Light of My Life

Autumn Fernandez slid her aviators on as she stepped out into the sun and into her car. She had only been living in Tempe, Arizona for two weeks and she already wanted to leave. It was too hot and dry all the time; she only lasted two minutes outside before sweating nonstop. Not to mention that she was also terribly lonely. She knew absolutely no one in this town, so two weeks of loneliness was started to eat her up inside.

Whenever Autumn got bored she would just hop in her car and go to the music store right by her apartment. No one was ever really there, besides the girl who worked the counter. The two would never speak to each other, which didn’t really bother Autumn. She was already used to no one speaking to her. Sometimes she would go in and see a boy in the store talking to the girl at the counter. Autumn would never really look at them, not wanting to interrupt their conversations with her glancing at them. Although sometimes she felt the boy staring at her, she was sure it was just her imagination.

Once Autumn arrived at the store, she noticed that both the boy and the girl were at the counter, mid conversation. Taking a deep breath, she got out of her car and walked into the store.

As she looked at the various things in the store, she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Autumn didn’t know why she always felt this when she was here. She finally looked up to see the boy staring directly at her. He had bright blue eyes that were simply beautiful and dark brown hair that was messy. The two stared at each other for a good ten seconds before he looked down and messed up his hair more than it already was.

As Autumn began mindlessly looking through different vinyls, she heard loud whispering. Not wanting to be nosy, Autumn didn’t look up and just kept her eyes on the vinyls, but she could still hear.

“Just go talk to her!”

“No way! She probably already thinks I’m a freak.”

There was no way they could be talking about her, right? Before Autumn could even think more on the situation, she felt a body bump into her, sending her flying to the ground. “Shit,” Autumn mumbled, feeling herself getting a headache.

Autumn looked up, seeing the blue eyed boy standing above her, just staring with a horrified look on his face. Autumn thought for a moment that he was going to help her up, but when he didn’t, she helped herself up.

“Wow, you’re such a gentleman, Gare,” The girl from the counter stepped up from behind him and pushed him aside and looked at Autumn. “Are you okay?” All Autumn did was nod and the girl continued. “Sorry about him, he’s just weird,” The girl chuckled and put her hand out. “I’m Ella, by the way.”

Autumn shook the girl’s hand and smiled lightly. “I’m Autumn,” She took a quick glance at the boy, and saw he was just staring at the ground.

“And this is Garrett,” Ella pushed Garrett in front of her to be face to face with Autumn.

Garrett stared at her for a moment before finally saying, “Hi,” and then he choked out. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” The two stared at each other for a moment before Autumn decided that it was time to leave. “It was nice meeting you guys, I have to go now.” Before either of them could say a word, Autumn dashed out the door, leaving Ella and Garrett in the store.

----

Garrett let out a loud groan and slapped his forehead. “I’m an idiot.”

Ella scoffed, walking back towards the counter. “Got that right,”

Glaring at his friend, Garrett leaned against the counter. “She thinks I’m a freak now for sure.”

“Why don’t you just go and talk to her without making a fool of yourself?”

Garrett looked at Ella like she had two heads. “Are you crazy?” When Ella didn’t say anything else, Garrett continued. “I’m too nervous to even look at her, Ella!”

One day when Garrett was visiting Ella at work he saw Autumn. With her wavy brown hair and lightly tan skin, Garrett couldn’t help but just look at her every once in a while. She was absolutely beautiful. When Ella told him that she always came in at least every other day, Garrett decided he was going to build up the nerve and talk to her the next time he saw her. He said this every time he came into the store now, and after two weeks of Garrett saying something he won’t do, Ella decided to put matters into her own hands.

“You’re so smitten, Gare,” Ella said, “You’re like a puppy.”

Garrett smirked at his friend before saying, “Like you don’t act like a little love sick puppy when John’s around.”

Ella blushed immediately, and hit Garrett’s arm. “At least I can actually talk to John,” she shot back.

“I’ll talk to her next time.”

“That’s what you always say.” Ella rolled her eyes.

Garrett ignored his friend. “I will, trust me.”

The two chatted mindlessly until another customer came in and Ella helped them find a certain CD. As Garrett let his friend help the customer, he saw something shiny in the corner of his eye on the ground. He walked towards it, and saw it was a bracelet. Picking it up, Garrett observed it. Then, in tiny cursive letters it said a name.

Autumn.