Mischance

Day 1

God, I’m sick of the rumors, of the gossip…of almost everything. Seriously, people need to get lives. First it was all about Matt, and now about Chris. Or Christian Halverson, as I should now refer to him as. The jerk. To think, I thought that I was in love with him after three weeks. That shows what I knew.

When he saved me on that train, I thought he was perfect. He “saved” me and I was immediately infatuated. And then he played me for a fool. I couldn’t believe it. It was…well, it is like I’m going to die. I’m scared to leave this hotel room now. No, I’m not scared of him.

I’m scared of facing the “real world” without him at my side any more. Twenty days of straight Chris…Christian had changed my perception on the world. For example, I always thought town gossips were bad. Now I know…the media is a hell of a lot worse. It’s because of them that I can’t leave this damn room, can’t go back to my small town in northern California, that I can’t just forget him.

I regret ever leaving. If I get out of here, if the media will leave me alone, I’m going back home. I’ll marry whoever, I’ll give up on my education…I’ll give up that stupid idea of independence. All it brought me was embarrassment and pain.

If I just hadn’t left on that midnight train. If I had stayed home, left the next day, I could have made my little escape totally unscathed. But of course, I had to run into Chris…Christian. He was perfect, with his dark, spiky hair and green-blue eyes. He looked so tough, so forceful, he simply banished what, to me, was a nightmare.

And that was just the beginning of a long journey. Well, a three week journey to be precise. And now, on day twenty one, the last day of our journey, where we had previously decided that we’d say good bye but always keep in touch, he freaking abandoned me. After the media, the media mind you, not him, told me that he had been lying to me, laughing at me, for the past few weeks. And to think, it started with that damned midnight train…

--

“Do you think she’s okay? The poor dear, I should invite her over for tea!”

“I heard that when she heard the news, she went home and cried for two hours straight. Her poor father, trying to deal with a heartbroken daughter! And to think, he had bestowed his blessing on them!”

I wanted to snort in laughter. Did these crazy old women think I couldn’t hear them? I mean, don’t get me wrong or anything, I happen to love Ms. Peckle and Ms. Jingham. They are sweet old ladies, for the most part anyway. But if they seriously thought that my dad had approved of my six week engagement to Matt, they were demented.

In fact, my father had almost killed Matt. I think he’d be quite happy that Matt had been caught in bed with Beth, thus cutting off his engagement with me. I loved small towns in that way; the bastard had to marry my best friend now. Well, ex-best friend. It’s hard to stay best friends with a girl found in bed with your fiancée.

Although, as my dad would say, I’m too young to have been engaged anyway. Eighteen and straight out of high school isn’t what he thought was a good age. He wanted me to learn to run the farm for a few years before I even thought about settling down. Dating was okay…anything more? Definitely not.

My dad’s a bit quaint. He believes that women shouldn’t be educated beyond high school and that it’s a man’s duty to take care of them. And he’s lived in this town his whole life; as his adopted daughter, I’ve learned to accept that that’s just how it is here.

See, here, when a guy and a girl are caught going further than making out, they are generally forced to get married. Not hitched – we aren’t hicks over here – but married.

Matt had proposed three weeks before graduation. He told me I was exactly what he wanted in a woman, in a wife, and we’d work well together. Seriously, I didn’t think I’d ever get out of this town, and Matt was supposed to be a pretty good prospect. So I said yes.

I wasn’t in love with him, don’t worry. I mean, how could I have fallen in love with a guy that had only been courting me for four months? But I was comfortable with him and he treated me well. And he promised me that once we married he’d send me to weekend classes at a community college just outside town.

Basically I could do whatever I wanted with my father knowing. And I’d get my education, dad would get his idea of a perfect daughter, and Matt would get the supposedly-perfect wife.

Then of course, I had to go over to his house to find him fucking my best friend. That was sort of embarrassing. I had never seen Beth naked – hell, I’d never seen Matt naked! – and it wasn’t really something I’d wanted to see.

“Ella! ELLA! ANNABELLE!” Valerie broke into my thoughts.

“Hm?” I asked her. Val was a pretty good friend. She was sweet, kind, thoughtful…you know how it is.

