe placed Emma in my life, Ariel couldn't be further from my mind. I knew from the first second I lay eyes on Emma that she was different than any girl I'd ever been with. I wanted to know more about her. Fuck that – I needed to know more.

Ariel breathed a loud sigh. "Anyway, a bunch of us are going to the fire pit tonight."

"I told you, I'm studying," I said, turning into a drive-thru window. I ordered fries, soda, and two cheeseburgers.

"After," Ariel said.

"Maybe." I shoved a handful of fries in my mouth. "Call you later." I hung up before she found another reason to keep me on the phone. The fire pit was literally just that, a fire pit. Jesse and Leo had gathered the huge rocks from the ocean two summers ago. It became our place to go at night, have a few beers, make out with girls. I'd brought Ariel there a few times myself, and occasion had gone further than just making out.

But, I didn't want to go to the fire pit, not tonight, and not with her. I just wanted to lay low for a while from everyone. Get away from Ash Falls for a few hours. So, instead of heading home, I kept driving, toward the city limits. I increased the volume on the radio full blast, watching the town I grew up in fly past me.

Ash Falls is a small town where secrets can't be kept, and everyone knows everyone's business. It's made up of three avenues, and twenty blocks. At the edge of town, is Seagate, the only gated community where the well-off people live. People like Ariel and me. The idyllic place for suburban families looking to live in their perfectly crafted bubbles of money, and prestige. The place I'd always called home.

However, once you cross the city limits, you end up at a crossroads, the border between Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend where there are plenty of options to party, or get lost.