Faded Encounters

by Elsy Green

  “And did I mention Ethan Miller is going to be there?” She smirks.

  I try to hide the smile that overtakes me, but I fail miserably. Just hearing his name makes me giddy and Sophie knows it. Nothing has really happened since that day in the lunch room two weeks ago, but we do have some pretty flirty exchanges. He’s moved his seat next to me in biology where we work together on all the assignments. And he’s constantly flirty and smirking that adorable smirk. He winks at me whenever he finds me in the lunch room, and always has a witty or cute remark when he passes me in the hall, but nothing more. Just aimless flirty that is driving me insane.

  “Regardless, nothing’s happened.” I sigh suddenly depressed about going again.

  “Your dreams have stopped.” Sophie points the brush she’s using on my hair at me.

  “So?”

  “So? Ethan showed up and then they stopped. That’s your sign. The dreams were leading you to him.”

  “Or it has to do with the fact that I stopped letting my mind be controlled by some weird outside force. I’m in charge now.” I sit up a little taller, proving my point.

  “Nah, it has to do with Ethan. The dreams have been leading you to him and you need to figure out why. You need to get closer to him.”

  “And how do I do that exactly? If he hasn’t asked me out by now, he’s not going to.”

  “He might be shy, just be forward with him. Girl power and all that.”

  “Seriously? That’s your speech? Girl power?”

  “What? You don’t need a speech, just follow your gut.”

  “That’s the problem, my gut gets all queasy and knotted when I see him and I clam up. Freaking clam up like a silly fan girl!”

  “You do not. I’ve seen you with him. You’re totally chill. It’s weird actually. I’ve never seen you chill with a boy, but with Ethan it’s like you two are…I don’t know old friends.”

  “We are friends.” I roll my eyes. “That’s the point, I don’t want to be his friend, I want to be his—”

  “Soulmate?” She waggles her eyebrows at me and spins me around to assess her work.

  “Ugh, enough with this soulmate, fate voodoo.”

  “Voodoo?”

  “Yes, voodoo. I’m probably going to turn into a pumpkin tonight if I don’t arrive home by midnight.”

  “You just wait, something’s going to happen, something you can’t explain with all your numbers and coincidental scenarios. And you’ll have no choice but to believe in fate.”

  Well until then…I say we pop some popcorn and pick out a chick flick. Girl’s night!”

  “You’re pathetic. We are going to this thing, now come on! We are going to be late.” She clamps onto my arm and pulls me towards the car. I’m pulling against her, making it incredibly hard for her to move me, but somehow, she’s doing it. The woman has like super freaky strength, especially when she wants something. She may be petite, but the girl does her ginger roots justice. She’s fiery, pushy, and knows how to get her way.

  Within minutes she’s secured me in the car with my seatbelt on. I struggle against it but can’t get it undone before she’s behind the driver’s seat and taking us to the skating rink.

  I don’t know who decided to have it there. It’s like social suicide for me. I’m already clumsy enough, put two skates underneath my feet and I lose all sense of gravity.

  We pull up to the rink a few minutes later and I can feel the music pulsating through the walls and out into the parking lot. Sophie wasn’t kidding about the party of the year. My fellow peers are not going to let anyone forget we will be graduating soon. Sophie hops out of the car and pulls me to towards the front doors ignoring my pleas to escape. We make it to the door against my will and I’m actually surprised Sophie was right about the bouncers.

  Granted they are Billy Eagleton’s parents checking our school I.D.’s, but hey they are keeping those underclassmen out. Only seniors get into this blinding strobe light of a room filled with teenage hormones and artificial fog. I cough and waft the fog from my face as we make our way inside. Sophie simply grins from ear to ear like this is the best day of her life as she breaths it all in.

  She claps giddily and yells something in my ear, but I can’t hear anything she’s saying, so I simply nod and smile hoping I’m not giving her permission to do anything crazy. She claps again and jumps up and down before running off towards the skate rentals. I should have known. Of course she would ambush me in here where I can’t hear a thing. I groan and look for somewhere to hide until she returns.

