Far Gone

Chapter 8: Boy on fire

I jump in my car and slam the door closed, I'm trying to put my seat belt on as I put the keys in the ignition and I'm shaking which isn't help anything. I look around quickly making sure I haven't forgotten anything, as I look back at the coffee shop I see in the wide window Eric still sitting at the sofa looking right back at me. He slowly holds up my wallet and shakes it at the window with a sly grin. What the hell, I look down at my pockets and start patting myself like crazy and once I've come to the conclusion that I'm an idiot and just left my wallet in the store I turn the car off and get out of car not bothering to close the door and speed walk back to the shop. I don't have time for his silly games right now I walk in and there he is with my wallet in hand staring at me with those deep blue eyes and grin playing across his lips like this was all a huge joke.

"I think you left something behind mate" he says with a snicker "oh well you don't say I hadn't noticed" I reach for the wallet and him seeing I'm not in a joking mood hands over the wallet. As I turn and get ready to leave here he goes again with his obvious stalling. "Hmm eggs, bacon, sausage and cheese. yum sounds like a tasty sandwich." I flip around to see him closely examining my sandwich that I left on the table but the way he had the sandwich so close to his lips and was probably breathing all over it made me uneasy. "Look Eric you can have the sandwich I just really have to go there's an emergency at my house, I'm sorry but I'm gonna need you to stop stalling." he lets out a chuckle and looks me in the eyes with an innocent look  " stalling how did you know I was stalling?" " Because for one I'm not a complete idiot and two I do that all the time with my husband so he wont leave the house so I'm the master of stalling" I said with confidence. He scrunched his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy "oh yeah your husband" he let out a long sigh and rubbed hard at the back of his neck. Eric was really muscular like not body builder muscular but the I work out often muscular and with every move he made his arms tensed up and you could see obvious veins on is hands it kind of made me uneasy and uncomfortable at the moment.
" hey well I know you really have to go so ill stop stalling and let you get on your way now, ill talk to you later Louis." he said with one last grin and he got up and walked out.

That was such a strange encounter it was like you could see right through him how lonely he was how desperate he was to talk to someone to be best buddies with someone but I don't have time to dwell on these thoughts because I have to get home right now. I run back to my car that's still open and I jump in and put the keys in then put my belt on and change gears and pull out of the parking lot. I speed down the road towards my house and get there in a matter of minutes. I pull into my driveway and put the car in park. I get out of the car and I see a fire truck parked at the front of my house and one firefighter standing at my door talking with my neighbor, as I approach my neighbor Margret she breaks eye contact with the man she's talking with and look past him. She steps around him and runs to me and jumps into a hug I wasn't prepared for "Oh goodness Louis I'm so glad you're here I was so worried for you and your home." she said in a panic which freaked me out because the way she's making it seem the inside of my house is all ash and dust. "Well now I'm here and I appreciate you calling help but I have to go speak with the firefighter and see what I'm dealing with here." I give her one last reassuring hug and step around her. I walked up to the man on my porch and he's much taller then me and this guy looks more like a male stripper then a firefighter and it takes me off guard at first. " so um how bad is it did any of my things get saved or-" He cuts me off with his super deep voice and sharp tone "Look you need to get a grip your house is fine, some idiot left a toaster plugged up with toast jammed in it and the toaster was on the highest setting which burnt the toast and ruined a toaster. By the time we got here it was a tiny fire on your counter and we just put it out with the extinguisher so were done here and tell the idiot who did this to stay out of the kitchen." I just stared at this rude man standing above me and just felt the urge to slap him but I just took a deep breath and looked at him and said " Thank you for your help now if you could be so kind and get off of my property because your "job" is done here" and I made a shooing hand motion at him. He gave me a stern look and stood there for an awkward minute then he scuffed then turned around and headed to his truck.

Margret came up to me and made sure everything was ok and gave me one last hug and concerned look then turned and headed back to her house next door. I took one more last deep breath and turned to my house. When I stepped in all you could smell was that awful burnt smell. I plugged my nose and ran to get the air freshener, I swiped it off the shelf and started spraying it all over the house. finally when the whole house smelled of Hawaiian breeze I decided to shower off the day. Just as I was about to head up stairs I heard a knock at the door, that's funny I'm not expecting anyone and no one just randomly pops up. I go to the front door and grab the handle but I just stand there and hold the door knob staring at the door. No Louis don't get your hopes up It cant possibly be Harry I wanted so bad to not get my hopes up but all the thoughts raced through my mind and I couldn't help my self. Another hard knock snapped me back and this time I ripped the door open making the person and me jump. I didn't realize I was holding my breathe until I let out a long breath when I saw Stan standing there with wide eyes. "Mr. Styles I'm sorry I don't normally just knock on doors like this unless I have something for you to sign but I saw a fire truck just leave your house as I was a bit concerned. It took me a moment to think of words and to swallow because my throat was so dry and finally the words were there. "Oh hey yeah don't worry about it something just got left plugged in and started a small fire but everything is ok now I promise." I saw him let out a sigh and collect himself. " Ok that's good to hear don't give me a scare like that. Well I have to continue my mail run so I'll see you around and sorry for the trouble." Stan turned and before he got to the end of my walkway I realized he hadn't given me a letter so I just assumed he put it in the box. I flew to the box and took out three envelopes two were bills and one of them was another late birthday present. wait no he must have forgotten its not in here.

I ran after Stan to the next house and grabbed his shoulder and he almost jumped out of his skin because he had his headphones in. " I'm sorry Stan I didn't mean to frighten you but you forgot to give me my letter from harry" He gave me a confuse look and then gave me and understanding look. "Oh Louis there was no letter again this time." What was he saying to me he had to have a letter its been two days without a letter from harry and that's the longest he's taken to respond or for it to get here. " no no no you might have over looked it or it might have gotten mixed up at the post office they do that all the time right so-" Stan firmly grabbed my shoulders and shook me "Get a grip lad I've checked three times now and me checking again isn't gonna make it magically appear in here. Now I'm sure there was just some trouble with the post office and it'll be here tomorrow but you cant just let yourself go like that." He was right I was acting out and I need to get ahold of myself.

I fix myself and apologize to Stan that he had to see my like that and he just gives me a pat on the back and continues on. Even though I know I'm overreacting I cant help but hope and pray that my Harry's okay and hopefully he'll be on his way home soon. Please be ok.

WHATS UP MY WEIRDOS ITS ME GABBY SORRY THIS ONE IS SO SHORT BUT I WAS KIND OF IN A RUSH BUT HERE YOU GO. HOPEFULLY I CAN GET ON A CONSISTANT UPDATING SCHEDULE BUT SINCE SCHOOL IS STARTING BACK UP AND SHOWCHOIR SEASON IS STARTING I HAVE TO FIND A TIME TO FIT IT IN THERE BUT DONT WORRY ILL FIGURE OUT YOU MY WEIRD READER JUST WORRY ABOUT READING AND ILL LET YOU KNOW WHERE ILL GO FROM HERE. ALSO HOPE YOUR ENJOYING SO FAR AND THANKS FOR READING THIS FAR LIKE WOW REALLY THANKS HAHA. WELL MY CAT HAS BEEN LAYING ON MY NECK FOR 4 HOURS STRAIGHT SO I THINK ITS TIME TO GET UP NOW AND SHOWER AND HOPEFULLY I DONT SLIP AND FALL. AAHH SEE WHAT I DID THERE AHHH... OH. NO.. ALRIGHTY THEN SEE YA :) :)