Seven Years Later
She looked out the train window for the final time on her visit back to her old city. She sighed and rested her head in her hands. She was now on a train back to California. She was terrified of planes since her father died just over seven years ago. The train began moving towards Kansas for the first stop where she'd have to transfer trains back to California.
Several hours later, the train came to a hault. She stood up and picked her baggage up before walking off the train. She sat on a bench waiting for her second train to come. Sitting there thinking, she covered her face with her hands.
"Excuse me? May I sit here?" she heards. She peered up and saw a male about 5 foot 9, average weight, blonde hair, and to die for green eyes looking at her. She nodded before recovering her face. "Thanks. Are you okay, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Yeah," she said quietly but loud enough for him to hear as she uncovered her face.
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
"California," she stated.
"Me, too," he said. The guy continued to look at her as she sat there looking like she was in pain. "Where in California are you heading?" he asked trying to make conversation.
"Playa Linda," she said softly.
"I'm going there, too," he said, "How long have you lived there?"
"Um," she said looking at him, "Close to seven years."
"How come I've never seen you?" he asked.
"I'm not one of the popular kids out there," she said, "I'm mostly couped up with friends trying to escapethe world."
"Why?" he asked. "You can't hide from everything."
"I'm not trying to," she said, "I just...don't look at life the same way I used to, I guess."
"You should be living life to the fullest," he told her, "You shouldn't sit around feeling sorry."
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" she yelled.
"I'm trying to help you here," he said defending himself.
"Well, I don't need your help," she said grabbing her bags and walking towards the train as California was called.
Throughout the train ride to California, he kept an eye out for the girl who he pissed off before the train left. She was listeningto her IPod and writing at the same time. Once every few minutes, she's look up and out the window at the views they always went by. He once saw her rest her head against the window as she sighed. She looked over at him making look away. Arriving in California, he watched as she grabbed her bags and head off the train. He followed close behind her and found her hugging another girls who looked just like her, thinking it was her sister. He smiled to himself.
That night, he was walking around town with some friends catching up on what he's missed since he left for Kansas. Turning attention away from them for a split second, he heard girls laughing. He looked towards a bonfire that had many people on it. Seeing a familiar face, he smiled.
"What are you looking at, bro?" Lucas asked him.
"I see a girl I met on the train," he said, "She blew up at me when I tried to talk to her."
"One of them?" Blake asked.
"Yeah. Who are they?"
"Brae, stay away from them," Mike said, "They're the biggest druggies in Playa Linda. Hell, they're all worse than Sarah Borden was."
The group of guys continued to walk by the girls until Bradin got knocked down by someone. Recovering to see who it was, he noticed it was the girl from the train. She had a football in her hands as she got up. She gave a weak smile and helped him up before throwing the ball back and running back to the group. As she ran away, he got a whif of marajuana from her.