“I’m really sorry about Matt and Beth,” she said, and I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of irritation. The gossip was a lot more annoying then the actual discovery. That’s why I was planning to take the midnight train to…well, to anywhere. I’d just buy a ticket and board the train. Where life wanted me to go, I’d go. I’d made enough money waitressing at the local restaurant and babysitting little kids to support myself for around a month before I needed a job.

“Annabelle, are you listening to me?”

“What?”

Val sighed. “You know,” she said, frowning, “you’re really pretty and sweet, but you’re a hell of a—”

“-spaz,” I finished for her. I smiled. “I know, sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was saying that you better get home and get ready, Macy’s party is in an hour.”

“Oh, crud!” I exclaimed. I was planning to cut my hair tonight – I knew my dad would put “missing” posters out for me, and my long hair would definitely give me away. It was rather unique, black with streaks of medium brown. And the fact that it was down to my butt was sort of a giveaway too. “Do you mind telling her I can’t go? Just tell her I’m upset or something…”

Val surveyed me. I kept my face impassive. My eyes, I guess, gave me away though. They have this nasty habit of doing that.

Val sighed. “You’re leaving,” she said softly. “You’re going out on your own, aren’t you…”

It was more of a statement than a question. I nodded.

“I’m done here, Val,” I told her quietly. “The past eight years, they’ve been wonderful, but I don’t belong here, not anymore. I’m not like the rest of you. Aside from looks-” I looked very distinctly not what everyone else was – in this town, everyone had light brown or blond hair and blue eyes. I have the blue eyes – sort of – but my hair is dark and my skin coloring was a good deal darker than everyone else’s. I think I’m Italian, but I’m not quite sure – “I’m just ready to leave. I’ll leave a note for Daddy and I’ll send mail,” I promised.

“You have my number, right?” Val asked. “You’re taking your phonebook?”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling. “This is one of the times I’m glad Daddy didn’t get me a cell phone. I’d hate to have to part with one.”

Val smiled, sort of sadly. “We’re all going to miss you, Annabelle Sinclair,” she told me. “Miss you a lot.”

“I’ll miss you, Val Powers,” I said sincerely. “I’m leaving tonight, so…” I gave her a hug and then broke away, sort of shyly. Then I turned my back and walked away. Hell if I was ever going to look back.

--

At ten thirty, I crept out of the house. Daddy thought I was still at Macy’s party and had gone to bed. He had left a note for me on the fridge to come and wake up him when I got home, as usually. I almost cried when I read that note.

Robert Sinclair had adopted me when I was ten years old and he was fifty six. Eight years later, I was repaying him by running away – but he would understand. Robert…Daddy always understood.

When I was ten, I was mistrustful of adults. Two wealthy families had adopted me, one when I was five, another when I was eight. And both “returned” me after they had gotten the media coverage of doing good deeds that they had wanted. To them, I was a publicity item to be milked for all its worth and then returned.

And it had happened to me twice. I don’t quite understand why I had all the bad luck, but in the end, I guess I was blessed. After all, Daddy picked me out.

He told me he saw my big, blue eyes and decided I was the daughter for him.

It took me a full two years to believe that he wasn’t going to send me back to the orphanage. It took me a full four years to believe that he loved me and did mean to keep me as his child forever. We had my last name, which was previously unknown and thus assigned to be “Smith” changed to his British, aristocratic name “Sinclair.” He asked me what I wanted to be called, as my original name was also unknown. My given name, because of that, had been Jane. Isn’t that lovely? Jane Smith, the two most boring names in the world…at least to a girl like me, who craved adventure.

I had picked Annabelle, as that had been Robert’s mother’s name. I thought it was pretty and elegant at the time. And my nicknames, Ella to close friends, Belle to almost everyone else, was just as pretty and elegant to my ears.

I left the note I had written to Daddy taped to the fridge before I walked out of the house and towards the train station. I only had a thousand dollars stored up, so there was no way I was going to blow it on a taxi or a bus driver who would end up going home and ratting me out to my father. Plus the station was only an hour fifteen minute walk.

--

“One ticket to…somewhere far on the East Coast please,” I told the person at the ticket stand. He looked at me, annoyed.

“Pick a destination, lady,” he told me impatiently. For a moment I was startled; no one was rude at home. No one called me “lady” in an insulting tone of voice…I was sort of intimidated.

“Um, a ticket to Baltimore,” I said, picking out a big city. I was a small town girl and wanted adventure; I craved it…

“Sixty dollars,” the ticket stand guy said, and I was shocked. Sixty bucks for one ticket? Still…I wanted to set out on my own, make a living…and this was a start.

