Chapter 2: Montauk

Sally's POV

Eight months later

Days passed and the unnamed man didn't come back. The days turned into weeks, the weeks to months and eight months later he still hadn't turned up. I would look up every time the door would open and a customer would walk in, hoping I'd come across those mesmerizing eyes. As time flew by, his appearance and voice became dull in my mind, but his eyes never did. I would ream about him every single night that passed and everything about him would change. Everything. Apart from his eyes. Those held me captive from the first moment I saw them.

Haley and Mrs Ruby told me to give up on my hopes. They said that the guy could be just a New York passer-by, a married man or just a guy that flirted with me a little without looking for anything. I didn't want to believe the last two of course. I could stand the first, but not the other two. The way time went by without him making an appearance, Haley's and Mrs Ruby's whining about me thinking of him became more and more, till I forced myself to believe them. I tried to forget I ever serviced him that morning. Tried being the keyword. With his eyes haunting me in my sleep I couldn't forget him, but I could ignore his memory.

And so I did. Ignored his eyes as much as I could. Ignored the though of him. Haley tried to help me in that by arranging blind-dates for me with friends of friends and so on. She even invited me to go with her, her boyfriend, Nick, and some other people to Montauk where Nick had a house and we could stay in. I knew she was interested in hooking me up with someone from the singles guys in the "gang", as she called the little group of us, but I was going anyway. I needed the getaway.

"Excited?" Haley asked me clapping continuously in front of my face.

"Not as much as you obviously. I'm just glad for this getaway." I replied honestly. There was no point in pretending around her anyway.

"Girls, hop on. We should get going." Nick said closing the back before getting in the car. He was a great guy. The greatest Haley had ever dated. Which was probably why they had been together for over a year. Haley and I nodded at him before she skipped over to the front passenger door and I just stood there for a second, before getting in too.

The next hours were spent with Nick driving while Haley and I kept singing along to whatever was on the radio with our "amazing" voices. How he didn't throw us out of the car was a wonder. He just kept smiling. The rest of the "gang" caught up with us when we were having a break midway. From that point and on, Haley was trying to see who I liked from the guys. Not if, but who. She was sure I liked someone. But thankfully when we reached Nick's house, she stopped but only because he dragged her somewhere and I was sure I didn't know where that was.

Not bothering to look for them since I had a pretty good idea what they were up to, I just found my room, unpacked everything while the others went out and straight to the sea. I wasn't in the mood though, so I took my notepad and went for a walk down the beach. When I was far enough not to hear anything other than the sounds the sea and waves were making, I plopped down on the sand. I stopped moving for a moment to embrace the nature around me. I heard footsteps behind me, which made me tense and bring the notepad close to me in case I needed to use it as a weapon to hit whoever came my way. The person, though, just came to sit next to me.

"Hello there." A man's voice said and I turned to look at him. He was very handsome with his surfer's suit on, blond hair and blue eyes. A god on earth for most women... Not me though. He wasn't anywhere near the green-eyed man I had serviced eight months ago. But I acted kindly anyway.

"Hello to you too." I said smiling and shook his extended hand.

"My name's Rob and you must be new around here 'cause I haven't seen you before." He said pushing his hand in his hair flexing his arm muscles. Did he really expect me to fall for him because of that? Apparently so...

"I'm staying for the summer with Nick Taylor and his friends." I replied looking in the horizon again.

"Ah, so you're Nick's girl, huh?" He asked and I thought there was some sort of disappointment in his voice.

"No, that's Haley. I'm her best friend, Sally." I quickly said. I didn't like people sad. It was just one of the things I hated.

"That's awesome." He exclaimed and then looked away blushing. "I mean, it's great I was hitting on my childhood friend's girlfriend."

"So you were hitting on me?" I teased.

"Well yeah. A little." He added quickly which made me laugh. "Come on, don't laugh. I was just..." He trailed off trying to find the words.

"Pick up a girl." I finished for him.

"Exactly." He said and then: "No, I mean I was just..."

"Don't worry about it. I have to go though. Nice meeting you, Rob" I said getting up and dusted myself off accidentally dropping my notepad. He got it and got up giving it to me. "Thank you."

"No problem. I'll see you around." He asked hopeful.

