They met in a parking lot. She was lying on the pavement and he had pulled into a convenience store for a midnight snack. When he saw the still body lying in the corner of a parking lot he was reasonably concerned. He came out of the store with a box of cupcakes and made his way over to her.
"Are you okay?" He called out, approaching.
"I'm fine," she replied with a hint of spite in her voice.
"Then why are you lying on the pavement?" He inquired, sitting down beside her.
"No one can stop me, and this place seems as good as any," she muttered. He was slightly surprised by her nonchalant reply.
"Are you drunk, or on drugs or something?" He once again questioned, with a note of reproach.
She laughed, and sat up. Pushing her dark hair out of her face she shook her head.
"No, I think my personality is crazy enough without any chemicals. I'm not into that stuff anyways."
He smiled, part terrified, part intrigued, "Good, me neither," and then continuing, "Do you, live around here?"
Her eyes widened, looking down at her feet for a couple minutes.
Suddenly she spoke, "What do you think home is?"
He was again surprised. It was past midnight, he really should get home soon. Then again, it wasn't really home.
"Well, I don't know. For a while I thought it was a house. Then a town. Then I thought maybe it was somewhere I wanted to go eventually. Now I don't think it's a place at all."
She kept looking at her feet in silence. Her brow was furrowed.
He kept going, "I think it's a person. It's the people you're afraid to let go of. The ones you never want to lose, and when you talk to them you finally feel like something is right."
She smiled near the end. "I...want that. That sort of home sounds incredible. For me home is everywhere. That means it's also nowhere. It's like wanderlust. You have to keep going places, and the longer you stay the less it feels like home. The more you realize you're out of place and then eventually you wonder if you belong anywhere..." She hugged her knees.
Silence surrounded them. Neither was sure if it was awkward or a silence where both could rest comfortably in companionship.
Finally he spoke, "I've never been much for introductions."
"Me neither," she smirked.
"Do you have a name?" The question posed itself with slight sarcasm.
"Of course. I'll tell you eventually."
Both of them chuckled. The silence coated the strangers once again and at one point the boy got up to drive home. No words were necessary, it was clear they would see each other again at some point.