I paid before waiting patiently for the train with the other six people who were taking the midnight train to Baltimore. Ten minutes later, it chugged into the station and I was in awe; I had seen trains before, but never had I ridden on one.

Excited, I hopped into a middle car, one I noticed that no one else entered. Then again, there were only six people and there were at least twenty cars on this train…the car I had gotten into was almost empty, with an old, sleeping lady, a mother with two kids, all asleep, and one boy, maybe a year or two older than me (I guess that made him a man…) who’s hair was dark and spiky. He was wearing black, loose pants and a tight muscle shirt, which showed off his thin waist and broad shoulders. He was unusually handsome, but also rather scary. I had never seen anyone dressed quite like him.

I think at high school back home, people would have called him a “punk.”

Either way, he wasn’t bothering me and I wasn’t about to bother him. I picked a seat two rows in front and across from him and settled in comfortably, putting my bag on the floor rather than the seat beside me. I fell asleep quickly.

Two hours later, I awoke as the train jerked to a stop. I wasn’t the only one who awoke at the jerk. The mother hustled her children to get off the train, as the old lady, who I noticed was related to the mother and children, got up slowly and walked to the door. As they all left, an older man got in. I know other passengers boarded the car too, but they did so at the back and I didn’t notice them.

He was around thirty with a beer belly and slightly mean eyes. He was drunk; I could smell it. And he sat beside me.

“Hello pretty lady,” he slurred. “What’s your name?”

I had taken out a book before I had fallen asleep and now I pointedly picked it up. Instincts were telling me not to tell this man my real name. Thus, I lied.

“Annabe—Anna,” I said.

“Hi Anna,” he said, smiling what he must have thought was boyishly. “How are you?”

“Fine,” I replied shortly. His hair then lifted to touch my hair – my hair which now framed my face and stopped at my shoulders. “What are you doing?” I asked, jerking away from him and closer to the window.

“Your hair looked so soft and pretty,” the man said. “My name is Joe.”

I ignored him. He trailed his hands up and down my arms. I shuddered in revulsion.

“Can you please get away from me?” I asked. “My daddy’s picking me up at the next stop and I’m not allowed to talk to strange men.”

Oh, way to sound mature and intimidating, I congratulated myself sarcastically.

“I’m sure we can have a bit of fun before your Daddy picks you up,” he said with a leer as he put his hand high on my thigh.

“Get your hands off my girlfriend.” The Punk had stood up and was now towering over Joe and myself.

“Go away, little boy,” Joe said, not looking at the Punk.

“Get the fuck away from my girlfriend,” Punk insisted.

“I haven’t heard your girlfriend protesting,” Joe said, smirking at me as his hand went further up. Angrily, I ripped it off.

“You’re deaf then,” I said calmly. “Get the hell away from me.”

“What’re you going to do if I don’t?”

“I’ll beat you up,” Punk said, his eyes now flashing with annoyance. They were a lighter blue than mine and seemed to be like chips of ice.

“Fuck off, she’s not your girlfriend,” Joe said. “Why the hell would you sit apart?”

“Because we fought,” I said, improvising. “And I told him when he was ready to apologize, he could sit where you’re sitting.”

Punk apparently lost his patience. He lifted Joe up by the collar of his shirt and pulled the emergency break of the train. It halted to a stop and Joe was shoved none-too-gently out of the train. As simple as that. Several train officials came to our car, but upon seeing Punk, left us alone. I didn’t quite understand why…Punk wasn’t that scary.

Punk then took the liberty of seating himself beside me. He sighed and looked at me.

Okay, he was way beyond handsome. At least, to a simple town girl like me, he was way beyond handsome. He had a sophisticated air around him that made me feel naïve and girlish. And his face was smooth and strong. And his hair was spiky, and that was just cool.

“So, Anna,” he said, indicating he had heard Joe and my whole scuffle, “is your dad really waiting at the next station?” His voice had some amusement in it and that just put me at ease. This guy obviously wasn’t dangerous, despite his outward appearance. The thought was comforting. At least this time I wasn’t sitting next to some pervert.

“No,” I admitted smiling guiltily. Punk laughed for a second, and then asked me where I was heading.

