As the motorcycle flew down the highway, Gabriella started to relax from a small freak out she had had as soon as we merged with other cars storming near, exceeding sixty miles per hour. I myself, loved the way she held on for her life, and I wouldn't let her down, she was safe behind me. We weaved through the speeding cars and found an exit to downtown, which eventually led to a small coffee house. The place was quiet but there were employees inside, so we lifted ourselves off of the bike and together, walked into the building that smelled of coffee beans and breakfast foods.

"Welcome, how may I help you folks tonight?" a teenage girl behind the counter greeted us.

"What would you like?" I queried to Gabriella.

She looked up at the boards and ordered, "Can I have a rice crispy bar and a hot chocolate?"

"Sure thing," the girl nodded and typed it into the register, "how about you sir?"

"I'll have the same" I looked at Gabriella and smiled, "thanks."

The teenager brewed up our order and charged us before we took our things to a table.

"I thought you wanted to get coffee," I chuckled softly at her.

"Who says, 'want to go get hot chocolate with me?'" Gabriella giggled a little in response, "I'm sorry, I just don't like coffee… It stains teeth and later you have a crash."

"I understand, I'm not to much of a fan either," I told her honestly, I never had it in prison and why should I start, I don't need another addiction.

"So Troy," Gabriella leaned over the table a little bit, "tell me about yourself."

"Well, for starters, I'm twenty-two. My favorite color is red." She laughed with a wide smile gracing her face.

"Tell me about your family," Gabriella hummed lightly.

"My family?" I thought about my parents for a second and sighed, "I had a brother."

"Had?" Gabriella asked lightly.

"He ditched me six years ago and never showed up again. He turned eighteen and ran off with his girlfriend. See, my parents are a little neglectful, they're not mean, they just leave on business trips a lot and didn't really ask what was up ever," I spilled a lot of information to this girl, I just met.

"Where are your parents?" Gabriella frowned at what I was telling her.

"I live with them in uptown," I told her honestly, "I need to get a high school diploma and get away to college."

"Why didn't you graduate?" she shifted her body and sat up straighter in the chair.

"I just-I just made a few bad choices and had to pay for it," she seemed to understand the hostility in the matter and dropped the subject.

"What do you want to be?" I sat back in my chair and thought for a moment.

"I really don't know," I truly didn't, "you know that's enough about me… tell me about you. Tell me about Gabriella."

"I just turned twenty-one. I don't have any siblings. My dad died when I was four from an explosion in his job and my mom passed away when I was ten of cancer," she smiled sadly.

"I'm so sorry Gabriella," I reached a hand out and covered hers with mine.

"Look its ok," she forced a happier smile, "my aunt took me in."

"Mrs. Rover?" I inquired and watched as she shook her head.

"No, my aunt Jenna." Gabriella's smile dropped altogether.

"Where does she live?" I wondered what she was sad about now.

"Um... She doesn't," I understood then.

"I'm sorry," watching her, I saw as she swore under her breath a little bit.

"I don't want to look like a cry baby the first time we hang out," she wiped a few tears away and regained her composure.

"Hey hey hey," I rubbed her should lightly with my right arm, "how about you and me hang out a few more times for fun, and then really get to know each other."

"Are you asking me out?" she seemed shocked at the question.

"Well," I weighed my options carefully, would she want me to ask her out so soon or wait, "yea, I think I am."

"I don't know Troy," she seemed unsure of the possibility, "we just met."

"How about I take you on a date tomorrow night and then you can decide whether or not I'm worth getting to know," I suggested quietly, hoping she'd agree.

"Tomorrow night?" she swirled the idea around her head and found an answer, "why not."

"Great," I grinned at her and took a large sip of my hot chocolate, "tomorrow night."

"Where are we going to go?" she asked softly, nibbling on her rice crispy bar.

"You'll see," I smiled at her.

It was Friday evening when I picked Gabriella up from the shop, she was anxious to know where we were going. That is, until I pulled into a drive in movie theater on the outskirts of town.

