Chasing the Night || a moey au

Chapter Seventeen

- Chapter Seventeen -

I felt tears touch my water line again, I looked away from the lady, only watching her with peripheral vision. "And what time does this bus leave?" I asked, watching my foot make circles on the concrete.

"In about," she stuck her head farther out of the booth and scanned the buses that were already parked there waiting, "10 minutes actually, boarding should start soon." She smiled, unable to read the pain driven over my face like a splash of hot water, burning into my eyes and cheeks.

My mind started racing, she seemed to be getting impatient with me. So many ideas came rushing through my head, and I still couldn't decipher whether they were good ideas or not. Just buy the ticket, get out of here, and get on another bus to someplace far away tomorrow. No, just stay here for a little bit longer, until there's somewhere safer to to. But where will you go? You have no apartment anymore, no one to turn to.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll take one ticket to Ridgecrest," I even had trouble saying the name, "Please." I gulped.

"Very well, Miss." She replied, handing me the ticket as I payed her all I had left. "You can take a seat over there while you wait for your bus." She pointed at an area with four benches, only a couple people sat there. I took a seat farthest from the rest of the people and placed my bag beside my feet. I let my hands run up my face and into my hair, my fingers getting caught in the poorly brushed mess of hair. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and I flinched away, looking up at whoever the touch came from. I gasped and put a hand over my mouth to emit any noise.

"What are you doing here?" I said through clenched teeth so I wouldn't end up yelling in the middle of a bus station.

"I can't watch you leave, Meghan, not again." I looked away from him, his green eyes, his brown hair pulled perfectly above his head, his flawless skin, ever so soft with just a touch. He meant nothing to me anymore, and that;s how it should be. Making things and people meaningful to you will only end up breaking your heart sometimes without explanation.

"I made a promise, Joey," I spoke quieter now, barely a whisper escaping through my lips, "I told myself that once I moved here, I wouldn't get involved in anything, I would stay permanently under shadows and darkness, I wouldn't let anyone find out about what I did."

"You can't live like that!" Joey said, taking a seat on the bench beside me, I moved away from him, kicking my bag with me.

"I have to, it's my only choice. And look where I am now? Because I let myself free of that promise, because I met you, who convinced me to let go of that kind of lifestyle, I am now waiting for a bus to take me to my home again. Where everything terrible started in the first place."

"You're going back to Ridgecrest?" he asked, he stayed quiet now.

I nodded in reply, unable to speak in fear that I would break out into tears.

"What about your mom? What about R-"

"Stop!" I said louder now, "Do you think I haven't thought that through yet!? Do you seriously think I haven't been sitting here hating myself simply for the fact that I'm going back there?"

"Then don't go. Stay with me, here in Los Angeles."

I turned away from him feeling as if I was gonna cry for the millionth time this week. "I can't." I opened my mouth to say more but all that came out was a whimper from the back of my throat. I shut my mouth and pulled my hands over my face, feeling the pain of my scratched up skin against my face.

"This is about the night with Tiffany right?" he said into my ear. His lips barely ghosting my ear, letting only warm breath blow my hair.

I shook my head, not wanting to admit to his that it was bothering me. I didn't even want to admit it to myself.