“Oh, anywhere,” I told him with a grin. “I’m here for the adventure. I got a ticket to Baltimore, though, so if no place catches my attention sooner…”

He laughed with me. “That’s a two day journey from here,” he warned me. “You’re going to get bored.”

“Then I’ll get off the train,” I told him, shrugging. He laughed yet again.

“So, it really is an adventure for you,” he said, his lips curved upwards. “What are you planning to do while you adventure?”

I became a bit more serious. Map out the rest of my life, I wanted to say, but that would ruin our joking atmosphere. “Get a job or two,” I said, my tone light. “Rent an apartment, maybe get a dog, and possibly get married.”

Punk laughed loudly. “Married? How old are you, sixteen?”

“Eighteen,” I said a bit stiffly. People always assumed I was underage, and it irritated me. Well, somewhat. I knew I could look older if I wore slightly tighter clothes and bothered to do something with my hair either than leaving it loose or putting it in a ponytail. It never seemed worth the bother.

Punk whistled. “Never would have guessed,” he said.

“Um…” it felt like I should ask. “What’s your name?”

Punk stared at me for a few seconds, as if he was trying to discern if I was joking or now. I got a little bit nervous. Was this some famous dude that I was supposed to know? He didn’t really look that famous, but what would I know?

“Chris,” he replied after a minute. He then smiled again, although this time the smile was different. It was more open, more sincere then his other smiles. “I’m nineteen.”

“Cool stuff,” I said. “By the way, my name’s Annabelle,” I told him, smiling sheepishly. “I just didn’t want to tell that guy my real name.”

“I can imagine why,” Chris snorted. “What a perv.”

“Most definitely,” I agreed. “So where are you headed?”

He smiled yet again. “I’m sort of like you…I’m going anywhere that I feel like going. Getting off where ever I want.” He produced a ticket to Baltimore as well, although his started from Los Angeles. “But for me it’s a three week vacation, you know? I just wanted time to disappear. Get away from my life for a few weeks.”

I groaned. “That sounds heavenly. Although I like my plan just as much.”

He looked thoughtful for a second. “I got an idea,” he said, somewhat slowly. I could tell it was still forming in his mind. Whatever it was, it had to be good. He looked excited, shockingly so. “Why don’t we travel together?”

What? I barely knew this guy, I thought to myself. Why would we want to travel with me?

“I mean,” he added hastily, “you don’t have to. It’d just be cool, two teenagers out to conquer America, travel the lands, you know, all that jazz. Go across the country and back in three weeks.”

“I’m not sure if I want in on the “back” part,” I told him, but his enthusiasm had caught on. “The rest of it sounds cool.”

“Aw, you can come back to LA if you don’t want to go home,” Chris said, smiling. His smile really did look boyish, unlike Joe’s. “I mean you just want to find a place to go that’s not home, right? And I just want a vacation. And I promise I can get you a job back in LA.”

I was caving and he could tell.

“Just image, the two of us, you and I, Belle, touring America, coming into LA with a big bang and tons of stories,” he said. “And we’ll always have someone there for us then, in case something goes wrong,” he added on a more sensible note.

Put that way, it sounded really appealing. And then at least I had a safety net if something went wrong, someone I could depend on.

Then again, I’d be leaving with someone who was a virtual stranger. Sure, my instincts were telling me that he was an alright guy, that he wouldn’t steal or take advantage of me. And he’d gotten rid of Joe.

And plus, wasn’t this trip about having an adventure for me? Adventuring and settling down?

Taking a deep breath, I stuck out my hand. “My friends call me Ella.”

--

We got off the train four stops and five hours later. We were somewhere in the middle of Wyoming, but both of us agreed we couldn’t stand the train any longer.

“So, where to now?” Chris asked as we hopped off the train. It was then I realized I had absolutely no plan; all of a sudden, I was really glad I had decided to travel with him.

“I’m not too sure,” I confessed. “But I’m drop dead tired. Let’s go find some motel to crash at.”

“A motel?” His voice was tinged with some disgust and his expression was priceless.

“I only brought a thousand dollars, buddy, and I need to make it last until I can get some job or do odd jobs to make up change,” I informed him.

“Ella, Ella, Ella,” he said, shaking his head, “so unprepared my dear.”

“Chris, Chris, Chris,” I said mockingly, shaking my head, “so useless. Do you really think we could stay for three weeks in five star hotels?”

