Crash Land.

Liliana felt the warm breeze rush right through her. She placed her arms out letting the loose material of her shirt float out behind her. The warmth of the wind brushing through her long hair as the sunglasses perched on her face was shielding the harsh sunrays. She felt her body going almost numb and her body feeling as though it was just floating with the wind. She took a deep breath as a smile spread to her glossy lips.

“See”, she heard his voice speak beside her. “This is so much better than sitting in a classroom hearing a bunch of bullshit.”

She let her green eyes travel off to his light brown ones. “So much better”, she said as she heard Austin’s loud laughter besides her.

Austin was smiling at the happiness jolting off the girl besides her. His blood shot eyes squinting in her direction as he watched her practically skip down the ghost like street. His body was out of his own control and in a sense he was comfortable with it. The weed that the two smoked in his car was taking a toll on both of them and they embraces every moment of it.

“Let’s go in here.”

Liliana didn’t have a chance to respond before she felt her body being dragged into a small shop. She pushed up her sunglasses as she looked around the room. The soft music of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir playing but the only thing she could hear was the rapid heartbeat in her chest. She looked down at her hand which was loosely holding Austin’s. When she felt him let go, she felt a pinged of sadness rush over her. She watched as he walked over to the set of acoustic guitars staring at them wide eyed.

“Do you play?”

Austin turned to face her before turning back to the beautiful guitars. He reached over letting his fingertips graze against the smooth wooden texture.

“Nope”, he said as he picked the thing up in his hand.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Why?” she asked feeling her lips going slightly numb.

Austin just shrugged his shoulders slightly as he let a finger strum the chords softly. “I just never had the guts to try.”

Liliana nodded her head before slumming down on the chair. She ran her fingers through her hair as she closed her eyes enjoying everything around her. She let her eyes open once again to see Austin standing there with the acoustic guitar wrapped around his shoulders.

“How does it look?”

“You’re a cool cat, Austin.”

He let out a chuckle. “Why thank you, darling.”

Liliana felt herself smile wider than she wanted to. “Want to hear a secret?”

“Of course”, she said with a laugh.

“I come into this shop at least once a week”, he said placing the guitar back on the rack. “And I end up in this very spot with the very guitar in hand”, he said as Liliana watched the way her spoke, she was starting to love his facial expressions.

“Why don’t you ever buy it?”

He shrugged his shoulders once again rubbing at his facial hair that was growing thicker on his baby like face.

“Don’t really have the cash”, he said with a chuckle placing a hand out to the girl. “But once I come upon a few bills that guitar there is mine.”

She reached out grabbing his hand letting her tug her up on her feet. She didn’t respond with anything but a smile. He kept her hand in his as his other hand went around her shoulder. The two smiled at the older man standing behind the counter. He gave Austin a grin along with a wink.

“Have a good day, you two.”

“We will sir.”

Liliana just gave him a smile as the two wondered out the door. Austin reached over pushing her sunglasses back to cover her eyes as the ventured out into the sun.

“Now that I told you a secret, I think it’s your turn.”

“I didn’t agree to that.”

“Well that’s the rules, darling”, he spoke with a smirk. “I thought you knew by now.”

Liliana rolled her eyes as the two walked around the corner to see the old beat up trunk parked all alone. She took a deep breath as she leaned her head against his chest.

“I’m afraid of almost everything”, she found herself admitting.

“Like what?”

Austin’s light eyes stared over at the girl. She simply shrugged her shoulders. “Everything”, she said with a serious look on her face. “You name it, I’m afraid of it.”

Austin chuckled as he let the girl go to jump into the bed of the truck. “Why don’t you make a list and hand it over.”

She let out a laugh as she grabbed Austin’s hand letting him pull her up into the truck. The blanket and pillows spread out and ready for them to just dive in. Liliana was the first to fall into it leaving Austin to sit up looking at the girl, waiting for answers.

“You don’t want to waste your time, I’m a walking contradiction.”

“That’s very poetic.”

“I’m a deep person, what can I say.”

Austin chuckled softly before letting his body fall back down beside her. His hand rested on his chest as he looked out to the sky.

