So, the first of my story projects with Standing_in_the_dark, it's not great. My deadline approached too fast...anyways enjoy! :D
Volcano
"Oh, come on Charlotte. Why can't you just lighten up already? It's just a beer." I blew out an angry breath, glaring at my boyfriend Jacob. There were two reasons I didn't want to drink tonight. One was that I just didn't see the point in alcohol, the other was that I didn't fully trust Jacob not to take advantage of a drunk Charlie. Amanda was looking at me with an exasperated expression. She also, apparently, thought I was no fun.
"If I don't wanna drink, I don't wanna drink. I don't need alcohol to have fun and just because you're jealous of that fact doesn't mean you get to put pressure on me, okay?" I looked around at them, my 'friends', none of whom I liked and none of who liked me. But that's how it was since my parents moved me from public to private school two years ago. I hadn't made a single real friend, and I'd lost my old ones. I thought of Adam, my best friend in the world and in the last few months, the best boyfriend anyone could have wished for. And Madisson, who I'd only known for about a year before I'd left but who I trusted and laughed with and missed almost as much as Adam.
All of a sudden Jacob threw down the beer he was attempting to make me drink and shook his head. "Why don't you just break up with me already Charlotte? We both know you're not interested, and to be honest, neither am I." I failed to see why he couldn't do it, but I was fed up with his crap and so I stood up. "Fine. We're over. Happy?"
He gave me a smug grin and then turned around and made out with Amanda. This would have been bad enough if I weren't clever enough to grasp, because of Amanda's total lack of surprise, that this wasn't the first time. I turned on the spot and walked away from them along the long narrow beach. When I was out of their sight I forgot about any dignified exits and ran straight ahead.
After about a mile, I threw myself into a sitting position on the sand and buried my head in my arms. I didn't care about Jacob and Amanda. To be honest, I was relieved. The relationship had never made me happier and something had always been missing. Something important was always missing. What made my heart sink was my realisation that Jacob had driven me here, and my parents were in London for the weekend. I had absolutely no way of getting home. And that simple fact, that I had no one I could depend in case of an emergency, that I depended solely and completely upon my parents, just crashed into me, and it snapped. Whatever had been telling me that everything was fine for the last few months just cracked in half. It was irrational and pointless and silly, but it rendered me inconsolable. Sitting on the beach near midnight, I sobbed like a child.
Half an hour later, I was still crying, when I heard a voice. "Hey- are you alright?" I looked up and froze. The guy did the same, gazing at me with a puzzled expression before he realised the same thing I had. "Charlie?" I nodded, not trusting my voice. How much of a coincidence could it be that I'd been thinking about Adam tonight and here he was? I wasn't a believer of fate, but this was too weird. "Charlie, what's the matter? Can I help?" I still couldn't find my voice so he took my hand. "Please tell me. Maybe I can help."
I gulped. Typical Adam. He hated me when he found out that I'd be leaving school, and he was the one who decided we shouldn't see each other anymore, but now he was all about helping, because I was upset.
"You'll laugh."
"I really don't think I will. It doesn't seem funny."
"Okay, I have no ride home." His eyebrows shot up. "That's it?"
I laughed a bit. "It's really a combination of many other things and the having no ride home thing just...I couldn't take any more you know?"
He pulled me up using the hand he was still holding, picked up my bag and starting pulling me away. "Well, I can certainly help with the final problem, reverting you back to a volcano about to erupt."
"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means," I smiled a little tearfully, "How are you? And Madisson?"
He glanced sideways. "Better than you I guess, but we miss you like hell. I miss you like hell." His brown eyes met mine. "What about you? What led you to breaking point?"
I hesitated. I didn't want to say, but we had always been honest with each other. "I miss you guys too. I haven't really made any friends since I moved down and it's awful." He stopped walking, and turned me around to face him.
"If you haven't made any friends, it must be pretty damn bad there. But I mean, I know two years ago it seemed like the end of the world when you left but, we have cars now and phones and there's really no reason why we shouldn't still hang out if we miss each other." He must have seen the drastic change in my expression because he followed with, "we could even...pick up where we left off. Pretend the last two years never happened?"
I couldn't stop the grin forming on my face. "That would mean that we're still going out." I raised my eyebrows curiously.
He grinned back. "I know," he whispered, leaning down to kiss me, and he did. And everything locked back into place. There was no emptiness, and nothing missing. And I felt like even if I didn't have a way of getting home tonight, I could probably have dealt with it.