“Yes.”

“Poor little rich boy,” I said. “You can,” I added a second later, as I realized that he was serious. “I can’t afford to.”

He sighed like there was a burden upon his soul. “I shall stay with you, fair lady,” he told me, looking disgruntled. “I can’t believe I’m about to stay in a motel. Connor is never going to get over this.”

Chris. Connor. Something rang in my head, but I couldn’t quite remember what.

“Come on, you baby,” I lectured and dragged him into the nearest convenience store to ask where a motel was. The person at the counter looked at the two of us and smiled.

“Newlyweds?” she asked kindly. Before we could say anything to that, she pointed up the street. “Two miles up the road, take a right on Wolf Creek, and a Motel 10 is right there.”

“Thanks,” Chris sputtered before we left the store. Both of us broke into laughter. I mean seriously, us, newlyweds? Though I guess if I saw a guy and girl obviously not related traveling together, I’d think the same thing. Still…I’d only known Chris for a few hours and the idea of us being married was ridiculous.

Especially considering how immature he was. The guy spent twenty minutes playing hangman with me, before he decided to play “dots” and then thumbwars and the finger game. Not that I’m much more mature, I had tons of fun playing the games as well…but he was just like…wow. I don’t think I ever had that much fun with Matt though.

And seriously, I could just talk to Chris. I said what was on my mind (“God, that old lady with the brown hair? I think it’s a wig. How creepy. Can you imagine wearing someone else’s hair?! I mean maybe if you lost all of yours or something…but I can see white!!”) and he just laughed and accepted it.

We talked and laughed some more as we walked to the motel room. The sun was now well risen – it was nine in the morning - and my stomach was growling. We stopped at a bakery on the way and bought a couple of breakfast rolls.

When we finally got to the motel, by nine thirty, both of us were pretty sleepy.

“One room for ten hours please,” Chris said to the guy behind the desk at the motel. Naturally I reacted.

“One minute please,” I told the guy. I dragged Chris away. “What the hell do you mean one room? I’m not sleeping with you.”

“Ella, calm down,” Chris said, looking amused yet again. Did anything bug this guy? Other then girls being harassed, that is. “You said you were low on funds and this whole thing will only cost you twenty five dollars if we share a room. Otherwise it’s fifty apiece.”

“Oh,” I said grudgingly. And I decided, once again, to trust my instincts. “Sure, do whatever then.”

“One room,” he said, walking back to the guy at the counter. He looked at Chris with interest.

“Sure thing,” he said, grinning suddenly. “Can you sign this receipt sir?” Chris looked slightly annoyed but signed it all the same.

“And can you write something out to my daughter? Just say “Hey you! Happy birthday Cathy! Love…” Chris cut him off.

“Sure thing,” he said amiably, although I could tell his voice had some irritation in it. He signed it and we went off to our room with a key to open it.

“What was that about?” I asked as I routed through my backpack for my pajama pants and t-shirt. I packed light, with five pairs of jeans, ten shirts, and two sweatshirts. They all fit neatly into my backpack, along with ten sets of each undergarment, and I knew that although it was slightly heavy, I had packed the least I could. I peeked over at Chris, and it seemed that he had picked the same amount.

Except his clothes looked damn expensive.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, pulling off his pants without shame. He had on a pair of long boxers, so I guess it didn’t matter much. Still, that was sort of embarrassing. He then pulled off his black muscle shirt and put on a white t-shirt. He saw me staring and grinned. “Like what you see?”

“Oh, shut up,” I said, throwing a pillow from the squishy chain in the room at him. “I’m going to sleep right now, get up in nine hours and shower so we can get out of here.”

“I’ll wake you up,” he promised. “So…” he stared as I curled up on the squishy chair. “What the hell are you doing?”

I shrugged. “I’m not actually going to sleep with you,” I told him, “like not even sleep-sleep.”

“You can have the bed,” he offered, “or we can at least switch off.”

“Nah,” I said with another shrug. “I fit on here quite fine.” It was true. I was five foot, so rather petite, and I was thin. I could curl up almost anywhere. He frowned disapprovingly but let me be.

I was out like a light.

--

Eight hours later, I rolled onto my side and pulled the sheets up further over me. The clock read “5:00 PM” and I figured that it was about time I got up. I had gotten enough sleep and I was ready to tour the city before moving on to the next stop in our journey, where ever that may be.

