Across The Street

[8] don't hold back

°°°
"Been wondering if you're hearts still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts..." Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys

[8] don't hold back

I didn't watch her walk away until I couldn't any longer instead I walked back inside. After I put the trash up, I went straight inside and didn't try too much to over think it. When I walked back in, my parents are seated on the couch. They were watching some cook show they both liked. I walk past them and go upstairs into my room.

I need another way or possibility to see Clarity again - no matter what she had said about never seeing me again. Yet, maybe I'm just to good for her. Not that way, I mean as in I don't do anything crazy-like she did, drink vodka, and who knows what else. But I could be wrong. After all I didn't know much about her. But I'd like to change that. But I had no idea where to start. Where would I try to look for her? I didn't know where she lived, who her friends or family were, and so on. But, from the looks of it, she was at the house across the street from mine. So maybe there was a possibility that she would visit there again.

°°°

"Nolan!" My mom yells, cutting through my sleep and waking me up. "Breakfast is ready!" My dog sleepily crawls to me. I guess my parents let him sleep with me tonight. He licks my face, making me laugh a little. "Hey buddy," I whisper to him as he licks my cheek again. He plops down beside me, curling in a ball. "I gotta get up, Thunder." I get up, throw on some jeans and a gray shirt. Thunder followed me, wanting to go outside.

"I'm going to take Thunder for a walk before I eat, okay?" I told my mom. Her and my dad would be heading down to the diner soon anyways.

"Okay. Be safe, honey!" My mom yells right before I close the door.

"Come on, Thunder, let's go walking." I said to my dog, his tail wagging and he tried to scurry away but the leash kept him from doing so because he was so eager to be outside. We started walking down the road, him walking as he sniffed the path he walked in. I sighed and kept walking. I yawned, feeling the tiredness seep into my body. Hopefully with we walking, I'd wake up more. My dog and I walked past the house that Clarity had stormed away from last night.

My dog barked, alert, and looking ahead. I followed my eyes to see what he was seeing to find myself staring at Clarity Stevens. She was sitting on the grass, head in hands. Hearing my dogs growl and bark at a new person, she looked up and we met eyes.

"Nolan, hey." She walked up to me after pulling herself up off the ground. "What are you doing here?" She wore a black shirt and some short shorts and converse. To say she looked good was an understatement. She drew attention everywhere she went. She was just that flawless, to me.

"Just walking my dog, Thunder," I said, looking down at my dog who was sniffing her. She patted his head, scratching behind his ear. Which was his favorite spot. He'd love her now, I was sure of it, "I live in this neighborhood. What are you doing here?"

"Thunder's a cutie pie, I'll tell you that." She said, eyes on my dog. I nodded, but she didn't see me. "And yes. I guess I do live here."

So I said, "Yeah, I guess he is. He keeps wanting to get off the leash." Then, "Well I guess we live in the same neighborhood. Sweet." And that was sweet, it was more than sweet actually. It was a great! A miracle, even. I was lucky just to be talking her, let alone her living in the same neighborhood.

Clarity leaned down to my dog. She kept petting him and ignored my last comment. Then she took the leash off of him quickly. He ran off, barking happily. I was really awake now.

"Clarity!" I yelled, surprised, as the leash hit the ground, watching Thunder run down the road. I can't believe she just did that!

I looked at her with wide eyes.

"What?" She asked, her eyes snapping to meet mine. Her lips were parted and her hair blew in her face, but she didn't make a gesture to move it back where her hair was supposed to be. Instead she just kept looking at me with a confused, questionable look

"You let him off his leash! He's going to run away! We won't be able to catch him!" And my dog was running happily still, looking around excitedly.

Clarity rolled her eyes. "Nolan, you'll get him back, okay?"

"Then why did you take him off the leash?!?" My eyes were still wide. "Why did you even do that in the first place, Clarity?!"

"Because," she spoke clearly. "Not anyone or anything should be held back from doing what they really want to do. Even if it's not what the other person wants. They should do whatever the please, not worrying about what anyone else wants or needs." It seemed like she wasn't really talking about my dog.

"But that doesn't mean you can just let Thunder run away! What if he gets ran over by a car?!" My parents would kill me, I thought widely. "Or never comes back? Or gets in a fight with another dog?" Thoughts were running wild in my head, swarming my brain with ridiculous scenarios of what could happen to Thunder.

She didn't even seem to really be bothered that I was upset or that my dog was still, currently, running around. "We'll get your dog. Come on, Nolan. Calm down, alright?"

I couldn't calm down though. It was my dog. And I've had him for a really long time.

This wasn't how I planned to start my day, searching for my dog in hopes of finding him, or bickering with Clarity here and there.

But it was how I ended up hanging with her.