Let's Take the Road Before Us

Chapter 1

It all started the day after Christmas break ended. I had woken up, grumbling and pissed off at my alarm, to see that my dad had left without a trace. Probably training. I usually got up early every morning to train, but I had worked really hard yesterday and was too sore. 

So I had to drive the car to school myself. I ate a meager breakfast consisting of cereal and a protein shake and then saw Sammy off on the school bus. He always looked so excited to go to school, which was a big change from the beginning of the year when he had gotten bullied constantly. Being his brother, hearing about it really pissed me off, but I knew that if I did anything it would only make it worse. So I stayed out of it. Luckily, the problem resolved itself when Sam beat up the kid that was picking on him, in front of the whole school, might I add. Now he had a lot of friends and got respect that he deserved.

Once Sam was on the bus, I gathered my few books together and hopped into my Impala, a gift from my dad for making a prestigious ski team a couple years back.

The day was surprisingly warm, which almost never happened during winter in the Rocky Mountains. Not a cloud was in sight. The fact that snow still lingered on the ground made it even more difficult to see, so I put my aviator sunglasses on to block the bright sun reflecting off the ground.

I ducked into the car and fell onto the plush, leather seats. I set my backpack beside me on the seat and turned the keys, making the engine purr to life. After a moment of thinking, I decided that I had enough time to go grab a cup of coffee from a little cafe in town.

I pulled out of our badly-shoveled driveway. After a couple minutes of driving while listening to my old cassette tapes, I parallel parked into a tight space in front of Rose's Cafe. My first thought was to turn the volume down to almost silent. I often got complaints that I was too loud, and I didn't feel like dealing with that today.

I killed the engine and hopped out of the open door.

Main Street, usually the center of meetings and chatting, was now dead silent.I knew I probably should have felt creeped out, like a herd of homicidal zombies were going to stroll into town at any moment. Instead, the atmosphere just felt overwhelmingly peaceful.

I made my way to the front door of the cafe and stepped through the front door. A million scents immediately bombarded me. I paused in the doorway to take a deep breath, letting my lungs fill to the brim with the divine air that was teeming the cafe.

"Dean!" A familiar voice found me from behind the counter. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

I flashed the girl my famous smirk and headed to her.

"Hey Charles," I greeted as I leaned against the warm, pristine counters.

"You know my name is Charlie," She pouted.

"Charles sounds better."

"Whatever. What can I getcha?"

I didn't hesitate to ask for the usual, which caused her to smile knowingly.

"One caramel macchiato coming right up!"

Guilty pleasure.

Charlie was probably my best friend, if I had a best friend. We'd known each other since kindergarten, and we remained friends even when she dropped out of high school last year. We had probably grown so close because in seventh grade she had told me her biggest secret, that she was gay. I didn't care, I hadn't wanted to be with her or anything. Although, hanging out with her brought out the best in me, even when I didn't think that was possible. Especially when I didn't think it was possible.