A Second Chance

I didn’t know at that moment what I should do; I didn’t know if I should just stay in the bar or go outside and see if Chase was ok. I kept staring at the door after Chase walked out like an idiot, what Sam had said seemed to affect him differently than how Sam had put him down yesterday. It seemed like it hit a nerve with him. I wanted to go out there, but then again I just met Chase. Was it really ok for someone you just met to be that concerned about you? I looked over to where Taylor and Sam were. Taylor had gotten the phone and was on with the cops, as Sam was putting ice on his bloody lip. Everyone in the bar had cleared out except for the two men who were still in the back rumbling around a bit. I looked back over at the door, still wondering what to do. I had heard Taylor hang up the phone and walk over to Sam.

“They’ll be here in a few minutes.” She said quietly. Without even looking back over at them, my body seemed to make the decision for me. I walked over to the door and left the bar. I stood outside the entrance for a minute, scanning the area for Chase. My eyes finally spotted a blonde haired boy standing by the biggest tree in the park nearby. I wandered over slowly and stealthily. He was leaning against the huge bark and staring into the small lake that was nearby. I was hesitant and stood still for a moment before I spoke.

“Hey.” I said quietly, only loud enough so he could hear me. He looked over at me briefly then glanced back over at the lake. His arms were crossed.

“What do you want?” He spoke quietly too. It sounded cold, but I let it slide past.

“Are you ok?” I said after a minute of silence. I didn’t want to come off and sound like I cared too much about a guy I just met.

“Never better.” He said sarcastically without looking at me. His voice was like icicles. I didn’t quite know what to say, so I just stared into the lake like he was. The lake looked like a glimmering portal into a different world, the moon and stars reflected off of the water’s surface so magically. I loved that about this town; you could always see the stars so clearly.
I didn’t speak for a few minutes, and just stared at the lake, but not really staring. I was thinking. Different things swirled around my head, too many different things that I began to get a small headache.

“What are you doing out here?” Chase asked when I stayed silent; his voice was warmer this time, like he was just asking an honest question. He was looking over at me, his arms still crossed and his back still to the bark. I looked over at him; his eyes aglow in the moonlight.

“I didn’t want to be there when the cops showed up.” His eyes stayed locked on me.

“You’ll still have to give your say on what happened.”

“Then they can come find me.” I said with almost no emotion in my voice. He looked back over at the lake. My eyes drifted off of him, but not back to the water. They just simply wandered around the surrounding area. I loved this island’s geography. Everything seemed to look enchanted at night; the waters would glow with life, and the fireflies would dance around the blackened forests, making it look like tiny fires where lit inside the woods. The sky always burned a dark sapphire color as it was sprinkled with dots of burning light. The grass and leaves where pure emerald, concealing a dark rich brown soil beneath. Small animals could always be seen scurrying about, though stopping to take drinks from the lakes or nibble on leaves. Once sun set and the moon rose, this island turned into an enchantment.

“Don’t ask.” Chase suddenly said, catching me off guard. I imagined he was referring to the scene that had just taken place between him and Sam, and why he had been so upset. But just in case it wasn’t what he was talking about, I decided to play it safe.

“About?” I asked slowly, trying to sound as confused and innocent as possible.

“You know.” He said with a glance over at me. “I know that’s why you’re out here.” I sighed to myself and took a small step closer to him.

“You just, seemed so…hurt.” He gritted his teeth.

“Yeah, it struck a nerve.” He looked over at me with a confused face. “Why do you care?” His words were daggers wrapped in ice. I was taken back a little bit; I didn’t know what to say or how to answer his question. I honestly didn’t know why I cared so much, why I even came out here to see if he was ok. I couldn’t answer that question.

“I don’t know.” I answered truthfully. He looked over at me like I had just told the biggest lie on the planet. “I honestly don’t know,” I said again. “I don’t know why I care. I just…do.” He snickered sarcastically.

“Yeah well, don’t care. I’m not worth it.” He turned his back and began to walk away. I took a small step forward.

“Chase…” I said trailing off toward the end. He stopped and stood with his back to me; he turned his head with his back still to me.

“I’m better off with people not caring about me. Trust me.” He walked off into the night; I stood there alone next to the lake, with my head spinning with thoughts; Chase being one of them.

For about an hour I sat there in front of the lake, just looking into the water and thinking to myself. I had seen the cop cars pull up to the bar, all the flashing lights and sirens didn’t distract me from my mind. There was more to Chase than anyone, including himself was leading on. Something, something in his past made him the way he is; and I knew it wasn’t exactly something good. Maybe he was a kid like me, with a story to tell but no one to tell it to. Or no one who would care to listen and understand your story…

Crickets sang their songs the loudest I’ve heard in a while as I thought. It was a soothing background melody, along with the gentle sounds of the lake. After a while two policemen came up to me, clearly Taylor or Sam had told the cops who to look for.