“I’m afraid of being alone.”

Liliana nodded her head as he eyes stayed closed. “I think just about everyone is”, she said with a nod. “But in all honesty, that’s not what I’m afraid of.”

“Aren’t all girls afraid that they aren’t going to find their prince charming and live happily ever after?”

She shook her head. “I’m not”, she said speaking the truth. “I know there isn’t any prince charming out there for me. Love isn’t exactly something I believe in.”

“How do you not believe in love?”

“I believe in love that you might have for someone or something but to actually fall in love with someone. The type of love that you see in the movies, it doesn’t exist.”

“And what if it does?”

“We’re all actors and actress acting out the script”, she said as Austin turned on his side to face her. “This isn’t real.”

“So if you fell in love with someone are you just going to think you’re acting?”

“I’m not going to fall in love.”

“And if you do?”

She let out a laugh shaking her head. “I’m not”, she said as they faced each other. “With that look on your face, are you implying that I might possibly fall in love with you?”

Austin shook his head with a laugh. “I’m not the type of guy girl’s fall in love with.”

“And why is that?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not exactly the prince charming type.”

Liliana nodded her head as she felt Austin tugging off her sunglasses and placing them in-between them. He looked into her eyes as she stared back in confusion. They shared a confusing smile as they just started at each other.

“When are you going to kiss me?”

Austin let out a laugh shaking his head. He turned on his back staring up at the sky as he continued to laugh.

“When you’re of age”, he said as Liliana rolled her eyes.

“My birthday is next week.”

“I know.”

“And exactly how do you know that, creep?”

“Your brother.”

“Do you and my brother usually just sit around and talk about me?”

He shrugged his shoulders as he reached into his jean jacket pulling out the carton.
“Sometimes”, he said placing one in his mouth before pulling out another one and placing it in the girl’s lips. “I ask questions and he ignores them”, he said lighting his own stick and then reaching over to light hers. “The only time I get any kind of answers if when he’s high”, he said as Liliana rolled her eyes blowing the smoke out into the wind.

“What kind of questions do you ask?”

“The usual”, he said with a shrug.

“And that is?”

“Questions that you refused to tell me yourself.”

“You’re very strange.”

Austin nodded his head with a chuckle as he inhaled the smoke into his lungs. “What do you want for your birthday?”

“Weed alcohol and sex.”

Austin rolled his eyes as he inhaled the smoke deep into his lungs and then blowing the cloud out into the warm sky.

“I could get you the weed and the alcohol with no problem”, he said not daring to look at the girl. “But the sex, it might be a little tricky. I might have to pay some guy to bang you out.”

“You better have enough money; it’s not going to be cheap.”

“You’re telling me.”

They stayed quiet as they finished off the cigarette in their mouths. They threw the butt down to the ground as they laid there in silence.

“What do you really want?”

Liliana turned to face Austin, his light eyes staring at her with a smile. She shrugged her shoulders.

“A piece of mind”, she spoke as their lips were just inches away. “I want all my fears and insecurities to go away. I want time to stop, only for a little while. Just for a brief moment I want to feel normal.”

Austin looked at the girl with such interest as he placed a hand on her cheek. He looked deep into her eyes as he pushed back her messy blond hair. He had never met anyone like Liliana before. She was as normal as normal could be, almost ordinary. And then there were moments like now where he looked at her like she was not from this world as though she was some sort of alien. As his hands caressed her face, he felt her lips pressing against his thumbs. He took a sharp breath as he felt his finger going between her lips, her tongue sliding against his skin.

“You make this really hard.”

“What am I doing?”

He just shook his head before pulling his hand from her face letting it slowly slide down to her waist. He gripped on her hip bone closing his eyes slowly.

“What are we doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb, you’re not very good at it.”

She let out a shrug as she let out a soft laugh. “Last time I checked, we weren’t doing anything which I must blame you for. I’m just hanging out with a new friend who sometimes I like and others I despise. That is about it.”

Austin nodded his head wanting to believe her words. “That’s all this could be, you know that right? We can’t be anything more than that for many reasons.”

“I’ll hold my end of the deal, will you?”

Austin didn’t have an answer.