  I spot a bench in the corner across the room and head for it keeping my head down and my pace urgent. I don’t need anyone trying to stop me before Sophie gets back. I don’t want to have to argue with her in front of an audience. I’m not skating and there is nothing she can do to convince me otherwise.

  Fortunately, I make it there without interruption and spread out across the bench like a stretch Armstrong, claiming my right to it. I blow out a calming breath tuning out the music and roll my head back to try and relax. I close my eyes and try to think of somewhere a lot happier than this. Because if we are being honest, I’m only here for Sophie and even she’s pushing her limits.

  High school has never really been my thing. I don’t understand the curriculum, I don’t make friends easily and I don’t enjoy the politics of it all. The cliques, the drama, the fakeness. It’s all just an annoying headache that I have to endure every day. It’s not that I’m antisocial, I can talk to people when necessary and I’ve survived high school thus far. It’s just I enjoy my routines and none of them involve hormone ridden teenagers and a foul-smelling skating rink. If this night were up to me, I’d be at home with a good book and warm fuzzy socks.

  “I was hoping you would come,” the voice disturbing me has goosebumps erupting up and down the entirety of my skin. I suck in a breath, a tingle of uncontrollable adrenaline racing through me as I open my eyes and find Ethan standing in front of me wearing a handsome grin.

  “You were?” I sit up a little straighter and subtly compose myself, hoping I look presentable. I was just spread eagle on a public skating rink bench after all.

  “I was. Seems this party is a sacred event that cannot be missed. I was all but forced into coming here. My only consolation prize was thinking you might be here.”

  “Sounds like Sophie,” I scoff.

  His smile widens and he motions to the seat next to me. “May I?”

  “Be my guest.” He sits down next to me making sure to brush arm against mine.

  “So, we both have pushy friends then? And they both dragged us to this?” He motions to the dimly lit room. “Kind of seems like fate.” He quirks an eyebrow as he turns towards me with a lopsided grin.

  I roll my eyes. “Don’t even start. It’s statistics at best. The majority of our classmates are obsessed with this senior party, thus the likelihood that we would both up here is more probable than neither of us showing up at all. Statistics not fate.”

  His eyebrows shoot up and his lopsided grin turns to something of amusement. “You like statistics huh?”

  “Not necessarily. I mean sure it’s one of the only subjects that makes sense to me right now, but I’m just proving a point. Fate doesn’t exist, there are only factors that play a role in each one of our life decisions thus increasing certain likelihoods.”

  “Huh.” He nods and turns back towards the skating rink trying to hide his amused grin. I groan internally fighting off the urge to face palm myself. I’m blowing this, completely and utterly blowing this. Why do I care so much about this fate thing? Why can’t I just be cool. Ethan Miller, by far one of the hottest kids to ever come to Greenville, is sitting next to me, NEXT TO ME of all people. I can’t blow this. I definitely cannot blow this. Pumped by my pep talk I blow out a determined breath and turn to him ready to start over.

  “Do you want to get out of here?” He turns, cutting me off before I can get a word out. I clo
se my gapping mouth and stare at him puzzled, somehow managing to move my head up in down in a coherent response. I guess I’m not blowing this as much as I thought.

  “Cool.” He jumps up and offers me his hand. I take it gleefully, biting down on my bottom lip to keep my giddy school girl giggle inside. The moment our hands connect, the giddy school girl inside of me disappears and is replaced by something I can’t quite explain. My entire body is awashed with a powerful electric current that surges through every inch of me.

  It starts at the tips of my fingers the energy spreading like wildfire as it makes it way up my arms, through my shoulder blades, down my back and then all the way to the tips of my toes causing each one to curl up in delight inside of my shoes.

  My entire body trembles and I let out a shaky breath as every single one of my nerve endings comes alive. It’s like I’ve been in a coma for a hundred years and Ethan’s touch has just awoken me. Every single particle of my body feeling again for the first time. Every vein full of adrenaline, every pore trembling with excitement. My limbs buzzing with possibility. I mean I can practically feel my pupils dilating as my entire body hums with elation.

