Sail

It wasn't like the stillness after a storm. It was more like the entrancing feeling you get as you watch a swirling tornado rampaging in the distance. You know it has the capability of mass destruction, you see it happening before your very eyes yet you're entranced by its power and magnitude. Everything in its path would pay the price for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You guys are amazing," Briella whispered. She clapped her hands together lazily and she walked toward the staircase to get to her room. "Quite a spectacle."

Her father took in a deep breath. "Have you been smoking again?"

She stomped her foot. "Have you been cheating again?"

She could see his jaw clench as his eyes darted over to her mother. "Briella, you know we're trying to work things out. Why would you say something like that?"

"You're doing a bang-up job. Please, keep doing whatever it is you're doing." She continued up the stairs. "Whatever it is, it's clearly working."

Briella locked her door behind her and went straight for her desk chair. As her laptop booted up, she pulled out the rest of her joint. She lit up and took a long, slow drag. She'd already been on her way to cloud nine when she left Sasha's house earlier but walking in on her parents fighting had definitely dulled her buzz. As the tiny stick dangling from her lips she searched for documentaries of tornadoes. Normally, Briella tried to find happier things to take her mind away but as she took another pull, she couldn't help but find this particular natural disaster simply captivating.

She stared at her computer screen for about an hour before her cell phone's ringtone interrupted. She answered the unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Briella. It's me, Chandler."

She nearly dropped the phone. When she wrote her number on his bathroom mirror, she had been feeling flirty, mysterious even, but she hadn't expected him to actually call once he realized she was still in high school- especially nearly a week later. "This is quite the surprise."

"Is it?" he chuckled. She imagined him nibbling on his red guitar pick. "Are you busy?"

Now that she was back in reality, Briella could hear the muffled sounds of her parents fighting. They'd moved the battlefield to their bedroom which was on the other side of the house but it was still audible. She looked down her nose as she took another pull. "No, just getting a little high."

"Youths these days..."

"How do you feel about tornadoes? I think they're beautiful," Briella said as she un-paused the video then put it on mute.

"Beautiful things turn out to be the most dangerous don't they?"

Briella frowned but as she mulled it over, she came to agree with Chandler. She'd thought the love between her parents had been the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen but now it was like watching a tornado rip apart her family. Even though she knew what the outcome would be, she could do nothing but stand idly by and watch the chaos.

Chandler cleared his throat and Briella realized she'd been quiet for a while. "I thought about you today... so I called. I hope that's okay."

Briella smiled. "You thought I'd put my number on your mirror just for decoration?"

"I was hoping not. If I promise not to bore you with more of my music, do you think you'd like to go out with me sometime?"

"I'll go out with you sometime but only if you promise to bore me with at least one song."

"Really?"

"Yep," she said before taking one last drag.

"Consider it done."