I rolled back over yet again and snuggled into Chris…the sheets created a barrier though. He slept above them while I was in them.

What the hell?

I shoved Chris, quite violently, causing him to fall off the bed.

“Fuck!” he said as he hit the floor. He got up and glared at me. “What was that for?”

“What am I doing in the bed?” I demanded of him. “I was on that chair.” I pointed to it in case he was too stupid to understand.

He scratched his head sheepishly and I noticed that the spikes were flattened. His hair looked soft and rumpled, and altogether he had the extremely sexy bedroom look. However, I was too mad to think about him that way.

“Oh. You looked kind of uncomfortable so I put you in this bed,” he said, tilting his head to the side as if challenging me. “I tucked you in and figured if I stayed above the covers that it’d be okay.”

“Oh.” I felt like a parrot, mimicking him, but still. It was shocking to find yourself in bed with some guy lying beside you. “Sorry for pushing you off the bed.”

“It’s all good. I needed to get up to shower and brush my teeth and everything anyway,” he said. “You can sleep for another hour or so.”

“Nah, I’ll get up too,” I told him, rolling off the bed. I felt fully energized. “I need to make sure my dad knows I’m safe.”

His face turned sort of funny, and he stared at me. “Does your dad not know where you are?”

“Not really,” I told him. He sat back down on the foot of the bed and stared at me expectantly.

Before I knew it, I was spilling the whole story out to him. How Matt proposed to me, how I accepted ‘cause I thought nothing better would come along, how I found Matt with Beth, how I was sick of the gossip, how I finally decided to leave, how I said goodbye to Val…

He just sat and listened to me, not judging, not questioning. I think he knew I needed to get it out of my system anyway, to someone who was objective, who didn’t know all the people I was talking about. At the end of the story, he simply gave me a hug before going to shower. It was exactly what I needed.

From then on out, I definitely considered Chris a friend. Earlier he was an acquaintance, a guy I was going to have an adventure with before forgetting after a while. Now? He was someone I think I’d trust with my life. In fact, I already had when I agreed to share the room with him.

I sat down on the bed and used the phone to first call Val.

“Hello?” she answered her phone. “Valerie Powers speaking, you’ve reached the Powers residence.”

“Hey Val,” I greeted.

“Ella!” she squealed softly into the phone. “How are you? Where are you?”

“Somewhere in Wyoming, and good,” I answered with a chuckle. “I met someone and we decided to travel together. He’s pretty cool.”

“He?”

“Yeah. Some jerk came onto me on the train and Chris, that’s the guy, made him leave me alone. We bonded and we were both out to adventure. He’s from LA, some city boy, but we get along,” I said. “I mean, I can trust him, that’s for sure.”

“That sounds cool,” Val said, sounding a bit hesitant. “Be careful, though, okay? I don’t want to have to come and get you because you’re in pieces. I’d rather be coming to see you because you became rich and famous.”

“Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “If you want, you can talk to him next time I call.”

“Thanks…I’d feel a bit better then.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. “Look, I want to call Daddy. I’ll call you again in a few days or weeks or something.”

“Okay, sure. Bye, be safe!”

“Bye!” After I hung up the phone, I stared at the wall for a few minutes. Calling Daddy was going to be somewhat difficult. There was no way he wasn’t disappointed with me for leaving. Sure, he’d understand, but he’d still be disappointed. I don’t think he ever realized just how much I needed to get out of our town. Oak Creek was a great town, yes, but it was just too small, there wasn’t enough room for adventure. And I needed adventure.

Slowly, I dialed the numbers. The phone rang one time before—“Ella? Is that you?”

“Hey Daddy,” I said softly. He sounded so scared…I hadn’t meant to scare him.

“Thank God you’re safe. I got your note, but you have to realize that’s not that reassuring, sweetheart. I’m glad you called.”

“I’m so sorry, Daddy. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just needed to get out, to have some adventure…” I trailed off.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand. But where are you? Do you need money? Do you need anything?”

I almost laughed into the phone. “No, Daddy, I don’t. What I do need, though, is for me to be totally independent. I saved the money I had earned from the past four years, and I paid you back for everything I took. It’s in the second dresser drawer,” I told him. Before he could protest I added, “I need to be totally independent, Daddy. That’s the problem with Oak Creek. It was too close, too…I don’t know. But I needed to get out. And I don’t want to be helped at all, no matter what happens.”

