When You Find Me (On Hold)

Chapter 1- Since You've Been Gone

~Four Years Later~

Chapter 1

Since You've Been Gone

~Autumn's P.O.V.~

"I'm clocking in like a job, I wanna work that body-ody, work that body!" I flung my hair around, singing at the top of my lungs. I was jumping around so much that the floor was shaking a bit, but I didn't care. My dad wasn't home, so I had no rules.

I skipped downstairs, singing the song lightly, and headed to my kitchen. I looked in about five cupboards before I found what I was searching for- a super-size tub of butter creme vanilla icing and a bag of M&M's, also known as the mother of sugar rushes, not that I needed it. But, hey, I'd had to watch what I ate all summer, due to my dance competitions, and now was my time to pack on some blubber before school.

A loud series of barks from outside startled me, causing me to drop my M&M's. I frowned at the poor candy on the ground, about to tell my Australian Sheperd mix, Kila, to shut her trap, when I realized what her frantic barking meant.

Xander was back from Texas.

A slow smile crept across my face. I jumped out of my chair and flung myself out the front door, still only in my black crop top and sparkly pink shorts, to meet him before he had a chance to get close. He spotted me immediately, rolled his eyes, and dropped his bag, right before I hopped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist.

"Miss me, Autie bug?" He asked, laughing.

"No, not at all you doofus," I joked, pulling back a little to glare at him.

"Well, I missed you," He kissed the top of my head. "Hear from Sommer yet?"

"Yeah, she's still in the Bahamas livin' it up."

Sommer was our other best friend. Over the summer, she had gone to the Bahamas and Xander had gone to Texas while I stayed here except when I had a dance competition.

I plopped back down to the gound and ran back inside to get to eating my iced M&M's. Xander followed close behind.

"Really, Autie? Icing and M&M's? I thought you had to cut that out of your diet."

"Eh. I was struggling with icing withdrawal. And, dance competitions are over for now," I shrugged and sat on his lap on the couch.

He fake grunted. "Dang, I can already tell you've given up on healthy eating!"

"Xander!" I slapped him on the back of the head. "No fat jokes!"

"Just kidding! You're still my itty bitty buggie. So, you win anything this summer?"

"A few first places, a second, me and Alliya got first place at Nationals with our duet. And I won a National title!" I did my mini happy dance.

"Nice. So, are you going to model the tiara or what?"

I smiled and ran up to my room, grabbing my tiara off my shelf, where it rested with a few others and my plaques and trophies. I placed it on my head, running my fingers through my wild brown waves. Then, I strutted gracefully down the stairs, smiling and waving like a princess, sending Xander into a laughing fit.

"What? It's my professional strut!" I shouted at him.

"Let me know when that works for you," He tried to catch his breath while I stared him down.

*****

"So, what's going down tonight, Autie?"

I pursed my lips, thinking for a second. "Definitely movie, carmel corn, and pizza. And I get to pick the movie, since you left me alone all summer."