C13
Lori looked beautiful.
Her red hair shone in the setting sun, her eyes twinkled, her kilowatt smile beamed at everyone with love and Jamie couldn't keep his hands off her.
The setting sun beamed down on them from a cloudless, wonderous blue sky, cooled by a pleasant breeze drifting in off the ocean.
After tossing her bouquet, Lori and Jamie made a quick dash to the stretch limo that was waiting to take them to the airport and off on their honeymoon adventure.
Beth stood on the deck of the Santa Carla Rowing Club and looked out at the horizon, the sun casting a neon pink glow over the water and she smiled softly to herself, it had been a great day.
Glancing to her right as she felt someone sidle up to her, she saw Jason standing next to her, looking rather handsome in his groomsman suit, his bow tie undone, the ends hanging loosely around his unbuttoned collar and his shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows. He offered her a glass of champagne with a charming smile, which she accepted, a small bush colouring her cheeks as she looked up into his deep blue eyes.
Jason had been a grade above her at school, along with Jamie and the rest of them. She'd considered him pretty cute once upon a time, but then he'd turned up, and she knew the second she saw him leaning against his motorcycle in the school parking lot that her heart would beat only for him.
Beth sighed heavily at the memory and sipped her champagne, letting the bubbles effervesce on the tip of her tongue, leaving a cherry pink lipstick stain on the crystal glass.
There wasn't enough champagne in the world to make her forget that her heart still beat only for him…
In a desperate attempt to rid herself of the painful weight of too many memories, she'd let Jason dance with her till the end of the evening, let him drape his tuxedo jacket over her shoulders as he walked her to his car, let him drive her the long way home and even let him kiss her cheek when he walked her to her door but all she could think about was David…and it was tearing her up inside.
She didn't bother turning the lights on as she kicked off her heels at the door, padding her way softly up the stairs and sitting on the end of her big guest bed. Sighing heavily, she looked out at the big, white full moon and the twinkling stars and wondered where he was.
Was he thinking of her too?
Was he with some other girl?
The thought made her feel sick and she rolled her eyes at herself for being so pathetic.
Sitting in the window seat, curling her knees up to her chest, letting her bridesmaid's dress bunch around her thighs, she opened the bedroom window wide and inhaled deeply, letting the cool ocean air fill her lungs, but all she felt was a sudden, undeniable pull toward town.
Memories flooded her mind.
His hands in her hair, his lips against hers, his arm around her waist, his perfect smile, his achingly blue eyes…
Unable to deny whatever it was that was pulling at her heart, she slipped out of her bridesmaid's dress and quickly changed into the one discarded from yesterday, slipped on her slingback heels and ran down the stairs, grabbed her keys and let the force guide her toward town…
David felt something pull gently at the edges of his mind, like something was whispering to him but he couldn't make out what was being said.
He ignored it.
As the night went grew older, he could no longer ignore it, feeling the pull to the beach with every step he took, his chest feeling like it was caving in on itself, constricting painfully.
Finally submitting to whatever it was that was pulling at him, he pushed away from the wall of the club, crushing his cigarette into the concrete with the heel of his boot.
"I gotta take care of something" David said urgently above the beat of the music echoing out of the club, gesturing toward their bikes parked up ahead, the other three boys nodded in acknowledgement and followed behind David, mounting their bikes with graceful ease.
"What is it" Dwayne questioned, his brow furrowed when he saw David's face twist with some unknown desperate need and he kicked his bike into life.
"I dunno" David replied, gunning it out the alley and onto the street, the boys following right behind him…
The Boardwalk was silent.
The lights were shut off and the stalls had closed up for the night.
She knew this was a mistake.
Knew it the second she stepped foot on the Boardwalk, but the weight of bittersweet memories and this magical, unknown force kept her feet moving forward toward the old wooden bench at the end of the pier that looked out on the Pacific, a single street lamp illuminating it like a spotlight on a stage.
The cool ocean breeze billowing over her sent a shiver down her spine as she stood behind the bench looking out at the big black ocean, the pale lonely moon shining bright in a star-studded sky.
An aching pain swelled in the back of her throat and she swallowed hard, sending it down into her chest and her eyes pricked painfully.
"Tomorrow, midnight" she whispered to herself as she stupidly let all the memories of the last time she'd seen him overtake her. His perfect face looking down at her with so much love in his impossibly blue eyes, the feel of his skin against hers...she'd promised him forever and what, he couldn't even turn up!
Was it all just an elaborate game to him!
Was that all he was waiting for and once he'd gotten it, he couldn't be bothered with her anymore!
Beth's tiny hands balled into angry fists at her sides.
She swallowed a sob she wouldn't let escape her lips and threw her head back to look up at the black sky, a single tear rolling from the corner of her eye. She wiped it away quickly, folding her arms in front of her, trying to protect herself from the chill sea wind.
This was nothing she hadn't already gone over a million times. It was easy for her to think he was a jerk, to think that he didn't actually care about her at all when she was in Seattle.
But here, in Santa Carla, at their spot...
She remembered the way he'd look at her, like she was the only girl in the world, the way his smile would make her weak at the knees, the way he'd kiss her...no...he had loved her. And that thought was worse than thinking he was being true to his reputation.
He'd loved her and he'd still left.
Sometimes she could still feel the ache in her wrist where she'd broken it as she slammed her fists against Max's front door, screaming his name.
She looked back out at the ocean, watching the waves crash against the beach, lost in memory when suddenly the air turned electric and her skin was overtaken by Goosebumps...
Her heart raced at the sound of growling motorcycles, one approaching slowly behind her, the old wooden boards of the pier groaning slightly under the weight and her slim shadow was thrown against the horizon as a single headlight illuminated the night from behind her.
