Life As We Know It

Adrian

Authors note: the guys name is Adrian and then the girl is Thea (just different pictures of them, same people though).

A month has gone by since I saw that mysterious guy. He never came by my house again and I couldn't get myself to go back to that store. I don't know why I even got my hopes up. It's not like we even know each other and we barely talked either. I just need to forget about him, but I don't have anything interesting going on in my life right now either. It's the the new year and I have no plans, no life. I feel pathetic. I can't even hangout with Cassie or talk to her like we used too. She's always gone, she's going out with that guy she liked at the beginning of the year. I haven't even met him yet. Not that I want to, but she usually gushes about things like that to me. Not since that night before Christmas eve have we really had 'us' time. I don't want to beg for her attention, she deserves to be happy. I'm just weighing her down.

I stare out my window, feeling like I'm not really a part of this world. Just a passerby. I guess not everyone can be happy though.
"What're you doing? Gonna jump?" Said Jamie standing by the stairs. "No, just thinking." I kept staring out the window. I could hear him coming close, what did he want, I just want to be alone. "You do a lot of that lately" he said sitting down on my bed. I looked over at him, "I kinda miss Cassie." "I can tell, miss Debbie downer. You need to go do something to free your mind," he smirked at me. "Like what?" I asked. "Wanna come with me and try surfing? It can be hard at first but it's a pretty amazing feeling" he replied. Me surf? I don't think so. It might be nice to just go sit on the beach and watch the sunset though. "I don't think I'll surf but I wouldn't mind going with." I finally smiled a little. So we got into his jeep and drove to Pacific Beach.

"Alright I'm gonna go surf with some of the guys, will you be okay?" He asked. "Yeah I just wanna sit here in the sand and people watch" I chuckled a little to myself. "Be careful," he said waving as he went into the water. I never could understand how people could swim in the Pacific ocean, its freezing. My body always feels like it goes completely numb. I look around and everyone's so happy here. Like nothing really matters, you can forget about your life here. Forget about your problems. I try to dig my feet into the sand and lay down, just looking at the clouds. After awhile I close my eyes and drifted off.

When I opened my eyes, the sun was starting to set. I sat up and looked around for Jamie, but I didn't see him. He must've gone off with a girl. I decided to sit there a little longer and watch the sun completely set. All of the sudden someone sits down next to me. It was that mystery guy. I was so shocked I didn't even know what to say. "We meet again" he says just staring straight at the ocean. I still couldn't seem to get any words out of my mouth. He looks at me and even though it's not that light out I can feel him staring through me again. It gave me chills throughout my whole body. "How've you been?" He asked. "Um okay I suppose, how about you?" I said trying to get my voice to work. "Hmmm I don't think you're telling the truth," he said. "Maybe I just don't want to talk about it" I lied. I just don't want to seem pathetic to him. "I see. Do you come here often to watch the sun go down?" He actually sounded curious. But why? I'm not that interesting. "Not really, a friend invited me" I answered him. "Where are they now?" He asked. "I don't know honestly" I sighed. He stood up and asked, "Do you want to go somewhere with me?" He put his hand out again, like when we first met. I didn't even answer, I didn't even give it a second thought. I just grabbed it.

Here we were driving together again, I didn't know where though. We were headed away from the city. Why didn't this scare me? After 30 minutes, he pulled off onto a dirt road. A few minutes into that, we stopped. I didn't see anything, except that stars were clearer out here. He got out of the car, opened my door and reached out his hand. His hand was cool to the touch, but it felt so right to me. Like I never wanted to let go this mystery man's hand.
My heart was beating fast again. I wonder if he could feel it pulsating through my hand. We had to walk up this hill a little bit and then I saw what he wanted to show me. It was the city from a distance, you could see it all. Beautifully lit up. We just stood there looking at it holding hands. Time froze again for me. A moment I'll never forget. I looked over at him "What's your name by the way?" He looked at me, bent down and whispered, "Adrian."
Shivers went all the way down my spine. I've never felt this way about anyone, let alone a guy before. He actually smirked at me, it was small but enough to make me feel like my heart was about to burst out of my chest. He put his arm around my shoulder, holding me close. He was just staring at the city, and I was staring at him. "The city feels so small from here. I mean compared to the rest of the world" he said kind of quietly. I never really thought about it before. I guess to me it was big. But I was keeping myself in a box, I was scared to go anywhere alone. "Have you traveled a lot?" I asked. "Well I was born in Romania, lived there till I was 10. When my parents died, I got shipped off to my relatives in Russia. I ran away when I was 15 though and came to the US. The country of possibilities" he said so seriously. I didn't know he had such a dark past. I didn't think he even tell me so much about himself. Should I be worried? Will he leave again? Questions I wanted to ask, but couldn't. He's still so mysterious to me.
"I didn't think I'd ever meet someone like you Thea. You have this presence about you, it draws me to you. I tried to stay away, I don't want to hurt you" he looked at me with the saddest expression. "Why would you think you would?" I asked. He looked away from me, "because I have evil running through my veins..." What does that mean? It just made me more curious than scared. But I don't think he was going to say anymore right now. We walked back to his car and started driving back.
We got to my house, which he knew how to get there without me even telling him again. He must have a good memory. I didn't want to get out of the car though. He leaned over to me. I think he's going to kiss me. My first kiss. I closed my eyes and he kissed my cheek. He whispered goodnight in my ear. I told him goodnight too and got out of the car. I walked up my steps and when I got up to the front door I turned around to have one last look, but he was gone. There's that dream feeling again. But I get the feeling I'll see him again.