Simplicity

The Boy That Took My Breath Away

"Tell me why we couldn't have just drove?" Adam asks me as we drive down the open road, windows down, California air filling the car.

I missed this. More than I thought I would. "Because, I don't like road trips, remember?"

Adam looks at me, confused. His eyebrows creased in a little and his hazel eyes squinted.

"Don't tell me you don't remember," I say laughing a little "Brooke's championship party." I look at him to see if it's clicked yet but he shows no sign.

"Sorry babe." He says.

"It's okay." I say with an unsure tone. "Okay, so you're going to follow this road for four more miles then make a left at the intersection." I say, trying to change the subject.

.....

I take a deep breath as we turn the corner to our community. My mind flashes back to my morning runs and the time Jay came to pick me up after the video released. All of it seems so distant. Like another life.

"Wait stop." I say, looking out the window at a 'For Sale' sign planted on my front lawn. "What the heck?" I ask as I jump out the car.

"What's wrong?" Adam yells from inside the car.

"My house is for sale." I yell back. I look over to the house next door. The house I spent nearly a whole summer in, the house that I remember it all happening in. Everything. Jay, Lauren, Whitney,... Tyler.

My eyes venture up to the upstairs window, when I see something... Someone move.

"Hold up!" I yell at Adam, who's still in the car. I run to the door and knock on it several times. No answer.

I knock a few more times. This time yelling, "C'mon, I know you're in there!"

All of a sudden the door swings open.

In the door way stands the boy that took my breath away two years ago. The boy I fell in love with. The boy I couldn't bare to stay and see if he lived or not. Though he isn't the same boy.

He's rugged somehow. His hair is long and a much darker blonde then I remember. He's pale, as if he hadn't been outside for the past two years and he has a beard, which ages him 5 years.

"Adelie?"