Light of My Life

“I’ve looked everywhere, Mom!” Autumn could feel the tears stream down her cheeks as she told her mother the situation she was in.

Autumn heard her mother sigh on the other end. “Oh, honey, you’ll find it eventually.”

“You know how much that bracelet means to me,”

Of course Autumn’s mom knew. The item could be just a simple bracelet to anyone else, but to Autumn, it was her most valuable item. She wore it every day and cherished it. It was a birthday gift from her parents when she turned sixteen, and it was the last true thing she had that connected to her father.

Loosing this bracelet was the end of the world for her.

“Have you really looked everywhere?”

Of course Autumn did. She searched her whole apartment and her car. Where else could it be? “I looked everywhere, Mom, it’s gone.”

Her mother sighed again. “Trust me,” she said, “You’ll find it.”

---

“What do I say when I give it to her?” Garrett paced the store trying to think of what he was going to say to Autumn whenever she came back.

Ella rolled her eyes. “Just say, ‘You left your bracelet here by accident’, not that hard.”

“It’s not that easy, El.”

Ever since Autumn left two days before and Garrett had seen her bracelet on the floor, he had been trying to figure out how he was going to give it back. Garrett knew he didn’t have much time. Autumn came in here all the time. He wouldn’t be surprised if she came in today.

So when he heard the door open and turned around to see Autumn standing there, he wasn’t shocked at all. He was just nervous. Not knowing what to say, he smiled. Autumn smiled weakly back at the two before going directly to where she always went in the store.

With Autumn’s back to the two, Ella shoved Garrett towards her while mouthing, “Talk to her!”

Garrett glared at his friend before finally gaining the confidence and walking towards Autumn. It couldn’t be that hard. Just a simple, “Hey, I’m pretty sure this is yours, here you go,” and maybe a simple, “I really want to get to know you,” but that was a long shot.

As Garrett stood right behind Autumn, he cleared his throat to get her attention. He reached into his pocket, ready to pull out the bracelet. Autumn turned around slowly, being caution since the last time she was near him he tackled her to the ground. Garrett smiled before choking out a simple, “Uh, hey,”

“Hi,” Autumn was confused on why the blue-eyed boy was speaking to her. It wasn’t that she minded; he seemed nice and she would be lying if she said he wasn’t good looking, but Autumn liked to keep to herself. It was the way she had always been. She wasn’t exactly the best at making friends, and she especially wasn’t used to people just coming up to her to start a conversation.

Garrett cleared his throat once more, and finally pulled the silver bracelet out of his pocket. “When you left, the other day, I think you dropped this,” Garrett held out his palm, revealing the bracelet.

The look on Autumn’s face changed immediately. A look of a joy spread across her face as she grabbed the bracelet and held it in her hands. “You-you found it,” Autumn clasped the bracelet back on before smiling at Garrett. “Thank you, it means a lot,”

Garrett felt the butterflies when she smiled at him. “It was no problem,” he watched as Autumn played with the bracelet a little more, adjusting it. He quickly turned towards Ella, who waved her hand, urging him to go on. “So,” he started, “You’re new to the area, I’m guessing?” Autumn’s attention was back on him as he finished. “I’ve never really seen you around here before.”

Autumn laughed slightly and nodded. “Yeah, just moved a couple weeks ago,”

“You liking it so far?”

“Eh, it’s alright,” Autumn made a face before saying, “I just miss home I guess.”

Garrett nodded. “Where are you from?”

“San Diego, born and raised,” Autumn smiled slightly. “I’m transferring to ASU in the fall, so I decided to spend my summer here, to get to know the city and stuff.”

“Welcome to Tempe, then,” Autumn smiled and nodded, and for a moment there was an awkward silence. Not knowing what to say, he referred back to the bracelet. “So, uh, the bracelet,”

Autumn looked down and played with it again. “Yeah, I’ve had it for a couple years,” she said, “It’s my prized possession, I’m glad you found it.”

“Like I said, no problem,”

Once again there a small silence between the two, so Autumn decided to break it by finally saying, “Uh, I should get going,” she moved towards the door before finishing, “Going to get some lunch before the traffic gets bad.”

Ella eyed Garrett, giving him a look that told him that this was his chance.

“Uh, uh, wait, hey,” Garrett spluttered out, catching Autumn’s attention right when she was at the door. “I mean, uh, if you don’t want to it’s cool but,” Garrett took a deep breath before finally spitting it out. “Want to get some lunch uh, together?” A strange look crossed across Autumn’s face and Garrett quick added, “I could tell you everything you need to know about Tempe and show you around.”

Autumn thought about it for a moment. Here was this really awkward and cute boy standing in front of her wanting to have some lunch with her. A boy she met just a couple days earlier when he knocked into her; a boy who found and returned her most prized possession. Looking up at Garrett, she saw the anxious look in his eyes. His eyes were really something. They were bluer than the sea, with a small tiny bit of gray.

If it were any other situation, she would of kindly declined, but she suddenly found herself saying yes and stepping out of the shop with him and into his yellow car he had parked just a couple of spots next to hers.

“You know, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to,”

“I know,” Autumn smiled over at him. “I want to.”