Fall Away

I took the chicken route when it came to my brother. When I got home, I called his cell phone, knowing he was still at work. I left a quick message, saying I was hanging out with Soren Friday night, and neglecting to mention the fact that it would be at his house. I knew that wouldn’t go over well.

For the rest of the day, I ignored Danny’s calls. If he asked, I could always say I was working. In reality, I didn’t feel like facing the questions I knew he would ask.

I didn’t do much, after I got back to my apartment. I took a long shower, made myself some lunch, did some homework. Basically, I did everything except think about the following night.

Now that I was away from Soren, what he said finally began to dawn on me. Kirian was going to be there – Kirian wanted to get to know me. And, if I was being honest, I wanted to get to know him as well. Something about him not being the social butterfly Soren was made him all the more mysterious, drawing me too him.

My shift at the bar was relatively quiet – not too many drunk boys hitting on me, only a few whiny customers. Unfortunately, that left me even more time to think, which wasn’t exactly what I needed. When Trevor finally told me he could handle the rest of the night, I was out of there.

I crawled into bed, and just lay there, letting my thoughts chase each other around my brain. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon, and it was easier if I didn’t waste the energy to try to control my train of thought. Eventually, I knew my brain would settle down.

At five to six, I was sitting on a park bench, a few blocks away from Bella. Soren had insisted on driving me, and I had refused to let him pick me up at the apartment. We had compromised on meeting at the other park in town, the one closer to my job. Since I could walk to work, it didn’t take much longer to walk here.

Now, I was swinging my feet like a little kid, regretting my urge to be early. Five minutes was a long time to sit by yourself. There was nothing interesting to look at, no easy way to entertain myself, and I was really, really sick of thinking.

Luckily for me, I only had to wait a few minutes before Soren drove up. Apparently, he wasn’t a person who took pride in being fashionably late. “Hey Ellie,” he called through the open window, as if I hadn’t already seen him.

It would have been hard to miss him. I didn’t know much about cars, but I knew enough to be able to say he had a nice one. It was black and fancy, and didn’t have any of the dents or scratches I was used to seeing on cars.

I opened the door carefully, a little intimidated by the vehicle. I knew it was just a car, but it looked expensive. Soren clearly had a bit of money – more than me, at least. “Hey,” I replied, sliding into the leather seat. “You really didn’t have to drive me. I would’ve been fine wa-”

“Can we stop this conversation before it becomes an argument?” He cut me off casually, as if he was just continuing a conversation. “We seem to have a habit of disagreeing.”

“We don’t argue that much,” I protested.

He gave me a wry look before turning his eyes back to the road, and I realized that I was about to start another argument. I didn’t continue my train of thought, turning instead to glance out the window.

The quiet streets flashed by as we headed to the edge of town. Not my edge of town – the bad edge – but the other side. I could see the houses growing bigger and grander as each block progressed, and I began to get the feeling that Soren and I were at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Soren and I didn’t talk, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. The radio played softly in the background, some light-rock station that I had never heard of. Then again, I didn’t really listen to the radio much. I preferred my iPod, where I could choose the songs and didn’t have to be bothered by commercials.

The drive was a quick one, and before I knew it, Soren was pulling into a driveway. I glanced up at the house and my mouth fell open. It was no longer a feeling – I now knew that Soren and I were from completely different worlds.