"I've never been to one of these before," she commented lightly, watching me as we drove into the lot and found a nice spot to get off of the motorcycle. I pulled a blanket out of the back compartment and laid it down for us to lie on and pulled out two sandwiches and two pop bottles.

"Really? My parents used to take my brother and I here because we would disrupt the audiences in the other theaters," I chuckled at the memory and smiled at her.

The movie began to start but neither Gabriella nor I stopped talking. We chatted about everything under the blue moon, discussing our opinions and sharing our thoughts.

"No, see I think that M&M's are a lot better because of their candied outside," we were arguing about what was better, M&M's or Hershey kisses.

"But kisses melt in your mouth," Gabriella threw at me.

"That is true," we both laughed but were interrupted by a man that approached.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, but we're closing down the theater for the night," the man informed us and asked politely, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Alright," I nodded to him and as he walked away, we laughed again before I stood up and brushed myself off and then helped Gabriella up. I wrapped the blanket back up as she slipped the helmet on and waited patiently.

I lifted my leg over the bike and shivered as she jumped on behind me.

It was eleven by the time we pulled up to her uncle's home.

"This was nice Troy," she whispered softly as I walked her to the door, "thank you."

"Wait a moment," I stopped her from going any further, "have you decided?"

"Decided what?" she was confused for a moment.

"Whether or not you're going to let me take you out on a second date," I smiled hopefully and stared into her deep chocolate eyes.

"I don't know Troy," she mumbled and looked away.

"Come on," I nudged her a little bit, "please."

"Troy," she moved some hair out of my eye.

Her eyes locked on mine and before I could help myself, I leant in and kissed her lightly, "please."

I brushed her lips with mine again and she stared at me, breathlessly, "I-" but I completely covered her lips with mine, this time, forcing my tongue into her mouth as she tried to spit the rest of her sentence out. She gave in quickly and kissed back as I pushed her lightly into the side paneling of the house. Soon, I took it a step further and started kissing her jaw line and down her neck to her collarbone, causing a moan to slip from her diaphragm, "Alright alight," she forcefully squeaked, "I'll go out with you."

I paused my actions and stepped away, "I'm sorry," I didn't know what to say about myself then, that was not how I wanted her to say yes, "Look, I don't want to make you go out with me… So forget it, I'll just see you around."

Feeling rejected and mad at myself, I walked away dejectedly and only looked back once at the shocked woman, who I found was quickly stealing my heart, before slipping my helmet over my head and lifting myself over the bike before speeding away angrily.

When I reached my home, I tried to forget about her. Nothing was working, especially because once again, I was home alone.

"I could really use a beer," my inner conscience spoke out. Without control, I felt my body rushing to the kitchen. I pulled open the refrigerator where there was a pack of Bud light and I grabbed one, popping the top off. After just a sip of the foul addicting liquid that caused so much trouble in the first place, the fog cleared in my head, I didn't want that beer. I wanted Gabriella and no amount of alcohol would help me get her, and I dropped the bottle, ultimately watching it shatter on the floor.


Ok so this is our list guys

Alan Klien, Latanya and her husband, Mandy, Harry, Jessica, Beth Anne Hoyme, and David

I've decided that I shouldn't confine the list to just car crash victims... I think that we should add anyone who died suddenly/unexpectedly/or brutally and alcoholics that you wish would figure out their life.

Alright guys.. So I've been thinking a lot lately and I realized that this website connects people from all around the world. I find that really cool because even though we're split by the globe, we all have two common interests... Reading and Writing. So I've decided to ask each of you to tell me a little bit about what life is like in your country. Please don't tell me cities/regions/states if you do decide to share, because you shouldn't ever leak that much information onto the internet. I just want to hear what you guys have to say.

So this is my shared piece of information from my country...

I live in a smaller city in the United States... It's really cold here right now... and snowy... I go to school everyday and get A LOT of homework... In the summer, it's really pretty here and the grass is incredibly green.... Everyone is always doing something at every moment, afterschool clubs, teams, sports, musical lessons, you name it.