I Knew You Once

Chapter 9

There's blood everywhere. I take out my phone and call 911. Mason is bawling, and bent over a body. "No! Please!" Mason tries CPR on the body. "Come on! Please! You can't leave me!"

Mason gets blood all over his hands. He starts to cry. He couldn't do anything to help. I start to cry too. Uncle Joe was dead. He was the only family Mason had left. "Mason." I whisper in a sad tone. I try to comfort him.

"I can't." He turns and says to me.

"You can't what?"

"I can't do this anymore."

"Everything's gonna be okay." I try to kiss his cheek.

Mason pulls away. "Us. We can't be 'us' anymore."

"Why? Is it because of all that's happened? We can get through this. I love you." My last words drift off.

"I love you too. It's just, our relationship is too much to handle right now."

I am torn. "At least I know how you feel." It's too much to handle? I walk out of the house. The police cars pull up. "They're in the house." I tell one of the police officers. I get into my car and take a drive. My windows are down and I feel the cool breeze.

I stop at a red light and look at the person in the car next to me. There's a guy dancing to some music. He's nodding his head, moving his hands, and lip singing. I start to laugh. He notices me and rolls down the window. He starts singing to me. "I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Shame on me..."

Um... okay. The light turns green. I shake my head laughing and drive away. I keep thinking about Mason. Did he break up with me? I need to clear my mind and give him some space. I drive to Starbucks and walk towards the door. A guy opens the door for me. I look up to the guy and say, "Thank you." I finally realize it was the same guy who sang to me.

"Are you following me?" He asks.

"Uh.." I pause and give a little laugh. "No. Are you following me?"

"I don't think so. I like coffee." He raises his eyebrows. "A lot."

"Yeah...me too."

"I'm Josh." He takes his hand out for a shake.

"Julia." I smile and shake his hand.

We both walk in to take our order. Josh and I ordered the same thing. And we sat at the same table. "So...Julia. Where you from?"

"Dallas. What about you?"

"Orlando, Florida."

"Ah...the sunshine state."

He raises one eyebrow taking what I said offensively. "Oh? Well, Texas... 'We go big'." He mocks.

"It's true." I say proudly.

"Yeah... I can tell by looking at your big head." He chuckles.

My jaw drops open. "Rude much. At least we aren't infested with crocodiles."

"Well, at least we don't talk like this." He does a country accent.

I stand up and slam my hands on the table. "We Texans are unique. Not all of us talk like that though, we're not all cowboys, and yes we  have guns." I fold my arms and give a 'HA!' look.

"Well...we..." He struggles to get his words out. "Floridians...are unique too." He looks around to think. "At least we're not dry!"

I can't help but laugh. "You're an idiot. If you want to trash Texas, why are you here?"