Chapter Three: That's Got to Be Impossible

My side hurts like a bitch and Tristan has yet to show up, but he's never late so this is really weird for him, at least to me. This is the last time that I'm meeting him at the library. (I know that's what I said. Who would have ever known that Tristan Lockhart of all people would even know where the library is, let alone work there.)

He has thirty minutes until his shift starts.

I sigh a bit obnoxiously for being in a library and check my watch again. Yep, he's officially fifteen minutes late in nine seconds. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Okay, he's extremely late.

Why can't he just be here so we can just do it and leave? I need to get back and finish that damn paper that witch of a teacher assigned me on the Treaty of Ghent. Well, since I am at one of the biggest libraries in town I could look for books on the War of 1812 while I was here.

I looked for books for another twenty minutes, forgetting that I was even waiting for Tristan. I found a few books that would be helpful, and a few books that just looked good, so just incase I had time to read them I would.

The library really was one of my favorite places to go, not that I go much because they just remind me of… I shook my head just to get rid of the images already nearly filling my head. There was no way I was going to think of that voluntarily.

Then I hear Tristan laugh as he was coming in, almost thirty minutes laugh and I feel my nostrils flare. How could he laugh when I've been waiting here for almost an hour? Then I cooled myself down, admitting that my being angry honestly being fair and that I needed to chill before I said anything, because we were, after all, in a library of all places. They don't take kindly to people shouting, I found that out from experience in the eighth grade. Angry librarians can be quite scary, if you really thought about it.

I walk straight up to him, about to demand an excuse, but then I stopped short. He's with another girl.

The girl is really rather cute, with her short brown hair and light brown eyes. She was shorter than me, and a bit on the plump side, but that seemed to add, rather than detract from her beauty. She has a long nose, and glasses that are hanging from the end of it, making her look like a reprimanding, chic (admittedly) teacher.

"Who are you?" I asked, rather rudely I admit.

"Oh, hey Sophie. Um, this is Maris, Maris, this is Sophie," Tristan says nervously. Oh, he's scared that I'll bitch at him in front of her.

"Glad to meet you," Maris chirps brightly, and holds out her hand.

"Right back at you," I retort, but I don't look at her. I'm far too busy looking at Tristan, trying to figure out what's going on. Are we, or aren't we? I need to know so that I can leave this ice cream stand or not. "Um, Tristan, can I talk to you for a second. Alone," I say, looking pointedly at Tristan. This really wasn't what I had in mind at all.

"Sure," he says nervously, as he steps out from behind Maris and comes to face me.

"Um, are we going to or not?" I ask, refusing to elaborate anymore. If I told him how angry I was because of his being late, I would start to shout, and as I already said, I'm terrified of angry librarians.

He pauses for a second to think, and then he takes a deep breath, "No, Sophie, I don't really think that this thing is going to work out anymore, I mean you do cheat on me, and besides Maris is really nice. I really like her."

"Okay, Tristan, how can I tell you this gently? Hmm… well I'm not going to tell you gently, I'm going to tell you the straight up truth. WE. WERE. NEVER. GOING. OUT. EXLAMATION. POINT." God, how many times must we go through this? Christ Jesus, didn't I tell him this yesterday?

Come to think of it, yes I did. What a little shit head, how could he not remember.

"Yeah, well I really like Maris." He said, totally shrugging off what I told him for what felt like the millionth time. "What do you think about her?" he asked me, his face looking so earnest, that I almost felt bad for him, he must really, really like this girl.

"She seems really sweet," and for once when I was saying something nice, I wasn't just lying with a sugar coated covering. This time, I was for real. Wow, I was even surprising myself.

"Really you think so?" he asked, and I nodded. He grinned like a little kid on Christmas. "Aw, thanks, you're the best," and he kissed me on the cheek and was gone.

Really, that's how he just walked out of my life just like that. He didn't look back.

Was I really so easy to leave? Was I not withstanding enough that you could just leave me without a single glance and never look back. What about all of his proclamations of love?

Then I laughed ironically at myself. Did I really believe that? Did I honestly think that for one second that what he said was true? I must have, because otherwise I wouldn't be feeling this way. I wanted to cry, but then straightened out my shoulders and walked out. Screw both of them, I wasn't about to go back there now.

I strutted down the street, rather fast, my mind in a jumble. What was my reaction back there saying? Was I getting soft again?

As I made my way past an expensive looking BMW I kicked it, my heels and all. Its siren went off and as I walked by I laughed maniacally. Nope, I still had it.

Just slow down, I told myself. Breathe quickly and quietly, in and out, come on now, you can do it.

I stop in front of a store and stop outside. I pull out the credit card that my mom gave me for 'emergencies only' but this is a serious emergency. Shopping makes me feel better, or maybe it's just spending my mom's money, I'm not really sure which one, but either way is fine with me.

I stop in front of a store that is obviously trying to be cute, because its name is Boutique and it has a fake pink poodle in the window. How very… un-cute.

Anyway, they have really nice dresses here, and I don't know what I might need one for, but I might so I might as well ring it up. They're fairly priced here too, only $1,029 for the cheapest one! Oh yeah, let's buy the whole store!

I laugh at my own joke and the lady looks at me like I'm crazy. Well, it's not my fault her face looks like that!

As I picked out a blue dress with a fitted bodice and a poufy skirt, I turn to run into someone behind me. It was a tall guy; I mean he had to have been 6'6" or 6'7" at the shortest. He was rather good looking, with black hair and eyes, and had one of the biggest smiles that I had ever seen on anyone.

Oh, he must be here with girlfriend then. I mean, why else would he be in a store like this. Oh, well he might be gay; I mean who else would smile like that?

But when I looked behind him there was no one behind except for the twelve year old girl that was in here before even me.

"Um, will you move?" I asked him and he moved out of my way so fluidly for such a big guy that I looked back twice.

"Yeah sure, "he answered, and smiled at me again. Okay, I was totally certain that he was gay at this point, I mean come on. He was in a girl's store with a huge smile on his face, and he looked very male from this angle. He wasn't wearing a dress or anything, so I knew that he wasn't a drag queen.

I was about to ask him if he was gay, but he spoke first. "Can you help me look for something for my sister?" he asked me, totally throwing me off. Okay, well that was kind of weird.

"Sure," I told him, looking him in the eye for the first time. They were extremely warm, and the second that I did that it felt as if our souls divided from our bodies and met in the air in front of us. The feeling was so strong that I tumbled backwards a little bit and hit a rack, almost sending it flying across the store until that guy caught it.

Okay, what the hell was that? Did I get that feeling every time I meet total and complete strangers?

No that, couldn't be it that just doesn't happen to normal people. Well, I never said I was all that normal either. "Sorry," I mumbled to him and walked out the door. He watched me go with bewildered eyes.

Okay, I had to figure out what that was in there, because if I didn't it was going to be bothering me all day. That didn't even happen with Peter the first time I met him a very long time ago.

I was crossing the street when I heard someone shout "NO!" rather loudly. I turned to see who it was, I mean, it's not like I was doing anything offensive, I was just crossing the street when I suddenly saw the bus in front of me that was hurdling towards me in what seemed like lightning speed.

A/N: Haha! Cliff hanger! I'm not going to say anything except please review!