“Will you at least call in regularly?” he asked me after a minute, sounding like all of his sixty four years.

“At least once a week,” I promised. “Daddy, I have to go. This is long distance.”

“Bye sweetheart. Take care.”

“Bye Daddy.”

I hung up the phone and was suddenly glad I had called in. Daddy and Val wouldn’t tell Oak Creek, so for all they knew, I would have just disappeared. And that seemed worth it. No one would know who I was, where to look me up. I’d get the independence I wanted.

A heady sensation filled me. It kept me tingly and warm, and for once, something in my life felt perfect. It was ironic that it had to happen in a dingy hotel room with a lumpy mattress while a guy I barely knew was showering in the bathroom.

I was about to lay back down on my bed before figuring I could at least take advantage of all the time we had in the room. I picked out my clothes and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Hey, can I come in and brush my teeth?” I called. “We might be able to reduce our time here to nine hours and get an hour back!”

“Sure thing,” Chris’ voice came from the shower. “The door’s unlocked.”

I entered the bathroom, keeping my eyes away from the shower curtain and locked firmly on the sink. While the shower ran, I brushed my teeth and cleaned my face. Then I left and waited for him to finish.

He emerged with a towel around his waist. “All yours.”

I nodded and entered the shower, leaving the door unlocked like he did. I had my towel and clothes both in the bathroom and if needed, I could change in the tub behind the curtain. As I thought, Chris entered the bathroom to clean his teeth and later, I found out, to spike his hair. He let me know when he left and told me he wouldn’t come back, so I could come out and change if I wanted to.

I almost smiled at the quick trust and intimacy we had built in less then twenty hours. It was an immediate connection and I most definitely appreciated it. I’m sure he felt it too.

I quickly got ready and left the bathroom. He grinned at me and hoisted up his packed back. “I’m ready,” he told me, tugging on a lock of my straight, wet hair. “Pack up and we can get out of here and save ourselves each two-fifty.”

I knew he was mocking my saving two dollars and fifty cents, but that was a breakfast roll around here, and I didn’t want to waste all my money before I could get some type of job. I punched him (in a friendly manner) on the shoulder before we left the room and went to the guy at the desk to redeem our money.

The guy looked at us and then looked at Chris. Again, he grinned. “Sure, why the hell not? It’s not everyday that we have…”

“Thanks,” Chris interrupted him, as he took the five dollar bill. “Have a nice day.”

“You too!” the guy called as we walked off.

“The people here are weird,” I commented. “I still don’t get what’s so special about you.” I deliberately took a step back to survey Chris – he was wearing a black t-shirt yet again with loose black cargo pants. There was a silver chain on the pants, and the t-shirt had a dragon on the back in red. I really didn’t see anything special other then the fact that he was attractive.

“It’s me, that’s why Ella,” he said, smirking. “Jealous?”

“Pfft. Of you?” I flipped my hair around. “As if.”

“Admit it, you’re jealous of my good looks,” he said, fishing around in his pockets for a pair of sunglasses. He slipped them on. I was a bit puzzled – it wasn’t that bright outside – but I let it slide. To each his own, right? And I barely knew this guy. “C’mon Ella, let’s get out of here.” He swung his arm around my shoulders – it rested more on my knapsack, actually – and we walked down the street.

“So where to, my fair lady?”

“Well, my lord, I was thinking we could take public transport and tour the city,” I said with a laugh. “And I’m thinking maybe we should pick up non perishable food, like a box of crackers or something, in case we ever find ourselves starving.”

“Stellar idea,” he said, bouncing around. For a second, I wondered if he was thirteen instead of nineteen. He grinned as if reading my mind and stuck his tongue out.

That so did it. “I’ll race you to the end of the street,” I challenged.

“You’re on,” he said. “ONE TWO THREE GO!”

“CHEAT!” I yelled and ran after him. Naturally, when we hit the end of the street, we were both panting. I won, in case you were wondering.

“Cheater,” I gasped.

“Pfft. Don’t hate,” he grumbled. “You won anyway. And now I’m tired.”

Good, I thought.

“Good,” I said.

“What?” he looked wounded.

“You were really bouncy,” I said with a shrug. He scowled and slipped his arm back around my shoulders.