She swallowed hard, her hands dropping to her sides, her wide eyes focused on the crashing waves in front of her and she shivered.
The bike's ignition cut off and silence reigned once again, the atmosphere so thick she thought she might choke on it.
It was him.
She heard his booted footsteps walk slowly toward her and then stop abruptly, her breathing became ragged, he was so close she could smell the cigarette smoke on his coat, but she didn't turn around...
He knew this was a mistake.
Knew it the second he saw her standing at the end of the Pier, but the heavy weight of memories and this magical, unknown force pulled him toward her.
Maybe if he just saw her face one more time, that would be enough to tide him over for the rest of eternity.
He turned the ignition off and the boys did the same, silence reigning again over the night and he watched her shivering by their bench. The headlight from his bike illuminating her like the light from a lighthouse, calling him home, the wind whipping at the skirt of her dress, her golden-brown hair flying around her shoulders and he felt an ache swell in his chest.
He slipped off his bike and stalked toward her slowly, his breathing slow, hard, deliberate.
He stood as close to her as he dared.
There wasn't much left in this world that could scare him, but she was terrifying to him now, and he didn't care if the other's saw it.
She was so close, so real…
He was stood so close to her it was as though he could feel the heat of her body warm his soul, if he still had one...his fingers twitched restlessly at his sides and he had to restrain himself from wrapping his arms around her and never let go.
He reached his cold hand forward slowly toward hers.
Could he do it?
Could he touch her and not let his long forgotten, but clearly not dead, human-self regret every single decision he's ever made in the last four years? Could he touch her warm skin and not feel like some kind of monster…
He could hear her heart beat pounding in his ears, it was racing, her blood rushing through her body so fast it made him dizzy, he could hear her shallow breathing hitch in the back of her throat, her sweet perfume made is head foggy...she was so, alive.
What the hell was he doing...
He swallowed hard, his hand dropping from where he was almost about to touch her and curled into a tight fist. His eyes closed and he let out a long, heavy breath.
No.
He couldn't.
He turned quickly back to his bike, his three brothers looking on with serious expressions on their faces.
"Wait!" she choked out, and he could feel her fingers curling around the sleeve of his coat and he stopped in his tracks.
He took a deep breath and turned to face her...
Her breath hitched in the back of her throat and her heart slammed painfully against her chest, her fingers curling tighter into the thick wool fabric of his long coat.
Her dark eyes widened as they roamed over him, taking in just how much time had changed him.
His hair no longer golden but a shock of white, his skin was so pale, and a light blonde scruff covered his cheeks and chin. A single long earing dangled from his ear and the collar of the leather jacket he wore under his coat was cuffed against the midnight breeze, his t-shirt pulled tight against his chest and his dark leather jeans were threadbare at the ends.
Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes met his piercing gaze. His icy blue eyes looked down at her with such an intensity it made her feel like she might burst into flame at any moment.
Her fingers slipped from his coat but her eyes never left his, and her body was flooded with a desperate need to both run away and run into his arms making her muscles tense, the air between them electrified, thick with words unsaid.
"You shouldn't've come back Beth" he ground out darkly and before she knew it, his cold lips crashed hard against hers...
She could feel her heart break in her chest as a quiet, pained whimper escaped her throat as his lips captured hers roughly. Her arms wrapped around his neck instinctively, her fingers clutching desperately at the collar of his coat. A single tear slipped from her closed eyes as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her so tight to him she thought she might never be able to breathe again...
His head screamed at him to stop but the signals died before reaching his arms, his fingers, his mouth.
She was so warm it made his whole body ache with the need for her.
Kissing her was exactly like he'd remembered and he knew he'd be haunted by this moment until the world crumbled around him.
His hand fisted in the cotton fabric of her dress and he pulled her closer, the other snaked up her waist, along her neck and he buried his icy fingers in her hair, grabbing at it for dear life.
He should push her away, tell her to leave this town for good, yell at her, scare her if he had to but she had to leave.
She whispered his name softly against his lips and the sound burned itself into his dead heart and he ripped himself forcefully from her with a frustrated, pained growl, making her stumble back against the back of the wooden bench, her breathing short and sharp.
It took all his diminishing strength to take a few steps back as she looked up at him from underneath her thick eyelashes, her dark doe eyes boring a whole in his heart. He had to steady his breathing as he looked down at her pink, wet, full lips. He thought for a brief moment that he could feel his still heart pound against his chest, but knew the drumming pulsating through his body wasn't his heart he heard, but hers...and it made his throat ache painfully.
"Don't ever let me see your face around here again Beth" he ground out menacingly between deep, steadying breaths as he gripped the handlebars of his bike so hard he could see his bones through his pale skin.
He didn't look up to see her brow furrow in pain and confusion, too much of a coward to watch as the girl he'd once loved look at him like she didn't know him anymore as salty tears fell down her flushed cheeks.
"What"? She whispered in disbelief, taking a few shaky steps toward him.
"I MEAN IT"! he roared as he rounded on her.
Beth's palm pressed against her chest trying to steady the out of control beat of her heart, the other clutching the back of the bench as he towered over her. He looked down at her and as soon as her eyes met his he saw her jaw clench and her face harden and she looked up at him, brave defiance flickering in her dark eyes, her gaze never wavering from his and he could almost feel the shiver run down her spine.
"David…" he heard Marko call his name from up the Pier "…We gotta go"
David continued to glare down at her even though he could feel the strength leaving him as the sky slowly streaked with pale yellow, signalling the coming dawn.
David made to leave, mounting his bike and kicking it violently into action.
"No…" she said desperately, grasping for him but he'd already turned and started racing down the pier, his brothers firing up their bikes in preparation to follow.
"David"! she yelled after him, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, feeling like her heart was breaking all over again as she watched him and his friends shrink into the distance.
