The Summer Before

Chapter 3

We walk through the empty hallways of the school building, it's crazy to think that just this morning I was still considered a high school student and now I am about to be a freshman in college. I look over at Finn and wondered about him, how old he was, where he was from, why he was here, and everything else in between. He looked like he was straight out of a magazine, if I had to guess I would say he was somewhere between six foot two and six foot four, he was slim but yet muscular, and he had short brown hair that was slicked back. He made a simple black hoodie look like a classic black dress shirt. I couldn't understand this attraction I felt towards him, I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. I felt like he was a magnet that I couldn't pull away from.

"Like what you see?" His questioned pulled me out of my thoughts. Immediately moving my eyes away from him, realizing that we were no longer in the hallway but in one of the old classrooms. "Oh, come on don't be embarrassed. I'd stare at me too if I were you." He finished his statement with a smirk on his face.

"Wow," I started. "Sure, are full of yourself aren't you bud."

"I wouldn't say I'm full of myself at all, I would just say I'm a confident person." He said as we sat on top of one of the tables facing each other. "I mean, obviously you find me attractive. Stared at me the entire walk here, I was afraid you were going to trip and fall the whole way here."

"I do not find you attractive."

"You sure about that?" He smirked at me.

"Yes, I was just concerned you were going to kidnap me or something." My voice beginning to shake at the lie.

"Trust me love, if I wanted to kidnap you, I wouldn't have kept you in the same building a party was going on in."

"Sound like you have experience."

"Not necessarily. Just common knowledge, if you want to kidnap someone you take them away from populated areas."

"Well I wouldn't say this school is necessarily a populated area. It's completely abandoned, nobody around for miles."

"Minus the hundreds of people in the gym." He laughed; I rolled my eyes at his comment. "What's your story?"

"What do you mean?" Of course, I knew what he meant, but I wasn't ready to go into all of the fantastic details of my wonderful life.

"You know what I mean Amelia, tell me your story. Let's start with how old you are."

"I'm eighteen, just graduated high school today actually."

"Ah well that answers my next question of why you're here. Now you ask me."

"Oh, so now we're playing twenty questions. Well then, my question is the same as yours. How old are you and why are you here?"

"Now you see Amelia that's two questions. I'll let it slide this time but from now on just one question at a time miss." He says smirking at me, squinting his beautiful blue eyes. "I'm nineteen, graduated last year. I'm here with some friends who insisted I come."

"Ah so I sense this isn't your typical scene?" I begin. "Shoot sorry I forgot one question at a time." I smirk at him as he raises his eyebrows.

"See you're getting it Amelia. Now I believe it's my turn, so let me think." He glances off into space acting like thinking of a question is such a hard task to accomplish. "Okay I've got one! Tell me about your childhood."

"Well that's a loaded question now isn't it?" I ask with my eyes wide. "Umm well I was born and raised in Richmond. I live with my aunt and uncle; I have two younger siblings that I don't see as often as I'd like. My dad has never really been involved in my life, my mom has been in and out of my life since I was a young child. My aunt and uncle have really been the only parents I've ever known." I think for a few minutes before I continue, I've already told him more than I've told anyone within the first hours of knowing them. What I did tell him though was honestly the bare minimum of the events that occurred during my childhood, I could go on for hours about the nitty gritty details of it all, but he didn't need to know that. "I think that's about it."

"Wow, you've got quite the history. I feel like there's more there but, don't worry I won't pry. Your turn now Miss Amelia." I smile slightly at the nickname.

"Well, now it's your turn tell me about your childhood Mr. Finn. I am very curious about what made you this mysterious character in front of me today."

"Are you just going to repeat all the questions I ask you to me?"

"No, this is the last one I promise. I'll start to think of more original ones."

"Alright, well I was born in Hartford, Connecticut moved to Kipling last year for my senior year of high school. I am the oldest of five, I have three younger sisters and one younger brother. My parents are your typical white picket fence family, mom is a nurse at the local hospital and my dad is a real estate agent, the best one in Kipling according to all of the billboards and benches. I on the other hand am not the son they expected or wanted, once I graduated last year, I decided that I wanted to take a gap year to figure out what I wanted to do with my life."

"How's that been going?" I question. "I mean have you discovered anything about what you want to do in the future?"

"Sort of, I've discovered that I like to piss my parents off. I have discovered that me not being the perfect son has made them practically disown me for this whole year." He says this with a pained look his eyes, I can tell that as much as he may like to make his parents angry, he also hates the other effects his decision has made on their relationship. "If you're referring to if I've discovered I actually do want to go to college and do something with my life and career, then I don't know maybe, maybe not."

"Still need some more discovery time?"

"Yeah, something like that. Anyways that was like four questions rolled into one."

"I think we just suck at this game." I say laughing, and he joins. I did not expect him to say all of that. Sure, it wasn't very in depth, but it was still more than what I told him. "My mom left me on my aunt and uncle's doorstep when I was five years old. She told me to ring the doorbell as soon as I lost sight of her car."

"Are you serious?" Finn questioned; I nodded my head in response.

"She packed up all my stuff that morning, took me out to breakfast and told me that she was going to go find my dad, so I had to stay with my aunt until she found him and brought him back. I was five years old, so I didn't question any of it, I just went along with it. I still remember the look on my aunts face when she saw me at her doorstep, she was in utter shock so was my uncle." I said lightly laughing at the memory, my aunts' wide eyes and open hung mouth as she looked down at me at her doorstep that day. My uncle coming to the door with the same look on his as well, utter shock.

"I'm sorry Amelia, did she ever come back with your dad?" I shook my head in response.

"That's an even longer story for a completely other time." We would be here for hours if I went into the details of my mother coming back then leaving again and repeating the vicious cycle. It would take even longer to try and explain my relationship with my father, and his involvement in my life.

"No worries, I get it." He says glancing down at his wristwatch. "Well Miss Amelia I don't know about you but, I am ready to leave this place. How about I give you a ride back to Richmond?"

"Oh no I couldn't ask you to do that. Plus, I came here with a friend, she may still be here. I can just get a ride from here." I say getting down from the table and flattening out my shirt and pants.

"How about we go check out in the parking lot and see if their car is still out there? If so, we'll go find your friend to give you a ride and if not, I'll give you one back sound good?" I smile at his kindness, something I didn't expect from him based on his appearance. I nod my head and we take off towards the opened window to exit the building.

Once outside I headed towards where Nora had parked her car, finding there were absolutely no cars around. Rolling my eyes, I grab my phone and try to call her cell, with no luck. I check my messages to see if she had tried to reach me while I was with Finn, and she hadn't.

"Well blue eyes," I say to Finn. "Looks like you'll be taking a trip to Richmond tonight."