“Fine. Let’s go get your damn crackers.” He looked so disgruntled I laughed and half-hugged him. We then walked around searching for crackers.

The town was small and reminded me, kind of, of Oak Creek. The people all seemed to know each other, and while I was greeted with a smile, Chris was received with looks of awe and amazement. No one approached us, however, so I attributed it to his attire.

Soon enough, we found a convenience store and bought my crackers, which I promptly put in my knapsack. Then I asked if we could tour around, see the sights.

“Anything for my fair lady,” he said. He then asked the girl at the register what all there was to see. The only thing she had to recommend was a waterfall about five miles away. She told us it was generally not populated because they didn’t get too many tourists, but it was undoubtedly the most beautiful spot in the town. She added, in a disgruntled voice, it was the only thing worth seeing the in town.

I recognized a bit of myself in her, and I couldn’t help but smile in sympathy. She looked around my age.

“Want to come?” I found myself asking. “We could really use a guide.” I knew for a fact that it sucked to be stuck working while there were so many things out in the world to do. And meeting new people in a small town always counted as somewhat of an adventure. She nodded eagerly and called out for her dad, who evidently ran the store. Then after a second, she ran to the back to talk to him, to ask for his permission to go.

Chris slipped his hand into mine, causing my head to tilt back to look at him. It was then I noted that he was astonishingly tall, and he looked at me with a question in his eyes. I responded with a shrug, and he smiled. I was relieved that he’d indulge me this one time and made a mental note to ask the next time I wanted to do something like that.

The girl came to join us a few minutes later.

“I’m Tori, by the way,” she said.

“Chris,” Chris said, his voice friendly.

“Annabelle,” I said, my voice like Chris’. “So, is there a way we can get there by bus or something?”

“Yeah,” Tori said, looking relieved. I figured that her dad wouldn’t have been too pleased with her taking two strangers in a car with her. It’d be foolhardy. “Come on, the bus leaves in ten minutes.”

It took an hour to travel to the spot from which we could walk to the waterfall, there were so many bus stops in between. However, I didn’t mind so much. It was nice talking to Tori, and she, Chris, and myself had a lot of fun just cracking jokes.

“So, what are you two doing up here?” she asked, as we finally started the hike to the falls.

“We took the midnight train to anywhere,” Chris said, a laugh in his voice, “and for today, we ended up here.”

“Just for today?” she sounded rather disappointed.

“Yeah,” I said. “Chris wants to make it across the country and to LA in twenty more days. I want to dip my foot in the Atlantic Ocean just once.”

“That sounds cool,” she said, her voice wistful.

“I didn’t know that,” Chris said, surprise in his voice.

“Well you’ve only known me for a day,” I pointed out.

“Wait, you have only known each other a day?” Tori asked in confusion. Chris and I started laughing and I explained the whole thing to her. In the end, she just looked more wistful.

“That sounds so cool. An adventure.”

Exactly.

Anyway, we got to the falls shortly and they were gorgeous. They were tall and the area was lush. The water was a beautiful prism, reflecting rainbow colors absolutely everywhere. I could hear several birds and overall, I was impressed. This small town, whatever the hell it’s name was, had something to offer. Oak Creek had nothing like this.

‘

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Tori asked, her voice soft as she surveyed the falls as if they were hers. “I’m the only one who knows about this spot. Well, me and a few of my friends.”

I felt truly grateful. But before I could say anything…

“Thank you,” Chris said, taking ahold of my hand again. But he was staring out at the falls, a look of awe on his face.

“It’s nothing,” Tori said, blushing. The three of us sat down to watch the falls and just talk.

Soon, it was evening and time to head back. Tori took a different bus than us; she had to go home while we were onto the next city. We took the bus to the interstate train station and bought tickets to the far side of Wyoming.

That night, we slept in the train.

A/N: Yeah, I know, this will be three unfinished stories on fp. I promise I’ll finish the other two, I just heard a song and this story was totally inspired. Funny…I always sort of laughed when other people said that and now…

Meh. Life’s ironic.

Anyway, what do you think? Keep it going? Drop it? If I keep it, it’s going to be 25 chaptersish. One for each day and then four to conclude. So yeah….

So tell me…keep it? If I get enough reviews, I guess I will. Otherwise, down the drain for this.

We’ll see. It’s up to you! REVIEW!