I Caught Fire || Book 1 of 'I Caught Fire Series'

Chapter 3 - Ultimatums

Four Months Later

"There you go, sir." I say, placing the sirloin steak down in front of the middle aged man.

"Thank you, Miss." He says, giving me a smile.

I turn and make my way back towards the kitchen, letting out a sigh. I walk over towards the other waitresses and Kelly groans, "I need to get this hair cut, it keeps getting in the way."

"Yeah, but do you remember when you last did that and you came out looking like Lord Farquad?" I say, looking back at her.

Sandra laughs and shakes her head, "That was terrible!"

"Yeah, okay. Let's not bring that up again." Kelly murmurs, folding her arms and walking towards the view to the restaurant.

"Oh, he's cute." She says, looking through the view.

"Who is?" Sandra asks, picking at her nails.

"Brunette hottie that just walked in. Avery, come check him out." She says and I shake my head, "No thanks."

"Come on, he'd be a good rebound for that guy." She argues and I tense up at her words. She realises her mistake and I sigh, walking over to where she is to not make her feel bad. I look through the view and I freeze up when I see who it is.

He turns and I meet his hazel eyes, the breath being completely knocked out of me. I almost can't believe my eyes, thinking maybe I'm just imagining him standing there. But after a moment, I realise that I'm not crazy. He's here, he's actually here.

For a split moment, he looks relieved to see me. But then his jaw tightens up, and he turns to quickly rush out of the restaurant. I'm frozen to the spot, unable to think or move. After four months disappearance, Sam finally came back.

"Who was that?" Kelly asks, finally drawing me back to the present.

"That was Sam." Sandra states and I hear Kelly gasp.

But I can't look away from where he was standing. A barrage of memories come back and take over my mind.

The impala pulls up out front a dingy motel room. We've been on the road for a few hours, this being our first stop together. I discharged myself from hospital and we went to my place, quickly grabbing some of my clothes and a few treasured items. From then we hit the road and hadn't stopped since. Looking towards the building, the adrenaline of running away has worn off, reality setting in.

The inside of the car is quiet, with a little bit of awkwardness. Neither one of us had thought this far ahead, we weren't quite sure what to do. Eventually Sam clears his throat, "Should we go in?"

I nod my head, letting out a breath, "Yeah."

The both of us get out of the car and make our way towards reception. We open the door up to a small room with an old, slightly ripped lounge off to the side. There is a desk at the front with shelves and cupboards behind it. A bored looking twenty something man sits there, glancing up from his magazine towards us.

"Room for two?" He asks, his voice monotone.

"Uh, a double please." Sam says, clearing his throat as he steps forward.