I Could Write It Better Than You Ever Felt It

"Sit down, or you'll faint."

Alex spoke again.
The sound of his voice filled the room and it only made me more light headed.
I took his advice and sat down at my kitchen table across from him. He was still smirking. I was afraid to make direct eye contact just yet. I was sure that if our eyes met, somehow he would disappear just as suddenly as he had appeared. I must have been a sight to see, just staring at the tabletop blankly with a 'duh' expression taking over my face. My mother watched me while she wore a wide grin. Alex let out a quiet chuckle as he continued to take sips from the paper Starbucks cup in front of him.

We must have sat like this for a good minute, before my mother clapped her hands once and stood up, startling us all.

"It's been so long you two! Poor Alice doesn't know what to do with herself! I'll let you guys catch up. I've got to run to the grocery store for some last minute things. Did you want me to pick up anything special for you, Alex?"

"No thanks, Mrs. L."

It was like my head was underwater and Alex and my mother were above the surface. I could hear them talking but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I couldn't process any of this. I tried to focus as I watched my mother grab her purse off the counter and scurry out the side door. I finally looked right at Alex. Neither of us spoke until after we heard the car door slam shut and the engine drive off.

"Uh..."

I don't know why I even bothered to open my mouth first. That was all I could get out.
Alex grinned at my attempt. He picked up his cup one last time and pressed it to his lips. I watched closely as he threw his head back, trying to get the last drops of whatever coffee was left. He set his cup back down and ran a hand through his messy brown hair before looking at me again.

"What's up?"

That's what did it.
His tone was so casual and cool and it made no sense in this scenario we were in.
My frustration sent me right out of my confused stupor.

"What's up??...What's up?! I've been stressing for a week about all this magic story nonsense, going over everything in my brain hundreds and hundreds of times! And just when I finally start to convince myself it was all a dream or I'm just crazy, here you just appear in my kitchen, chatting away with my mom like it's nothing! And all you have to say is 'What's up?"

Alex began to laugh hard. I sat there and continued fuming for a moment before I realized that I was truly glad to see him. His laughter died down as well as my sudden anger, and then he spoke again.

"Relax, Alice. I couldn't stop thinking about any of this either. None of the guys remember you-not even Jack."

"Or Pete?" I asked, slightly hopeful.
Alex shook his head.

"Nope, Pete doesn't know anything either. It's absolutely bizarre."

I took a deep breath. I didn't need to say anything for him to know that I agreed wholeheartedly with his statement.
This definitely was bizarre.

"So...how did you get here? Like, what is going on now?"
Alex grinned at my words and I couldn't help but to let out a small laugh as well.

"I wrote all this. Of course, you and I are exempt. But everything else is scripted." He leaned back in his chair, proudly. My confusion was back.

"Oh...kay..." I dragged out the word hoping he would get the hint that he needed to elaborate. He did.

"I found your notebook. It was in the your bunk. Well, I'm assuming it was yours. Your story wasn't in there though..."

"I didn't have my notebook when I was on the bus. I didn't see it once the entire time. It was at home."

"Well, I found someones notebook. It's red, isn't it? Like a darkish brown-red color? With pale yellow pages? Has a small letter 'R.' stamped on the back corner?"

I nodded. There was no doubt that was the same book.

"Yes, that's it. I looked everywhere for that thing once I got home. How did it end up by you??"

"No idea," Alex shrugged. "But I figured it was the ever famous 'magic journal' because of how strange it looked-like something right out of a creepy movie or something. What in the hell possessed a nice looking girl like you to buy something that looked like that?!"

I slouched a little in my seat.

"I liked the...vintage look." I muttered sheepishly.
Alex ignored this and continued on with his story.

"Well anyways, just like you I couldn't shake the thoughts of what happened. I thought of the idea the second I found the journal, but it took me a few days to actually build up to courage to try it. Last night was when I finally decided to go for it. I felt pretty stupid, I'll have you know. But hey-it worked! I wrote a nice little story to bring me to you so we could figure all this out and...here I am."

I don't think I got a chance to take in all of what Alex was telling me in that moment. I was no longer slouching. I was literally on the edge of my seat leaning closer into the table. My eyes grew wider with each sentence he spoke. Once he was done talking I persuaded him to keep going.

"Well...What's your story about?"