Serendipity

Fire

"Rey, where were you?!" Grey asks, rushing towards me as I open the door of the coffee shop.

"What's wrong?" I respond puzzled at his worry.

"I called you like a hundred times, I even went to your house to check on you!"

"Grey, what did I tell you about going to my house! Don't do it without my permission." I glare at him.

The last thing I wanted was for Grey to witness my screwed up family. Of course he knew about my situation, but hearing about something and actually seeing it are two different things. I trust Grey with my life, but I couldn't deal with the shame. I didn't want him to worry about a girl like me.

"Sorry! I was just so worried. You seemed so nervous when I dropped you off at your house and I couldn't believe I just left you like that. I'm such an idiot. You always say you're okay when you're not okay. Your mom told me you left, so I drove around all night looking for you."

Anger flooded through me. But it wasn't anger towards him, it was anger towards myself. I made him worry. That's the last thing I ever wanted.

"Don't worry about me, okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, Rey! Don't tell me not to worry," he brushes my hand off. "You're a girl alone out in the night and your emotions weren't under control. You weren't thinking straight! Do you know how dangerous that can be?"

He thinks I'm stupid. Just some careless girl who needs protecting.

"My life is none of your business! I am perfectly capable of protecting myself! Besides, I wasn't alone." I gasp at what I just said. It felt as if I let out a huge secret.

"Yeah, then tell me who were with," He crosses his arms.

"Jesus, why do you even care, Grey?! You aren't my boyfriend."

A pained look falls on his face as he turns away. He looked so hurt.

"Yeah, I guess I'm not..." he said in almost a whisper.

I've never been good at controlling my emotions. They run through me, like a river I can't contain. One wrong move and I'll explode. My heart races and my skin heats up like fire. I need to control myself. I sigh and grab Grey's hand.

"Look, I'm sorry. You're my best friend, of course you have the right to care about me. I've just been so on edge lately, that's all. It's my fault for overreacting." I take a deep breath to compose myself. He is only trying to protect me.

"It's okay, Rey. We were both getting too heated." He grabs my hand back.

"Let me tell you about what happened last night." I checked the clock. We still had 10 minutes before the shop opened, so we sat at one of the tables near the back.

"My dad, he was drunk again. I mean, he is almost every night, but last night was especially bad. I couldn't stand being in the same room as him, so I went on a walk to clear my head. I stopped at the old playground down my street and I met this guy. He noticed something was off with me, so we spent the night together."

"You guys had sex?!" Grey stares at me, wide-eyed.

"No, idiot, we didn't have sex! We just talked. I'm not sure how to describe it, but he was different. It was like we understood each other, yet he was only just a stranger. It felt like I've known him my whole life," I cringe at my own words. "God, I sound so cliché, I want to vomit."

"Hey, you aren't in love with this guy, are you?" He asks with a worried tone.

"Grey, come on, I'm not that naive! Anyways, we probably won't see each other again. I don't even have his number."

"Okay, let me get this straight. You met some hot mystery boy who sounds like Prince Charming and you didn't even think to get his number? That's a relief."

"What do you mean by that?!" I lean over and punch his shoulder.

"I can't have some knight in shining armor taking my place." He smirks, playfully posing.

"Yeah, whatever..." I respond as I try to suppress a smile. "It's not like I didn't consider taking his number. I guess... I just didn't want him to be disappointed by someone like me."

"You're always talking about people being disappointed by someone like you. I say this with all honesty; any guy in the world would be lucky have someone like you." he says staring into my eyes.

"Any guy in the world? Even you?" I laugh off his comment.

"Even me."