  I find Ethan’s eyes, my breathing ragged as I try to calm my racing heart. He must notice it too, my body’s weird reaction to our touch. He must feel me trembling against him because he stares down at our hands with a puzzled look. His eyes linger on our intertwined fingers for what feels like an eternity before those beautiful turquoise eyes finally find mine. His eyebrows furrow and his eyes narrow on me like he’s trying to calculate the answer to a daunting geometry question. Then before I can say anything, he shakes his head and straightens his posture, plastering on a sexy smile and pulling me towards the back door.

  “Come on. I know an amazing pizza place.” I follow behind him plastering on a smile of my own trying in vain to convince myself that whatever just happened was in no way related to any notions of fate, or my haunting dreams.

  C.10

  Jaxon sighs as we walk down main street, a gleeful smile on his lips as he takes in the small town in front of us. It’s a nice night outside, the perfect temperature, just like always. Greenville is known for its perfect weather and beautiful night skies. The streets are clean and quiet, not another soul to be seen. Which is kind of weird considering it’s a Saturday night, but then again maybe the loud booming music behind us has deterred some of the usual occupants of main street.

  “You know, I’ve been trying to gather the courage to ask you out for the last two weeks.”

  I look over at him baffled. “Am I really that scary?”

  “Scary? Nah. It’s just…I dunno, there’s something about you. You’re different from the other girls I’ve known. I can’t explain it, but there’s something about you that kind of terrifies me, in a good way. Like this is somehow the most important date of my life and I can’t screw it up.”

  I avert my eyes to the ground my cheeks burning with embarrassment. “Way to give a girl a complex.”

  “Don’t take it the wrong way. I really like you. Like really like you. It’s just, like I said before, something about you scares me out of my mind. It’s like I don’t even have you yet, but I know I can’t lose you.” He laughs nervously and runs a hand through his hair.

  “Sorry. I shouldn’t be talking like this. It’s probably a little stalkerish. It’s just I feel like I can be completely honest with you. For some reason I’m not afraid to say whatever is swimming around in my head.” He shakes his head ashamed.

  “Well, biology lab will do that to you. Once you dissect a dead frog together there really are no boundaries you can’t cross.”

  He chuckles. “See you even know the perfect thing to say to my weird confession, it’s intimidating.”

  I smile and shake my head. “Not really, I just say whatever comes to my brain. It’s been known to get me into trouble a time or two.”

  “Well what are our teenage years if not for getting into trouble?”

  “Well said.” I smile as we stop in front of a pizza parlor.

  “Any chance you could go for some pizza?” he motions to the door.

  “I can always go for pizza.”

  His grin widens and he opens the door for me, motioning for me to lead the way. I have to break our intertwined fingers to go inside and the minute I do, I instantly feel cold without him. He must feel the same way because he’s at my side grabbing onto my hand in seconds, warming me back up.

  I’m instantly surprised at the burning sensation that runs through my entire body again. It’s like with each touch, the sensation gets stronger, like somehow, my body is waking up a little more with each connection. Maybe I just haven’t held a boy’s hand in a long time, maybe this is normal I tell myself as I shake off the weird sensation.

  “Table for two,” he nods to the hostess who grabs some menus and takes us to an empty table in the back. We take our seats across from each other, regrettably having to disconnect again. Which is probably a good thing because I was sure my entire body was going to float away in a cloud of bliss if he didn’t let go.

  “Have you been here before?”

  “Um…” I ponder his question trying to remember if I have actually ever stepped foot into this establishment. I’ve seen this place a million times, walked and drove past it almost every day. I even know what the pizza tastes and smells like, yet I’m pretty sure I’ve never stepped foot inside of this place.

  “I’ll take that as a no?”

  “Yeah, I don’t think so. Do you ever get the feeling like you know a place, but you’ve never been there?”

  “Actually yeah, all the time. It’s like this weird sort of déjà vu. I’ll know everything about some place, or even some person, but I can’t pinpoint a time I’ve ever been there or met them.”