“Are you Mallory?” One of the police officers said. I looked up to them from where I stayed seated on the grass. I nodded my head. “Can you come with us? We would like to ask you some questions about the bar fight.” It wasn’t like to me blow off cops, but I tended to act like I didn’t hear them. I simply looked back into the water. “Miss, can you come with us?” I looked over into the direction of where Chase had walked off to, as I almost absentmindedly answered the man.

“Yes.” I got up from where I was sitting and walked over with the men to the bar. Though once or twice I looked back over my shoulder at where I was just sitting, perhaps to just make sure that no one was still over there.

--

The next morning when I woke up I did all my normal morning things. Fixed myself up, went outside and did some of my fieldwork. Fonzie grazed happily as I did my work. Earlier that morning I had gone to Purple Grass Ranch and talked to Rachel about Fonzie. She happily gave me some fodder to feed him, and I thanked her as I should. People passed me by as I worked on my farm, and they said the usual hello, but I was unusually quiet today, from the events of the previous day. It wasn’t from the bar fight, no, I was used to those from back home. It was Chase, and his words that kept me quiet and thinking. I’m better off with people not caring about me. Trust me. His words replayed over and over again in my head all morning. I couldn’t stop thinking about why, why he would say that. It wracked my brain through and through, and I just had to know. But I also knew that I couldn’t just ask him. If he was a kid like me, with an unforgettable story, it’s not something he’s going to just want to talk about. I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t talk to someone about this, so I figured I’d go talk to Luke.

When I got to the carpenter’s Luke was outside sawing a piece of lumber off of a branch. When he noticed that I was there he looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back, noticing that it had been the first time all day that I had.

“Mal! How was your first day?” He asked happily as he continued to saw through the branch. I walked over closer to him and smile to myself.

“It was, how should I say this, unforgettable.” He paused momentarily and looked up at me with a confused smile. “Bar fight.” I said point blank with a laughing smile. He laughed too then continued to work on the lumber.

“Over food?” He questioned.

“Over food.” I confirmed with a smile, he chuckled. “French fries to be exact.” It was within that little conversation that I realized that Luke could make me smile no matter what kind of mood I was in. It was nice to know that I had someone like that to hold on to.

“Man, some of the people in this town…they’re just insane.” The branch that he had been sawing cut in half, and he looked up at me with an innocent smile. “Well, aside from that, I’m sure you did great.” I grinned. Luke walked over to one of his outside work tables and began to do a whole bunch of carpentry like things on it. I stayed quite for a few moments, trying to think how to bring up what I wanted to bring up. I gave up on trying to find a clever way to bring it up, so I decided that I would just come out with it.

“Luke what do you know about Chase?” He looked over at me surprised.

“The cook? Not a lot. Why?” I shrugged, trying to get away from the question.

“I don’t know. But what do you know?” Luke went back to doing whatever he was doing on the table.

“He just moved here, and he’s a mean kid that shouldn’t be trusted.” I automatically thought back to what he said last night. A little panicked for a reason even unknown to me I looked over at Luke.

“Why shouldn’t he be trusted?” I said way calmer than I felt. Luke shrugged.

“I don’t know. He just seems like one of those people that you just really shouldn’t trust.” Luke looked over at me with a suspicious face. “Why are you so interested in Chase all of a sudden?” I was mildly taken back.

I’m not interested in him, I was just curious.” I said lying straight through my teeth. “But why do you think he’s un-trustable?” He looked at me smugly.

“Mal, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, I just want to know.” Luke sighed, and then shrugged again.

“I don’t know. I guess just because he’s such an ass to everyone, I wouldn’t trust him.”

“He’s not an ass to everyone.” At this point Luke looked over at me a bit annoyed.

“Ok, an ass to a lot of people.”

“He’s barely an ass at all. So he has a little sarcasm problem and doesn’t like to be pushed around. Does that really make him an ass and deserve for everyone to hate him?” Luke put down his saw hard and quickly and looked over at me, now I could see he was a little more than annoyed.

“I never said I hated him. I just don’t like him.”

“Why? You barely know him!” I said louder than I wanted to.

“You barely know him too!” Luke yelled back at me.

“But at least I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt!” I said a lot louder than I had wanted it to be. Luke took a deep breath and looked over at me with no expression.

“I don’t know why you’re arguing with me over this. We’re two different people; we’re aloud to have two different points of view. Man I don’t know what’s gotten into you Mallory, but I don’t like it. So when whatever the hell’s gotten a hold of you let’s go, come talk to me. Because I don’t want to be yelling at you every time we talk.” Luke began to walk up the steps to the carpentry door.

“Luke wait—” I said as he shut the door. I sighed to myself; I had pushed it too far. I always do that, every time. I’ve always been like that, and I’ve always hated myself for it. I stared at the carpentry for a few minutes then began to walk back to my house, silently wishing a bullet would pierce my head.