"Maybe." I said and left him there walking back to Nick's house where I found him and Haley sitting at the balcony with the rest of the gang.

"Where were you, Sally?" Haley asked smirking. Oh no she didn't...

"I was at the beach in a part with nothing but sand and the sea, where I could write in peace until I met the lovely Rob, which you of course had nothing to do with, right?" I asked and her smirk turned into a blush.

"Of course not. Right Nick?" She asked her boyfriend who was sitting next to her.

"Right." He breathed yelping.

"That's not true. I hear you two saying that Nick should call Rob and tell him to come down the "slow" side of the beach so that Sally meets him." A guy from the gang said, I think Kyle was his name, said exposing the conspiracy.

"Snitch." Haley and Nick both retorted glaring.

"He seemed like a nice guy if you exclude the big ego." I said and my best friend's head snapped in my direction.

"You liked him?" She asked surprised and got that look. She wanted me to tell her what happened. "Tell me everything." She said like I expected and led me to my room where I told her of my little interaction with Rob. "You definitely flirted with him, so you must like him."

"Maybe a little. He looks like a player though, Hales. It may be just a summer fling if anything happens between us, but I don't want to be played with." I said looking out the window.

"How about you give me some time to gather specific info about him from Nick before you decide what you'll do with him?" She suggested.

"Okay. Don't expect much though. You haven't seen him and I'm telling you. He looks like a player." I warned.

"Aren't you the one that says sometimes things aren't what they look like?" She asked.

"No, that was Euripides. I just support that saying." I clarified.

"Same thing." She said getting up and muttering something like "you and your Greek writers or whatever". At the door she stopped and turned to look at me. "Aren't you coming?"

"Nah, I'll stay here and write some. Thank you for offering though." I replied smiling at her. She walked out closing the door behind her knowing I need my privacy in order to write. I loved her for that.

Before starting to write I went to the window and observed the sea for a little while. It was calm, yet the few waves that existed showed some nervousness. Nothing much, just a stirring... It was the only thing indicating there was life around her at this hour. That and the noises everyone downstairs made. Nothing else. No human, bird, dog, cat or any other life form was around here and even though that should make me feel scared about my safety, I was thrilled. This peace and quiet was exactly what I needed after years in the middle of New York where there never was a single second of complete silence.

I sat down at the porch of the window, brought my notepad in my lap and continued my story. I got lost in the world of my characters where everything was controlled by my mind and nothing happened with no reason. Parents didn't die when the characters where little. Uncles didn't suddenly get so sick the characters had to drop out and take care of them till they died. But there was this man, the unknown man, that conquered the girl's mind and invaded her dreams after leaving her, but eventually he came back in her life as suddenly as he did the first time.

A chapter of two later I stopped writing because my eyes barely held open and I was yawning a lot. I closed the notepad, pleased with myself, but before I got up to go to bed, I glanced out the window one last time, which made my breath catch up in my throat. I had spent months dreaming about him even though the only thing I remembered then was his eyes. Seeing him walk on that beach less that half a mile away from the house I was staying at made everything come back.

I dropped everything on the bed and run out the room as fast as I could. I passed by the people that were still awake not noticing who they were, but I thought I heard Haley's voice calling me on my way out the door. My legs took me down the beach on their own accord as my eyes searched for his figure. But I never found him. I reached the spot I had seen him at through my window and he wasn't there. I fell on my knees n desperation. I couldn't have imagined it since I didn't remember what he looked like until I saw him a few minute before. But then again, if I didn't imagine it, where was he?

"Sally!" Haley screamed kneeling beside me and pulling me into her arms.

"I'm fine Hales." I reassured her staring blankly around in case I just saw him. No such luck.

"Then why did you run off?" She asked turning my head to her so I would look at her.

"I just thought I saw something, but I was wrong. I'm going to bed now if you don't mind." I said and got up heading for the house and my room leaving whoever had come out to look for me there. I got into bed thinking of what had happened. Was it true or had I got so lost in my story that I imagined it all? Before long, the exhaustion from the trip and the late hour kicked in and I fell asleep with the image of the man I longed to see again as I saw or imagined him a little while before.

What do you think so far? Personally I love it, but I'm also biased. Tell me, well us, your opinion?

Catherine & Tony P.