  “Yeah. That’s exactly what’s happening to me right now. I know the supreme is amazing, and their breadsticks are to die for, but I’ve lived here all my life and can’t remember a time I’ve actually been here.”

  He smiles and holds up his hand to order. “Must be fate.” The waiter walks over and he orders a large supreme pizza and four breadsticks with two waters. I smile pleasantly surprised he just went out on limb like that. I could be dead wrong, but yet he’s willing to gamble on me.

  “You really believe in this fate thing then, huh?”

  He shrugs. “There are a lot of coincidences that don’t make sense. Even statistically.” He raises a knowing eyebrow at me. “A lot of things happen for no reason. Sometimes fate is the only reasonable reason.”

  “Like what for instance?”

  “Well…moving here for example. I tell people it was my dad’s job that moved us here, but it wasn’t.”

  “What was it?” He bites down on his bottom lip hesitantly, not convinced he wants to tell me. “I won’t judge, promise. And I won’t try to prove you wrong with statistics.”

  He laughs and nods. “Okay, I will tell you, but only because you promised not to use statistics.” I giggle and roll my eyes. He winks and leans over the table getting a little closer to me as he lowers his voice and starts his tale.

  “It was all really strange. One day I was walking home from school and I noticed something shiny on the sidewalk up ahead of me. When I got to it, I noticed it was some sort of locket. Just a normal every day silver locket. I picked it up and opened it. To my surprise there wasn’t anything inside. Shrugging, I started walking again when I got this overwhelming feeling like I needed to be somewhere else.

  “At first I thought maybe my dad was in trouble. I raced home, only to find the place empty and him at work. Figuring it was just some sort of finicky déjà vu I went into my room and got started on my homework, but the feeling came back. Ten times stronger. It was like this crushing sense that I needed to be somewhere else, like someone was calling out to me for help. Confused I did what any sane person would do. I pulled out a map, laid it flat on my desk, and the locket fell onto it.


  “I had forgotten I was holding it, still clutching it in my hand. Dazed I pushed the locket over and saw that it was sitting right on top of this small town called Greenville. I can’t explain it, but I knew right then that I had to get here. So, I begged my dad to let me finish my senior year here. And for some reason he went along with it. His boss was able to re-station him here and we were moved by the end of the month. All on a whim.”

  I stare at him baffled. Of all the crazy fate notions I’ve ever heard, Ethan’s hits the jackpot. The kid moved here after a locket he found on the street landed on our town. I mean sure there are a lot of ways I could analyze this and make it fit into my statistics theory, but for some reason I don’t want to. For some reason, I really want to believe it indeed was fate.

  “You probably think I’m crazy.” He screws up his face. “Probably not a first date kind of revelation.”

  “No.” I shake my head. “It’s amazing really. I’m just trying to figure out what would bring you here.”

  He shrugs. “You and me both.”

  “Do you still have the locket?”

  “Yeah. I have it with me actually…if you want to see it.”

  “You have it with you?”

  “You said no judging,” he points out. I put my hands up in surrender and pull in my lips so I won’t say anything else.

  He blows out a breath and reaches into his front pocket pulling out a beautiful silver chain locket. He places it on the table in front of me. I find my hand reaching for it on its own accord, my body drawn to it like a moth to the light. Placing the tiny oval locket, it in my palm, I trace my finger over the beautiful pattern on the front. It’s a vine of flowers, each tiny pattern carved out with perfect accuracy. It reminds me of something, what I’m not sure, but I feel like somehow, I know that exact type of flower, down to the very last detail.

  Curious, I move to the locket portion, opening it up to find it empty, just as Jaxon said. I’m a little disappointed by that, I don’t know why, he told me it was empty. Yet something in me was expecting to a momentum of some sort, maybe even something I recognized. I trace my finger along the inside, feeling the worn-out edges and metal. Something was in here, something that hadn’t been removed in years, and now it’s empty. Robbed of its memory.